Ride the Lightning

NIGHTMARES ON MAIN STREET: BLACK HAT BRIEFINGS

August 1, 2008

Even for someone who is immersed in electronic evidence, including the world of hackers, spammers, phishers and other cybercriminals, I am always rocked by some of the things that come out at the annual Black Hat Briefings and Training. This year, the conference will take place August 6-7 in Las Vegas, where the extraordinary can seem ordinary. But not at this conference. Amidst the make-believe backdrop of Vegas, the horrific realities of tollbooth payment system hacking, Google Desktop security vulnerabilities (and how many of us have that installed in the legal profession?) and a scary social networking session entitled “Satan is on My Friends List” will all take center stage along with the other hobgoblins of the security world.

Happily, Law.com will be covering the conference through special reporters Brian Dykstra and Keith Jones, who are partners of Jones Dykstra & Associates, a Maryland-based consulting firm (http://www.jrdcorp.com)

I will be watching all their reports as they come in – their pre-conference report may be found at http://www.law.com/jsp/legaltechnology/pubArticleLT.jsp?id=1202423363391, just so you get a head start on having “the willies.”

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