Telecomms industry regulator the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has agreed to be the "supporting organisation" for a conference that will see world-renowned hackers and network security experts gathering in Malaysia.
The 3rd Annual HITBSecconf2004, to be held here from Oct 4-7 at The Westin KL, is a homegrown hacking and network security conference organised by Hack In The Box (M) Sdn Bhd.
"The converging communications and multimedia industry, and rapid technological changes, have posed new challenges to the security of networks," said Adelina Iskandar, MCMC's head of corporate communications, in a statement released by Hack In The Box.
Toh Swee Hoe, the general manager of MCMC's monitoring and enforcement division, will present a paper on these challenges, and will also highlight several initiatives the MCMC (www.mcmc.gov.my) is working on to address them, she added.
When it comes to information and network security, the Malaysian industry is guided by the 10th National Policy Objective of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, and that is to ensure information security and network reliability and integrity.
In Malaysia's liberalised industry, network infrastructure is privately owned, and it is thus imperative for network owners to ensure the security, reliability and integrity of the network so that consumers feel safe and have full confidence in its delivery, Adelina said.
HITBSecConf2004 will feature presentations from about 20 of the world's most renowned hackers and security experts. The highlight will be keynote speakers Theo De Raadt from Canada and John T. Draper (a.k.a Captain Crunch) from the United States.
In 1995 De Raadt created the OpenBSD project, creating a free Unix that focuses primarily on security technologies. A few years later he also started the OpenSSH project, the most deployed open source software in the world, according to Hack In The Box.
He has been involved with free Unix operating systems since 1990 and was one of the founders and prime developers of NetBSD. At the conference, De Raadt will be presenting a paper entitled Exploit Mitigation Techniques.
Draper is listed in Discovery Channel's "Hackers Hall of Fame" and was one of the original members of the Homebrew Computer Club.
Widely known as the first security pioneer, he has over 30 years of programming and security expertise to his name. He is credited with introducing, among others, Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, to the computing world, and a generation of hackers to the glorious concept of "phone phreaking", spawning the worldwide "2600" clubs.
His work with Jobs and Wozniak led him to become the 13th employee of Apple Computer Inc, where he designed telephone interface boards, as well as hardware and software for the Apple II.
The main aim of HITBSecConf2004 is to enable the dissemination, discussion and sharing of network security information.
Presented by respected members of the mainstream network security arena as well as the underground or BlackHat community, this year's conference promises to once again give attendees and inside look at several new attacks as well as defence methods that have not been seen or discussed in public before.
For more info or to register, go to http://conference.hackinthebox.org.