Windows 8 Total Fail

from Greg
Microsoft announced at CES they they are releasing Windows 9 in 2015 due to significantly poor reviews of Windows 8 and slow acceptance from commercial customers. HP has highlighted the problem by offering a line of Windows 7 computers. The Windows 8 operating system is actually hurting HP's computer sales. The computers run $480 to $999 which includes a $150 price reduction.

from Business Insider
Read the full story HERE
This weekend HP brought in a blast from the past in an attempt to boost its PC sales.

Windows 7.

In promotional material on its website and email blasts, HP says it'll start shipping PCs with Windows 7 again due to "popular demand." And that's not a good sign for Microsoft, which still bets that its touch-based Windows 8 operating system will reinvigorate the PC market.

Many agree that one of the contributing factors to the PC market's implosion is Windows 8, which can be hard to operate on the traditional desktops and laptops that many people still use. Despite manufacturer's best attempts, PC sales continue to decline year over year. In fact, 2013 was the worst year for PC sales, according to research firm Gartner.

Meanwhile, there are a slew of other options for people to choose from, including Chromebooks, the cheap laptops that run Google's Chrome operating system. Chromebooks are gaining momentum with customers, causing Microsoft to launch some very negative ads. HP has started making a bigger push in Chromebooks too.


Finally, Microsoft is reportedly working on a new version of Windows called Windows 9 that will fix many of the gripes people have with Windows 8. We'll likely get a tiny preview of Windows 9 at Microsoft's Build developers conference in April.


from HP
Read about the deal HERE.
Back by Popular Demand


Featuring genuine Windows 7 Home Premium for a familiar and intuitive environment.


All-around perfect fit
With convenient expandability options, the HP Pavilion 500 is the versatile PC that grows as your needs do. With a sharp, modern design, it fits seamlessly anywhere you put it. Top that off with powerful performance, strong graphics, and generous storage, and you’ve found your ideal PC.

Proven and powerful
Choose the latest Intel processors and multitask across more programs—including your favorite immersive games, HD3 videos, and photo editing software. Enjoy smooth and seamless life-like gaming with NVIDIA discrete graphics, or choose AMD ultra-high performance graphics for a thrilling experience. The options are yours.


Internal specs
Operating system
Windows 7 Home Premium 64

Processor
4th Generation Intel® Core™ i3-4130 processor dual-core [3.4GHz, 3MB Shared Cache]
4th Generation Intel® Core™ i5-4570 processor quad-core [3.2GHz, 6MB Shared Cache]

Memory
8GB DDR3-1600MHz [1 DIMM ]
10GB DDR3-1600 MHz [2 DIMM ]
2 DIMM

Hard drive
1TB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
2TB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
3TB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive

Graphics
Intel HD Graphics [DVI-D]
1GB Nvidia GeForce GT625[HDMI,DVI,VGA via adapter]
1GB AMD Radeon R5 235 [DVI, HDMI, DVI to AVG Dongle]

Optical drive
SuperMulti DVD Burner
Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner

Wireless technologies
802.11a/g/n; Bluetooth

Networking
Wireless-N LAN and Bluetooth (1x1)
Premium Wireless-N LAN card and Bluetooth(R )(2x2)

Ports
4 USB 3.0; 4 USB 2.0; 1 headphone; 1 microphone
3 PCIe x1; 1 PCIe x16; 1 mini PCIe x1
7-in-1 memory card reader

Related articles

• AMD Develops Behemoth Chip with Sixteen Cores on Single Die
• Microsoft Is Going To Try And Save The Imploding PC Market With Another New Version Of Windows
• Windows 9 could see a complete 180, return to glory days
• Microsoft employees reportedly call Windows 8 'the new Vista'

Add to Cart View detail

Parental Controls

from Greg
Gizmodo has a great how to guide on how to set the parental controls on every popular mobile platform. Time to put some protection on all the Xmas gadgets you bought the kids!

from Gizmodo
Read the full story HERE
How to Install Parental Controls on All of Your Gadgets
by Andrew Tarantola

Windows
Windows relies on Microsoft's Family Safety website and its companion desktop program to handle user access control. You'll be able to set individual accounts per child and limit their access to risky websites, monitor what sites they visit (or, at least, try to), and limit the amount of time they spend on games and other applications.

If you're on Windows 8, Scroll your mouse to the right edge of the screen and select Settings from the pop-out menu. For Windows 7, see if it's already installed by searching for Windows Live Family Safety from the Start menu—otherwise just download it.
Select Control Panel -> Family Safety -> Manage settings on the Family Safety Website.
Login to the family safety account using your Windows credentials (the ones you use to access your computer).
Select which accounts you want to control, setting up individual accounts per child as needed. Make sure that you set passwords for each account and turn off guest browsing as it can be used to bypass these controls.
Set the permissions for each kid by clicking Edit Settings under each of their names and activating the appropriate functions.

OSX
Unlike Windows, OSX Mavericks integrates all of its parental controls into the OS itself rather than rely on an external website. And in addition to monitoring and limiting your kid's surfing habits, you can also limit who they can interact with to defend against cyber bullies and pervs.

Select Apple menu -> System Preferences -> Parental Controls
Enter your Admin credentials
For an existing user, click Enable Parental Controls, and then set up the controls. Add new users by clicking Add at the bottom of the user list and entering a name and password for the new account.
For each account, you can set age rating limits for opening apps from the App Store in the Apps section, limit what websites can be visited in Safari in the Web section, who they can interact with in the Game Center and contact via email in the People section, and set time limits for general computer use and specific programs in the Time Limits section.

Chrome OS
As with Windows and OSX you'll need to set up individual accounts and login credentials for each child. Also be sure to turn off guest browsing before you get started.

Log into the Chromebook as the Admin account (the one you used when setting up the device)
Add additional users by clicking the Add Users button in the bottom left corner of the screen.
Open Chrome, go to chrome.com/manage, and sign in with your admin account.
Select Manage and set specific permissions for each kid's account, dubbed Supervised Users, as well as view their browsing history and respond to requests to unblock specific websites.
To restrict websites, select All of the web or Only specified sites under "Allow". You can enable or disable all of a site's sub domains—ie
paleofuture.gizmodo.com or gifmodo.gizmodo.com—all in one fell swoop by replacing the sub domain with an asterisk, as in *.gizmodo.com. Put the asterisk after the host (www.gizmodo.uk -> www.gizmodo.*) to disable sites in specific countries.

Additionally, you can force enable Safe Search from the manager as well

Android
If you want to control what your kids do on Android, the device will need to be running version 4.3 Jelly Bean which basically limits it to Nexus series phones and tablets.

Open Settings either from the App Drawer or by swiping down from the top right edge of the device -> click Add User or Profile -> Select Restricted Profile.
Tap the settings icon next to New profile to name the account and select which apps will be available to it using the neighboring toggle switch. Be warned, the system does not filter websites so if you're worried about little Johnny learning about the birds and the bees from BangBros, don't approve the use of browsers for that account.
If you don't have the latest and greatest Google gadget, don't worry. Google Play is packed with third party parental control apps., just search for "parental control". Kid's Place and Norton Family are both quite popular and quite free.
[Android]

iOS
Open Settings -> General -> Restrictions
Enable restrictions if you haven't already by tapping the radio button at the top of the screen and setting an access password that only you should know.
Below the Enable Restrictions button, you'll see a list of available apps. Work your way through dictating which can and cannot be access without your authorization password.
The subsequent sections allow you to set limits on in-app purchases, allowed content, and privacy settings such as turning off GPS or using third party apps.
Kindle Fire

Open Quick Settings by swiping down from the top of the screen, select Settings -> Parental Controls
Set up an Admin password that your kids won't be able to guess.
Set restrictions on the following features:
Web browsing
The Email, Contacts, and Calendars apps
Social network sharing
The camera
The ability to purchase from the content stores on your device (for example, the Amazon Appstore)
The ability to play movies and TV shows from Amazon Instant Video
Specific content types (for example, Books or Apps)
Wireless connectivity
Location-Based Services
You'll now be able to access all of these features while preventing your kids from doing so by simply entering you Admin password when prompted.

Xbox One
Setting up parental controls on an XB1 is very similar to setting them up on Windows 8.

Sign in to your console.
On your controller, press the Menu button -> select Settings.
Scroll right to Family, then select the child profile that you want to modify, then set permissions for various features including content rating restrictions, web browsing, and whehter or not their bio shows up in the OneGuide. You can also set specific permissions for each section by selecting Use, but customize.
And if you're rocking both an XB1 and a 360, you can control access for both using a single interface, thereby applying restrictions simultaneously to both systems, through the XBox Live website.

Playstation 4
Log in to your Master Account and make sure you password protect that account to prevent your kids from reversing the restrictions you set as well as set a 4-digit Parental controls passcode. Both are found under Settings -> Parental Controls
Set up sub accounts for each kid under Settings -> Parental Controls -> Manage Sub Accounts and dictate what restrictions will be present on each.
From this sub menu, you can restrict games, apps, and movies by age rating; turn off the web browser and disable voice, video, or text chats; prevent guest log ins (which you should); set spending limits in the Playstation Store, and restrict user-generated content.

Related articles

• How to Install Parental Controls on All of Your Gadgets
• How to Use a Picture as a Password in Windows 8.1
• Five-minute fix: Setting up parental controls on Windows 8
• Blog Post: Maximising your work productivity can be child's play

Add to Cart View detail

Nintendo Loses Money

from Greg
Nintendo is reporting that they lost over 300 million dollars in the last year. The salad days of the Wii are over. I wonder how this will effect their decison to not allow their characters or games on Apple devices. Licensing their characters could be the answer.

from Business Insider and Reuters

Read the full story HERE

TOKYO (Reuters) - Nintendo Co Ltd said it expects an operating loss of 35 billion yen ($336 million) for the year to end-March, citing much weaker-than-expected sales of its Wii U and 3DS game machines during the crucial holiday season.

The move reverses its previous forecast of a 100 billion yen profit and would mark the third consecutive year of operating losses for the embattled company, falling drastically short of the average estimate of a 54.7 billion yen profit in a survey of 18 analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The warning comes just three months after the creator of the Super Mario franchise stood by its sales projections for the Wii U, counting on the console to revive its fortunes amid cut-throat competition from Microsoft Corp's new XBox One and Sony Corp's recently released PlayStation 4.

"We failed to reach our target for hardware sales during the year-end, when revenues are the highest," the Osaka-based company said in a statement. "As a result, the sale of high-margin software fell far short of our projections."

The dismal sales of the Wii U mark a major setback for Nintendo President Satoshi Iwata, who has repeatedly had to scale back sales projections for the console as it failed to emulate the success of its hugely popular predecessor, the Wii.

Iwata told a briefing a year ago, when the company warned of its second consecutive year of operating losses, that he had "made a commitment" to achieve an operating profit of 100 billion yen or more in the year to March 2014.

"The fact that the 'Wii U strategy' has failed is disappointing and will likely trigger a sell-off as soon as the market opens," said Makoto Kikuchi, chief executive of Myojo Asset Management.

"The company appears to have failed to differentiate the Wii U from the Wii," he said, adding that his own 10-year-old son, who owns a Wii and DS, had shown no interest in the Wii U.

Nintendo on Friday also warned of a net loss of 25 billion yen for the year ending on March 31, a substantial reversal from its prior projection of a 55 billion yen profit. It now expects revenues of 590 billion yen, down 36 percent from its prior forecast. It cut its full-year dividend to 100 yen from 260 yen.

The company slashed its global Wii U sales forecast for the business year by almost 70 percent, to 2.8 million units from 9 million, and its 3DS sales forecast to 13.5 million units from 18 million units.

Nintendo shares have fallen almost 10 percent since hitting a two-and-a-half year high of 15,880 yen on January 10. The stock climbed 55 percent in 2013, in line with a 57 percent rally by the benchmark Nikkei average but underperforming a 91 percent surge by rival Sony.

($1 = 104.2400 Japanese yen)

(Additional reporting by Ayai Tomisawa, Dominic Lau and Reiji Murai; Editing by Edmund Klamann and Matt Driskill)

Related articles

• How Bad Are Things For Nintendo Right Now? This Bad...
• Nintendo mulls new business model after forecasting surprise $240 million loss due to weak Wii U demand - @BloombergNews
• It's time for Iwata to step down from Nintendo - opinion
• How Does Nintendo Save the Wii U? Lose the GamePad, Own the Sidekick Role

Add to Cart View detail

Best CES 2014 Longreads

From Greg
CES 2014 is in the books. The buzz words this year were wearable and 3D printing. 5,000 tech journalist swarmed Las Vegas. Here are the best long read articles from the show.

Microsoft and the PC have seen better days
The PC isn't dead, but Microsoft will have to work hard to stay relevant in an increasingly mobile world in 2014.
by Brooke Crothers at CNET
Read the full story HERE

The Gear That Got Us Through CES
Any tech blogger will tell you CES can be fun, but it is a grind. They will tell you loudly, and insistently. You will not need to ask. But to get through that joyous slog, we had some helpful sidekick gadgets to get us through (mostly) unscathed. Here are the Gizmodo Strike Force favorites.
Read the full story HERE

Executive Insights & Innovation
Sensor-equipped objects and their networks -- what Cisco calls the Internet of Everything -- will reshape your life, Cisco CEO John Chambers says.
Read the full story HERE

Digital Trends Best of CES 2014 award winners
We came, we saw, we drank in the very best tech CES 2014 had to offer. After revealing our Best of CES 2014 nominees in 15 different categories on day one of the show, we slept (very little) on our decisions, roamed the show floor again, and now we’re back to reveal the hard-fought winners – including the coveted Best of Show award. It took some agonizing, nail biting and even a little arguing, but we managed to whittle our list of five nominees in every category down to just one. Except, of course, in the Home category, which has the distinction of claiming six winners this year to accommodate for its exceptionally broad scope. Without further ado, here are the products that defined CES 2014.
Read the full story HERE

Related articles

• Google may announce Android based in-car system at CES 2014
• CES 2014: Cisco's Internet of Everything Vision - InformationWeek
• CES 2014 Photos
• Digital Trends Best of CES 2014 award finalists

Add to Cart View detail

What is Steam?

From Greg
I have been using Steam since it was introduced in 2002. It isn't perfect. It feels like software made during a Microsoft hackathon. However it works. If you love video games you need Steam.

If I buy a game on Mac and there is a Windows version I get a free copy. If I buy a new computer I can automatically download my games and get back to Call of Duty.

Valve is now make a console system that will compete with the new Playstation and  XBOX. It will let you play games without a PC. You just need to hook the Steam Box to a TV.

See Steam's collection of games HERE

Steam Box Example

From Valve
Steam is a digital distribution, digital rights management, multi-player, and communications platform developed by Valve Corporation. It is used to distribute games. 

Though initially developed for use on Microsoft Windows, it has expanded to include OS X and Linux , and limited functionality on the PlayStation 3 console and for both iOS and Android mobile devices. 

As of October 2013, there are over 3000 games available through Steam, and over 65 million Steam accounts. In December 2013, Steam surpassed over 7.1 million concurrent players. In October 2013, it was estimated that 75% of all digital games purchased for the PC are through Steam.

Through Steam, fans can easily buy, play, share, modify, and build communities around Valve products as well as titles from other independent game studios. Steam is available in 237 countries and 21 different languages.

Here is a Valve promo video for the Steam Box.

The Steam Controller

A different kind of gamepad
We set out with a singular goal: bring the Steam experience, in its entirety, into the living-room. We knew how to build the user interface, we knew how to build a machine, and even an operating system. But that still left input — our biggest missing link. We realized early on that our goals required a new kind of input technology — one that could bridge the gap from the desk to the living room without compromises. So we spent a year experimenting with new approaches to input and we now believe we’ve arrived at something worth sharing and testing with you.

The Steam Controller is designed to work with all the games on Steam: past, present, and future. Even the older titles in the catalog and the ones which were not built with controller support. (We’ve fooled those older games into thinking they’re being played with a keyboard and mouse, but we’ve designed a gamepad that’s nothing like either one of those devices.) We think you’ll agree that we’re onto something with the Steam Controller, and now we want your help with the design process.


Traditional gamepads force us to accept compromises. We’ve made it a goal to improve upon the resolution and fidelity of input that’s possible with those devices. The Steam controller offers a new and, we believe, vastly superior control scheme, all while enabling you to play from the comfort of your sofa. Built with high-precision input technologies and focused on low-latency performance, the Steam controller is just what the living-room ordered.

Related articles

• Valve's Gabe Newell Not Fazed By Xbox One Sales Figures
• Why Valve thinks you'll want a Steam Machine
• PC Game Maker Valve Announces Steam Machines Made by Dell Unit - Businessweek
• What It Will Look Like To Play Games On Valve's Steam Box (Videos)
• Steam Machines are here: how Alienware is realizing Valve's game console dream

Add to Cart View detail

Steve Ballmer Moron

From Greg 
Business Insider just posted a story entitled: Microsoft Is A Total Mess Because Of Steve Ballmer, And That's Why No One Wants To Be Its New CEO, Says The WSJ

Read more: businessinsider

The Wall Street Journal could not be more correct. Ballmer has run the wrecking ball through a great company. Whether it be the failed rack and stack employee review program or the stagnant growth in the former world's largest corporation Ballmer has almost ruined Microsoft.

Ballmer's support of the Xbox program is the only shining moment in what will go down as one of the worst corporate leadership tenures in history. My biggest fault lies with the Microsoft board not with Ballmer. Why did they stick with him for so long? The balance sheet speaks for itself and what it says is: Ballmer Sucks!

Good riddence Steve. Try the used cars business. Something about you makes me feel like you would excel there.

From Business Insider
Microsoft says it will have a new CEO in the "early part" of this year.
Whenever that may be, it will be behind schedule. 

Microsoft was hoping to have a new CEO in place by November or December, say Shira Ovide and Joann Lubin at the Wall Street Journal. 

The reason Microsoft doesn't have a new CEO right now, according to Ovide and Lubin, is that the job isn't all that appealing thanks to two big problems: One is called Bill Gates and the other is called Steve Ballmer. 

"At least some external executives who discussed the CEO job with Microsoft directors have expressed concerns about being hamstrung if the two men continue to serve on the board, according to people familiar with their thinking," report Ovide and Lubin. 

In particular, the Journal's reporters go after Ballmer pretty hard: "Some candidates for the top post at Microsoft seem to be particularly uneasy about Mr. Ballmer, according to people familiar with their thinking. He has made several recent decisions that have altered the company's strategy and generated controversy among managers and investors."

Just before Ballmer announced his retirement, he created a sweeping re-organization of the company. This has led to a lot of talented engineers leaving Microsoft as they either lost battles for promotions, or found themselves in new, less-desirable roles. 

A new CEO will be stuck with Ballmer's re-org, which was done with the board's support. Or the new CEO will have to tear it up, which means another period of awkward transition for Microsoft, and for the new CEO, an awkward board dynamic, since Ballmer is still on the board. 

Then, after announcing his retirement, Ballmer spent $7.2 billion buying Nokia, a dying handset maker. This is a turnaround project within Microsoft the next chief executive will have to deal with. 

Ballmer is expected to be on Microsoft's board. And, as the WSJ notes, he's not a quiet guy who will sit idly if a new CEO tries to rip up everything he's done. 

Then there's Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, the richest person in the world, a guy who is mostly revered in Microsoft, and has his own very strong opinions about what Microsoft should be doing next.

The problem, though, is that Gates isn't attuned to what's happening in tech the way he once was. He's busy saving the world. His time is spent meeting with heads of state, and figuring out how to cure poverty and global disease. His brain power is not trained 100% on iPads, servers, enterprise software, and web-based software. (When you're fighting Larry Page, Jeff Bezos, and Tim Cook, who spend every second of the day thinking about tech, you need to be just as focused.)

Anyone that's CEO will have Gates bending his or her ear. And they can't just ignore Gates.

In addition to Gates and Ballmer, Microsoft is also about to add an activist board member. ValueAct, which took a stake in Microsoft, is getting its own board member starting this year. Although, the ValueAct board member could be helpful to the new CEO, since ValueAct wants Microsoft to change its ways. 

If the board room dynamics weren't difficult enough, there's the actual company which has gone from a near-monopoly in computing to an almost also-ran status in consumer tech. 

So, yeah, it's a tough job!

But, there is only 1 job like this available in the world. And if you're scared off by all the above, you shouldn't take the job. Microsoft is going to have to have to find the right person, even if it takes a little longer than expected.

Related articles

• Watch Bill Gates Get Choked Up As He Talks About Steve Ballmer Leaving Microsoft (MSFT)
• For Steve Ballmer, a lasting touch on Microsoft
• Best of 2013: Watch Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Crying on Stage During His Last Speech
• Steve Ballmer: Here's The Real Reason I'm Leaving Microsoft (MSFT)
• Steve Ballmer's Long Goodbye

Add to Cart View detail

My First-hand Experience with China's Most Successful Technology Transfer Campaign (better than hacking)

There's no doubt that China is on an aggressive technology acquisition track and has been for 20+ years. Way too much emphasis has been placed on the vacuuming of data from U.S. companies through targeted attacks (otherwise known by the marketing buzzword "APT"). That's actually a terribly inefficient way to conduct the scale of tech transfer that China needs and a lot of the data that gets scooped up has low value, which is partly why I believe that hacker groups from many different countries (including China) are the main instigators behind those attacks rather than the PLA or a Foreign Intelligence Service. Small scale hacker groups are like burglars breaking into peoples' houses. They take as much as they can carry and then try to fence the goods for whatever they can get.

The Chinese government has crafted a much more elegant, legal, and precise way to obtain the exact type of technology that they need. They offer tax incentives and access to the biggest market in the world to U.S. companies who open their Research and Development centers in China. To date, over 1200 companies have taken China up on that offer including Boeing, Microsoft, Dell, Cisco, Intel, GE and many, many more. Part of the deal is that these U.S. companies must hire a percentage of Chinese engineers, who stay for a year or two; learn everything they can about the technology of interest, and then leave to work for a Chinese national champion firm or state-owned enterprise.

Here's a recap of my own first-hand experience with this process. As I've mentioned before, Taia Global has a product in development called Chimera. We are building the world's first and largest commercial database of adversary states' research and development priorities, focusing on technologies that are U.S. export-controlled. These represent the creme de la creme of targets for acts of industrial and cyber espionage. I've been searching for a data scientist with a background in document-matching. Being an ex-Microsoft employee, I started with the Microsoft Research website and learned that almost all of the researchers working on NLP and Search topics are at Microsoft Asia (in Beijing). I identified a couple of researchers in the precise field that I was looking for and sent email introductions to both. It turned out that both had left Microsoft Research and went to work for Huawei's internal R&D lab.

The U.S. government fueled by testimony from InfoSec industry experts can complain about Spear Phishing, APT, and Chinese hackers day-in and day-out but that won't begin to address the much more serious problem of how so many top U.S. firms willingly give their intellectual property away for the promise of cheap research costs and lucrative access to a massive Chinese market. What complaining about the Chinese government hacking U.S. corporations will do is keep the conversation in a politically advantageous zone and away from the political minefield that represents US companies exporting their R&D overseas. If you're looking to blame someone for the estimated $300 billion in IP loss that the U.S. suffered last year, start by taking a hard, honest look at what U.S. companies are willing to risk in order to do business in China.

Related

"China Operates the World's Most Successful Honey Pot"

Add to Cart View detail

Debate: "Private Companies Should Be Authorized To Take Measured Offensive Action Against Attackers"

On Feb. 8-9, 2013, up to 100 people including some of the world's leading experts in law, incident response, reverse-engineering and intelligence will meet in Washington DC to debate the topic: "Private Companies should be Authorized to take Measured Offensive Actions against Attackers". The list of speakers includes CrowdStrike's Dmitri Alperovich, Mandiant's Richard Bejtlich, Microsoft's Dave Aucsmith, Dambala Labs' Gunter Ollmann, CrySys Labs' Boldi Bencsath, ReVuln's Donato Ferrante, INTERPOL's new Digital Crime Center's director, the ITU's Marco Obiso, The Grugq, The Jester, and many more.

The Agenda of Suits and Spooks DC will feature the most intriguing panel discussions every held on the highly controversial issue of "striking back" at those responsible for cyber attacks as well as how offensive markets for malware are changing the world of vulnerability exploits. The second day will include breakout sessions as well as an afternoon debate between two teams consisting of 12 volunteers from our attendees along with time for research and strategizing over a working lunch.

Friday, February 8, 2013 - Waterview Conference Center

9:00am - Registration and Continental Breakfast

9:45am - Welcome and Briefing on the Day's Activities

10:00am - 12:00pm: Panel Discussion - Offensive Tactics and Takedowns by Security Vendors

Featuring Mr. Dmitri Alperovich (CTO and Co-Founder, Crowdstrike), Mr. Richard Bejtlich (CSO, Mandiant), Mr. David Aucsmith (Sr. Director, Microsoft Institute of Advanced Technologies for Governments), and Mr. Nick Selby (Police Officer, DFW Area Department of Public Safety; Partner, Enterprise Security at N4Struct, Inc.).

12:00pm - 1:00pm: How Duqu, Flame, Gauss, and Shamoon can be reconfigured and reused against different victims

Featuring Dr. Boldizsár “Boldi” Bencsáth (Associate Professor, Laboratory of Cryptography and Systems Security (CrySyS), Department of Telecommunications, Budapest University of Technology and Economics)

1:00pm - 1:45pm LUNCH (provided on-site)

1:45pm - 3:45pm: Panel Discussion - Finding Exploitable Loopholes in the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and International Law for Offensive Actions in Cyberspace

Featuring Dr. Catherine Lotrionte (Director of the Institute for Law, Science + Global Security, Georgetown University),  Mr. Stewart A. Baker (Partner, Steptoe & Johnson), Mr. Frank J. Cilluffo, Director, Homeland Security Policy Institute at George Washington University, and Mr. Marco Obiso (Cybersecurity Coordinator, International Telecommunications Union (ITU)

3:45pm - 4:00pm BREAK

4:00pm-6:00pm: Panel Discussion - Offensive Markets for Vulnerability Research - Pros and Cons

Featuring Mr. Donato Ferrante (Co-Founder and Security Researcher, ReVuln), The Grugq (a security engineer who specializes in reverse-engineering and anti-forensics), Mr. Gunter Ollmann (Chief Technology Officer, Damballa Labs)

Saturday, February 9, 2013 - Waterview Conference Center

9:00am Continental Breakfast

9:30am Welcome and Briefing on the Day's Activities

9:45am - 10:45am (Classroom A): Calculating The Adversary's Return-On-Investment and How That Can Inform Defense

Featuring Mr. Josh Corman (Director of Security Intelligence, Akamai)  and Mr. David Etue (Vice President, Corporate Development Strategy at SafeNet)

9:45am - 10:45am: (Classroom B): (topic to be announced)

Featuring Mr. Spencer Wilcox (Lead Security Strategist and Special Assistant to the Vice President of Corporate and Information Security Services for Exelon Corporation)

9:45am - 10:45am: (Classroom C): Q&A with The Jester via IRC "Is Offense The Best Defense, and Who Should Conduct It?"

This will be a moderated discussion with The Jester via IRC chat. Attendees will be able to pass their questions to the moderator and The Jester will respond in real-time.

 10:45am - 12:45pm: What's the Downside of Private Sector Offensive Engagement?

Featuring Dr. Anup Ghosh (Founder and CEO at Invincea), Mr. Jeffrey Carr (Founder and CEO, Taia Global, Inc.), Mr. Gunter Ollmann (Chief Technology Officer, Damballa Labs), and Mr. Josh Corman (Director of Security Intelligence, Akamai)

12:45pm-2:00pm: Working Lunch

12 attendees will volunteer to debate the proposition (6 per team). The working lunch will be spent dividing into teams and assisting the debaters in preparing research and debate strategies.

2:00pm - 3:30pm: Debate the Proposition "Private Companies Should be Authorized to Take Measured Offensive Actions Against Attackers"

The debate will be judged by a panel of 5 of our speakers

3:30pm - Closing Remarks

The Waterview Conference Center is one of Washington D.C.'s most beautiful and exclusive facilities but it has a capacity of only 100 people so don't miss out. Register today and be a part of one of 2013's most important events.

We are also still looking for companies to join Basis Technology in sponsoring this important event. Please contact me for more information.

Add to Cart View detail