AusCERT 2013 Day 1

Eugene Kaspersky's presentation on how to protect business and critical infrastructure gave us an insight into his vision for new approaches to combating threats, although he wasn't keen to be quoted on the vulnerabilities of mobile networks. In fact, his advice for protecting telecommunications networks from cyberthreats is to pray.

The session China Challenges: Target — Australia: People's Republic of China use of Computers & Networks as a Strategic Weapon by Lt Col Hagestad was possibly the busiest session we've attended at the conference so far.

In his presentation on surviving the cyberfraud nightmare, Brian Hay introduced us to Jill, a survivor of fraud who was brave enough to share her heartbreaking story.

The victim of Nigerian scammers, Jill lost over AU$300,000, and the ordeal contributed to the breakdown of her marriage.

Chief technology advocate at Google, Michael T Jones spoke about security's greatest risk: how society's ever-increasing dependence on computers and communication has raised issues of privacy and security to the level of National threats.

The Storm Troopers and other Star Wars characters were so popular at last year's conference that they made a welcome return. These guys provide entertainment at AusCERT for free, and are given a donation that goes to charity. Approve of this, we do.

The Storm Troopers might dominate in numbers, but we wouldn't mess with Boba Fett! He definitely makes us feel secure, and could probably give the conference security guards a run for their money.

The Emperor's Imperial Guard also showed up to make sure everyone was protected.

Risky Business' Patrick Gray stopped by the Sophos stand to chat to their team, or were they just debating whether XXXX or VB is the best beer? Pat may hail from Victoria, but when in Rome (or Queensland, in this case)...

Delegates ponder how many security experts it takes to set up an EAL+ Certified Smart Firewall.

This year, Sophos chose the theme "Transform security", complete with Transformers cartoons playing at its stand and giveaways of Transformers-building kits and Optimus Prime masks.

The conference kicked off on Tuesday night, with welcome drinks sponsored by the organisers.

Detective Superintendent Brian Hay, head of the Queensland Police Fraud Squad, recognises a familiar face in AusCERT veteran Munir Kotadia.

FireEye may just have the most entertaining attraction at this year's conference, with its robot man, who turned out to be extremely friendly and playful, despite his menacing appearance.

Founding member of AusCERT and senior security architect with CSC Peter Nikitser spoke about tokenisation for PCI DSS Compliance, and the issues that businesses face when managing card payment information. In this photo, he's expressing his victory at finally getting his team to stop using Telnet. Telnet is bad, mmmkay?

In his presentation on the rise of the targeted attack, Trend Micro's Adam Biviano gave us some practical steps to keep ahead of various issues from advanced persistent threats and targeted attacks to the cloud and BYOD.

Now a driving force within the Victims of Fraud Support Group, Jill helped us understand that being scammed doesn't happen because you are stupid or greedy. "You're so convinced you're not being conned, you just do anything," she said.

The FireEye robot just wanted to fit in and have fun — visiting all the stands in the exhibition hall and making friends with the delegates.

Trustwave embraced the Star Wars theme, decking out their stand with an espresso machine that reminded us of an R2D2/C3PO combination. Or could this be a misplaced gold-plated coffee machine from NBN Co?