Alex Muentz, Esq.
JitterBug: Keyboards and Covert ChannelsDefending your employer and your own damn self against search warrants, subpoenas, and seizures.
Last year Alex gave an awesome talk on the then-current state of wiretapping laws, citing actual cases both closed and pending. This year, he makes the argument that the legal system is simply another threat to your infrastructure and should be treated as such.
As always, Alex manages to bring the twisted insanity of the courts down to a level anyone can grasp, with a techie's sensibility and a wry sense of humor. If you missed it, you missed out. Perhaps the slides will console you... slightly.
(Oh, and, y'know, if you ever need a lawyer, be sure to grab the man's card.)
Gaurav (With a little help from Mary and The Huntsman)
Hell, maybe you read about this one.
This talk detailed Gaurav's research into creating a covert channel between a user's hands and the Interwebs by installing a simple device on their keyboard.
The device is trivial to manufacture, simple to install (like any other hardware keylogger) and uses calculated and configurable delays and string pattern matching to get the dox you want.
Christmas is coming up, and this might be just the thing when you want a gift that gives back.
(All future presenters should note that the speaker gets free booze during their talk. Just ask one of the organizers who your designated Booze Bitch is.)
One of the best parts of any Pumpcon talk is audience participation, be it smack-talk, pretzel-throwing, or thoughtful questions... oh, who are we kidding. The best part of Pumpcon is the alcohol poisoning.
We're all getting older and this was probably the tamest Pumpcon ever. No one got arrested, no one yakked in a cab, no fights. In fact, it seems the admonishment to Watch Your Junk did some magic, and no one even got smacked in the balls. Or if they did, it was consensual and happened behind a closed door. You know how those hackers roll. Kinky freaks.
This may very well have been the last year we'll be holding the con at the Best Western. They're blowing the damn thing up to build condos for New York yuppie expats. Or maybe not. Y'know Philly, ya don't know shit til it goes down.
solios did an amazing job on the shirts this year. In fact, it was the first year we sold out. Rockstar.
This year also marked the first year Dr. Nick wasn't able to throw a house party, and perhaps began a new tradition: Philly bar crawl. The debauchery started off at McGlinchey's, swaggered down to Dirty Franks, and then stumbled and swayed its way to Tattooed Mom's to close off the night.
Bring a buddy next year. Give a talk. Drop Alex an email and give him ideas for some interesting juxtaposition between The Law and the Street to terrorize us with.
As always, nerds and their toy fetish documented the attendees at their worst. If you got some shots, throw us a URL.