AusCERT 2012 kicks off: photos

(Credit: Zennith Geisler/ZDNet Australia)

Delegates from all over the world travelled to the Gold Coast to hear from top security experts, including Mikko Hypponen (chief research officer, F-Secure), Paul Vixie (chairman and founder, Internet Systems Consortium) and Eugene Kaspersky (chairman and CEO, Kaspersky Lab).

(Credit: Zennith Geisler/ZDNet Australia)

ZDNet Australia's Munir Kotadia interviewed F-Secure chief research officer Mikko Hypponen before his keynote address, essentially getting a sneak peek of what he would cover in his presentation.

"It's not just that Apple have had a bad year, it's that Apple OS X people have had a bad year. The iOS people have had a great year; in fact, they've had a great five years," he said.

"In June, iPhone is going to be five years old. One of the most visible gadgets in the world — zero malware, not a single virus/trojan/backdoor that would run on a non-modified, non-jailbroken iPhone, which is a great accomplishment.

"It's been long overdue to see problems like these in OS X, because it really wasn't as secure as everybody thought it was."

(Credit: Zennith Geisler/ZDNet Australia)

Graham Ingram, general manager of AusCERT, welcomed guests to the conference and gave an overview of events before introducing the keynote speaker.

(Credit: Munir Kotadia/ZDNet Australia)

Keynote speaker Mikko Hypponen is a veteran of the security industry, having started working with viruses and malware 21 years ago in 1991.

"We're seeing right now the beginning of the next revolution on how future wars are being fought. We are right now seeing how basically any developed nation is starting to stockpile on cyber attacks and cyber arms. It's a cyber arms race, and it's starting right now," he said.

(Credit: Zennith Geisler/ZDNet Australia)

Juniper Networks senior director Christofer Hoff gave the plenary address, during which he claimed to be wearing a "wearable Japanese space toilet". This was quite apt, as his presentation on commode computing discussed "relevant advances in toiletry and IT — from squat pots to cloud bots — better waste management through security automation".

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Security Consultancy Hacklabs decided against a traditional booth this year, opting instead to drive a tank onto the lawn of the conference building. While most attendees looked quite impressed, Stilgherrian said, "It's not a tank, it's an M113 armoured personnel carrier with an MRV mod. The turret is taken from a..."

We walked away before he could finish, not wanting to know why he knows so much about military vehicles.

(Credit: Munir Kotadia/ZDNet Australia)

Hacklabs' Penetration tester Chris Gatford poses proudly with the tank, which doubles as the company's exhibition space.

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The exhibition hall was host to a cocktail evening on Tuesday night, where attendees could network, socialise and explore the many IT security booths on display.

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The AusCERT exhibition hall features booths from all the major security vendors, including Sophos, Kaspersky, Trend Micro and Symantec. Guests can visit the booths to learn about the companies' products and services — and get free swag.

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Antivirus and antispyware vendor Webroot caused a bit of commotion with its booth's reference to competitor Symantec. Subsequently, the sign was almost taken down — but it's still there (for the moment!).

(Credit: Zennith Geisler/ZDNet Australia)

Trend Micro dressed their booth babes in lab coats.

(Credit: Zennith Geisler/ZDNet Australia)

ZDNet Australia will be covering the 2012 AusCERT conference all week, so keep checking back for more photos, videos and news coverage.