Will "GDPR Extortion" become the new "trend" in cybercrime?

Even though this is not an "official" term that is being used (well, at least not yet), it does describe the concern I am trying to explain to people at different occasions. I often discuss GDPR from the security perspective, and the conversations most of the time end up focusing at the implications of the regulation and the "next day". 

This is when I end up trying to describe the potential scenario of "GDPR Extortion", as I always like to see things through different lenses when it comes to forward-thinking in Information Security and CyberSecurity. 

By saying "GDPR Extortion" I tend to mean something similar to "DDoS Extortion", and it is easier to give an example to people in order to explain this type of potentially evolving threat. 

RIPE NCC - RIPE ATLAS

I recently saw Vesna Manojlovic’s  (@Ms_Multicolor) talk at BalCCon (@BalCC0n) about the RIPE Atlas device and I wanted to find out more about the project. I felt a need to play around with the device, see how it works, run a few security tests, and of course, be part of the online community that has access to the data in real-time.

Getting started with the RIPE Atlas probe (@RIPE_Atlas) was more or less straightforward. 

The RIPE NCC (@RIPE_NCC) is building the largest Internet measurement network ever made. 

For those who are not familiar, the RIPE NCC assigns and allocates Internet number resources across Europe, the Middle East and parts of Central Asia. The RIPE Atlas employs a global network of probes that measure Internet connectivity and reachability, providing an unprecedented understanding of the state of the Internet in real time. You can explore the RIPE Atlas measurements, maps and tools, once you register for an account. 

Starting with the probe I had to visit the URL http://probev3.ripe.net which redirected me to https://atlas.ripe.net/docs/probe-v3/. On that page, one can find further information about the device, and what one should do if they find one connected to a network, and of course what to do if one has found a lost device. 

"Moving Towards CyberResilience", BalCCon2k17

This year is my first time to the Balcan Computer Congress, known as BalCCon (BalCCon2k17) in Novi Sad, in Serbia. I have visited Serbia a few times for work and it is a pleasure to have the opportunity be back, attending this amazing conference and present a talk. 

BalCCon (@balcc0n) is a three-day conference with a great line-up of speakers, hackspace activities that include soldering and hardware hacking, retro gaming, workshops, and a pleasant atmosphere with a party-mood throughout the day. 

This year’s event is the 5th BalCCon2k17.  The conference opened on Friday 15/Sep/2017 by Jelena Georgijevic Krasojevic. She welcomed everyone and gave a small introduction about the event and its history. The event started at 14:00, which gave people enough time to fly to the country in the morning or make sure they had a really good night sleep if they arrived the previous night. 

If you haven't been to BalCCon, it is time for you to make plans for next year. The package includes, amazing talks, plenty activities for people to do, many workshops to attend, a friendly atmosphere, good food, and warm weather. 

Security BSides Amsterdam 2017

My passion for contributing to the information security community as much as possible, led me into getting myself involved with the formation of another information security conference. After a number of discussions, I decided to help out with putting together a Security BSides conference in the Netherlands. More specifically, the first ever Security BSides Amsterdam 2017 (www.bsidesams.nl) took place on Friday, 1/Sep/2017 in the heart of Amsterdam, at Zalen Pakhuis de Zwijger B.V. (dezwijger.nl). 

We tried to engage the Dutch information security community as much as possible as this was  our first attempt to make this conference a reality. We were very pleased to have so many speakers submitting a talk to the conference, and the support of OWASP and especially OWASP Netherlands. 

On our account on peerlyst you will find a list of all the talks of the day, along with their respective YouTube video. 

You can also find all of the videos on our YouTube channel, all combined in one playlist here. 

Security BSides Athens 2017

This was the second Security BSides Athens in Greece this year, which allowed us to move to a slightly bigger venue. We tried to put together a better event since last year and further improve the quality of the conference.

Security BSides Athens 2017 (www.bsidesath.gr) took place at "The Athinais Cultural Center" - ATHINAIS