Government Ware (GovWare) 2015

Government Ware or GovWare is an annual security conference organized by the agencies of Singapore Government to showcase the latest cyber security talks, booths, vendors and products. This year's theme was 'Building a Secure Smart Nation', held in Suntec Singapore. This is one of the conferences that one should go to check out the competition as well as network! 

Back to the Future II - The Tech and Toys that came true

In the spirit of Oct 21st 2015, the date Marty McFly travelled to the future to save his son and eventually himself in Back to the Future II, i re-watched this classic again and gathered some of the tech and toys that were correctly predicted in the movie.

Travelling 'back' to the Future!

1. Handheld camera with facial recognition technology.

Back in the 80s, there were no handheld and slim cameras not to mention facial recognition technology that now in 2015, almost all cameras in our slim rectangular shaped mobile phones possessed. 

2. Laser Discs and CD ROMs are obsolete

While Laser Discs were long gone since the millenium, who would have thought that CD Roms (see closely on the right -where they were dumped) which was famously used in the 90s till 2000s. are also being dumped. Now in 2015, almost all the latest computers do not come preinstalled with a CD Rom player and everything has now switched to flashdrives. Its amazing to see how eerily accurate this image is and that we in 2015 rarely or no longer need to use CD/DVD ROMs in our computer systems. 

3. 3D and Hologram Technology

3D movies and lately the usage of hologram technology in concerts are just some of the good examples of why this was correctly predicted.

4. Games using hands are old

In this clip, Marty McFly was seen to play an old cowboy game in the Cafe 80s, bar. Two kids after seeing Marty playing the game, commented that playing games using hands are for babies. Now we have seen how games are evolved from handheld controllers to using wireless motion technology known as Kinect!

5. Not Hooverboards but..... Skate Scooters!

Well, hooverboards are still a long way to go but this represents another type of 'transportation' to which we have that is called 'Skate scooters'. See how it was played in the movie and how the skate sccoter is played today. Similar right?

6. Biometric Fingerprint Authentication for Homes

The future is indeed here Back in the Future! Biometric fingerprint technology to authenticate before unlocking home doors. This technology are now being used in many homes and offices!

7. Voice Recognition to on the Lights

"Lights on" and there, the lights are on. This voice recognition to on the lights is another thing that most smart homes are already using.

8. Wall Projectors

Back in the day, we use OHP Projector to display black images from a transparent A4 size plastic. Video images are not something that was capable back then. Now we have projectors that can display images and videos on almost anywhere. 

9. Smart Home Monitoring Technology

Did anyone spot this? Look on the right above the 2 cylinders. Doesn't it look like a monitoring system for the home? Something that is now being used in Smart Home monitoring to monitor temperatures, or to control home electrical appliances.

10. Touch and Go Fingerprint Payment Technology

Though not implemented in taxis, the technology for a touch and go fingerprint payment system has already exists. Check out this company

11. Multi Channel Smart TV and 55 inch LCD TV!

Its not until the late 90s or the millenium where TVs were getting thinner. Even a Plasma TV is still much thicker. Now most homes have at least a 55inch LCD TV being hanged on the wall and subscribing to cable allow us to view multiple channels at once! Spot on!

12. Google Glass?

Remember Google Glass? Though Google Glass 'died' as soon as it first arrived, it doesn't stop the fact that a similar glasses was seen in Back to the Future where one can see who is calling and speaking on the glasses!

13. Video Conferencing

Skype, Kinect, MSN, Yahoo.... need i say more? 

Is there anything i missed? Let me know. ;)

The Cyber Security Show Conference

Attended the Cyber Security Show organized by Terrapinn in conjunction with the IOT Show. Took place in Suntec City Exhibition hall and held on the 22nd to 23rd September 2015. Although 70% of the booths were concentrated on the IoT, the sponsored talks were actually good to listen to. One of the unique things for this conference was that there were a series of table discussions where notable professionals in the security industry gave a topic for a round table discussion. This is definitely something conferences should have especially if one of the agenda is to allow delegates to network and what better way to network then to start off with a round table discussion, getting to know each other and exchanging business cards.

Talks by various vendors

How the exhibition hall looks

The round table discussion. Here, Anthony Lim, one of Singapore's Cyber Security pioneer discussed on the topic of Cloud Security.

Null Singapore Security Meetup - July

I had the opportunity to present at Null Singapore, a monthly security meetup group here. The last time i presented was about Vulnerability Assessment on SCADA systems but this time, due to a career change (or upgrade), i presented about my exploration into the deep web.

The deep web as most (or some) know it as the part of the internet not indexed by typical search engines like Google or Yahoo. It is a part of the internet where sources say most of the stuffs reside. According to an article, google managed to index up to only 4% of the world wide web...so where are the rest? The answer: Deep Web. 

My journey to the deep web wasn't a fun one. Instead, the deeper i go, the weirder i found. From selling of drugs, abuse of humans, selling of weapons, hackers for hire, assassins for hire and much much more. It is alarming to see the so called criminal activity that resides in there and due to the anonymity of the connection to each site, it is very hard to be monitored, tracked or charged by law enforcers.

In this presentation, i presented about the things i found in the deepweb. You can download the slides here. http://www.slideshare.net/FadliBSidek/red-riding-hood-in-the-deep-dark-woods

Dias presenting about Bitcoin and its role in privacy

Randen presenting about the security newsbytes

Myself presenting about the Deepweb

The Dark Net (book) - A brief review

Already completed reading 'The Dark Net'. Apparently, the title is kinda misleading because it's not entirely about the Darknet or the Deepweb instead the term 'Dark' here refers to the online behavior of us using the internet behind the curtains of anonymity.. questions and discussions are raised in this book such as are we more civilized knowing we are anonymous online? Do we have split or different personalities knowing no one will know you which result on your darkest desires being potentially explored under a faceless face? From businessmen searching for illegal pornography, college girls seeking extra money by caming to /b/ tards seeking glory by humiliating and crucifying others online. This book is a good read for those who wants to know the psychological aspects of online behavior.

Some points from the book worth sharing:

The Dark Net. Introduction: Liberty of Death, page 5.

"For some, the dark net refers to the encrypted world of Tor Hidden Services, where users cannot be traced, and cannot be identified. For others it is those sites not indexed by conventional search engines. It has also become a catchall term for the myriad shocking, disturbing, and controversial corners of the net - the realm of imagined criminals and lurking predators."

"The dark net, for me, describes an idea more than a particular place: internet underworlds set apart yet connected to the internet we inhabit, worlds of freedom and anonymity, where users say and do what they like, often uncensored, unregulated, and outside of society's norms. It is dark because we rarely see these parts of digital life, save the occasional flash of a hysterical news report or shocking statistic."

The Dark Net. Introduction: Liberty of Death, page 7.

"By exploring and comparing these worlds, i also hoped to answer a difficult question: do the features of anonymity and connectivity free the darker sides of our nature? And if so, how?"

"Are our "digital" identities distinct from our "real" ones -  and what does that mean? Are we prone to behave in particular ways when we sit behind a screen? What are the limits of free expression in a world where every idea is a click away?"

Stagefright vulnerability on Android

A few days ago, experts from Zimperium mobile security discovered a vulnerability which they named it as 'Stagefright'. A vulnerability that allows a user to compromise Android devices via sending a malicious mms. This mms will then execute a code that can delete your messages even before you see it. 

Source: http://blog.zimperium.com/experts-found-a-unicorn-in-the-heart-of-android/

Below is how the attack works.

Source: http://blog.zimperium.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Cat1.png

According to Zimperium's blog, as of now, only Android devices protected by Zimperium’s advanced Enterprise Mobile Threat Protection solution, zIPS, protects its enterprise customers from Stagefright vulnerability and also SilentCircle’s Blackphone. 

Nevertheless, there are ways one can protect itself from such attack via manually changing the settings of the phone. As the attack primarily uses MMS as its platform of attacks, users of Android devices can disable the MMS settings (temporarily until Google release the official updates for it)

For Android's messaging:

Go to your Messages settings

Click on Multimedia Messages

By default, the 'Auto Retrieve' of MMS is checked

If you rarely used this function, i recommend that you uncheck this option.

For Google Hangout

Go to your Google Hangout Account

Select SMS

Uncheck the 'Auto retrieve MMS' settings.

Now, you are safe from the attack. However, if you are using other messaging platform/app to send or retrieve sms/mms, i recommend you check the settings and uncheck the MMS retrieval. 

Now we wait for the update/patch from Google.