Against a backdrop of dramatic revelations on the extent of state surveillance, the annual ITWeb Security Summit will get under way at the Sandton Convention Centre from 27-29 May, when top international and local information security experts will outline the biggest cyber threats facing nations, enterprises and individuals today.

Addressing the top-of-mind issue of state surveillance, Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist and senior policy analyst with the Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at the American Civil Liberties Union, and Jacob Appelbaum, hacker and independent computer security researcher, will analyse the issues of privacy and trust, and the role of internet companies in surveillance.

Late last year, Appelbaum answered for Edward Snowden when he received the Whistleblower Award from the Vereinigung Deutscher Wissenschaftler (VDW) and the German Section of the International Association Of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms (IALANA). In accepting the award for Snowden, Appelbaum said, “This is not a question of Internet freedom, but a question of our own civil liberties. It is question of spying on every aspect of our lives.”

Amid the questions around state manipulation of the cyber world, Jason Jordaan, head: cyber forensic laboratory: special investigating unit, SA, will outline the relationship between corruption and cyber crime, while Professor Basie von Solms, Centre for Cyber Security director at the University of Johannesburg, will assess the state of cyber counterintelligence. Privacy and reputational damage aren’t all that is at stake in a world under siege by cyber criminals. Now, organised cyber crime networks are targeting revenue from high-value individuals and businesses. Haroon Meer, founder of Thinkst, will assess the South African industry’s ability to withstand the growing threats.

In over 30 sessions presented in tracks for either senior business management or IT security professionals, infosec professionals will examine the risks facing enterprise information systems today, and the strategies and technologies needed to counter them.

Also on the agenda is a car hacking demonstration by Charlie Miller, security engineer at Twitter, and Chris Valasek, director of security intelligence at IOActive. They will describe the Controller Area Network architecture present in most vehicles today, and show how it is possible to manipulate the systems to control a vehicle.
In-depth workshops will be presented on day three of the event, offering practical training on security status reporting and testing Web applications for security vulnerabilities.

The ITWeb Security Summit 2014 takes place at the Sandton Convention Centre, in Johannesburg, from 27 to 29 May. Click here to find out more and to register. 

Editorial contacts
Leigh Angelo
ITP Communications
leigh@tradeprojects.co.za
011 869 9153