30c3
January 4, 2014 9:28 AM Subscribe
While Jacob Appelbaum grabbed headlines with his NSA revelations at this year's Chaos Communication Congress, other presentations provided equally fascinating insight into how the world works. Learn how data mining is bringing perpetrators of genocide to justice (alt), how an artist uses different concepts of secrecy landscapes (alt) to keep tabs on clandestine activities, and how India's surveillance state continues to grow (alt).
previously
A few additional highlights:
Glenn Greenwald delivered the keynote address [alt].
Policing the Romantic Crowd [alt]. Professor Richard Marggraf Turley and Anne Marggraf-Turley examine the use of surveillance technologies during the Romantic period, and the similarities to their modern counterparts. At last year's CCC, the two gave a talk on Romantic Hackers.
Electronic Bank Robberies [alt]. Security researchers analyze malware which has been infecting ATMs and uncover the business behind how malware is used to steal money from cash machines. They're not the first to jackpot an ATM, but modern criminals have interesting ways to make sure their mules don't walk away with their money.
Backdoors, Government Hacking and the Next Crypto Wars [alt]. ACLU Technologist Christopher Soghoian discusses the slowly increasing deployment of cryptography, use of hacking software by federal and local law enforcement, and how government requests may move from asking for individual user data to asking for encryption keys used to protect all user data.
To Protect and Infect: The Militarization of the Internet. Claudio Guarnieri and Morgan Marquis-Boire discuss the deployment and capabilities of commercial spying suites such as FinFisher and how they are used by repressive governments to spy on dissidents.
No Neutral Ground in a Burning World [alt]. Quinn Norton and Eleanor Saitta discuss the views and expectations of governments and cultural institutions through the longer lens of history.
Through a PRISM, Darkly [alt]. Kurt Opsahl of the EFF provides clarity regarding the history and codenames of the NSA's spying programs, what programs we know are currently being used, as well as insight into how to help stop the spying.
ID Cards in China (alt). How electronic ID cards carried by Chinese residents contain health information such as HIV status, political affiliations, and more. Talk discusses history of tracking, who has access to this data, and what it means for human rights.
Towards an affordable brain-computer interface (alt).
The Year In Crypto (alt).
Drones (alt).
You can find many additional (largely more technical) videos available for download and viewing in several formats (as well as on Youtube).
A few additional highlights:
Glenn Greenwald delivered the keynote address [alt].
Policing the Romantic Crowd [alt]. Professor Richard Marggraf Turley and Anne Marggraf-Turley examine the use of surveillance technologies during the Romantic period, and the similarities to their modern counterparts. At last year's CCC, the two gave a talk on Romantic Hackers.
Electronic Bank Robberies [alt]. Security researchers analyze malware which has been infecting ATMs and uncover the business behind how malware is used to steal money from cash machines. They're not the first to jackpot an ATM, but modern criminals have interesting ways to make sure their mules don't walk away with their money.
Backdoors, Government Hacking and the Next Crypto Wars [alt]. ACLU Technologist Christopher Soghoian discusses the slowly increasing deployment of cryptography, use of hacking software by federal and local law enforcement, and how government requests may move from asking for individual user data to asking for encryption keys used to protect all user data.
To Protect and Infect: The Militarization of the Internet. Claudio Guarnieri and Morgan Marquis-Boire discuss the deployment and capabilities of commercial spying suites such as FinFisher and how they are used by repressive governments to spy on dissidents.
No Neutral Ground in a Burning World [alt]. Quinn Norton and Eleanor Saitta discuss the views and expectations of governments and cultural institutions through the longer lens of history.
Through a PRISM, Darkly [alt]. Kurt Opsahl of the EFF provides clarity regarding the history and codenames of the NSA's spying programs, what programs we know are currently being used, as well as insight into how to help stop the spying.
ID Cards in China (alt). How electronic ID cards carried by Chinese residents contain health information such as HIV status, political affiliations, and more. Talk discusses history of tracking, who has access to this data, and what it means for human rights.
Towards an affordable brain-computer interface (alt).
The Year In Crypto (alt).
Drones (alt).
You can find many additional (largely more technical) videos available for download and viewing in several formats (as well as on Youtube).
@ioerror: "Harassed by US Customs or any other security after #ccc #30c3? Please write it up and send it to me or a lawyer. We're collecting stories."
posted by anemone of the state at 10:41 AM on January 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by anemone of the state at 10:41 AM on January 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
The secrecy landscapes video is really remarkable. Highly recommended viewing.
posted by empath at 10:58 AM on January 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by empath at 10:58 AM on January 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
I probably enjoyed the secrecy landscapes talk the most, though I *almost* stopped watching because it started so slowly - very glad I didn't. The analysis into the "private companies" used for extraordinary rendition was wonderful, and the section on the various patches revealed a unique insight into how deep this secret culture goes (I lost it at the "secret football teams" bit).
Kurt Opsahl's talk was probably the best overview to-date of how the various surveillance programs, courts, and laws all intersect. Even with the help of some great resources on the topic, it's hard to keep all these different programs straight. My other favorites are The Year In Crypto, which gets technical in spots, but the implications are easy to understand, and talks that discuss parallels to surveillance in earlier times (Policing the Romantic Crowd and No Neutral Ground).
posted by antonymous at 11:09 AM on January 4, 2014
Kurt Opsahl's talk was probably the best overview to-date of how the various surveillance programs, courts, and laws all intersect. Even with the help of some great resources on the topic, it's hard to keep all these different programs straight. My other favorites are The Year In Crypto, which gets technical in spots, but the implications are easy to understand, and talks that discuss parallels to surveillance in earlier times (Policing the Romantic Crowd and No Neutral Ground).
posted by antonymous at 11:09 AM on January 4, 2014
Did anyone find a torrent of all the videos? I wget'd all of them the other day, I just couldnt turn out a torrent with all of them.
So far I have watched
FPGA 101
Pirate Cinemas
Lasers in Space
Good so far, especially when a lot of the speakers don't tend have a lot of public speaking experience.
posted by adventureloop at 1:18 PM on January 4, 2014
So far I have watched
FPGA 101
Pirate Cinemas
Lasers in Space
Good so far, especially when a lot of the speakers don't tend have a lot of public speaking experience.
posted by adventureloop at 1:18 PM on January 4, 2014
The No Neutral Ground in a Burning World is unusual in its completely non-technical examinations, and how far it challenges some of the perceptions of its intended audience.
circa 34:30 - "I know that you didn't ask for this job, you didn't ask for this role in society. Not one of you wants to think about the many people that can be affected by one fucking perfectly normal bug or mistake in the technology that you built. And this is one of the reasons we keep our heads down ...."
posted by Twang at 1:24 PM on January 4, 2014
circa 34:30 - "I know that you didn't ask for this job, you didn't ask for this role in society. Not one of you wants to think about the many people that can be affected by one fucking perfectly normal bug or mistake in the technology that you built. And this is one of the reasons we keep our heads down ...."
posted by Twang at 1:24 PM on January 4, 2014
I really enjoyed Console Hacking WII U and Reverse engineering the Wii U Gamepad.
They're really good presentations - the speakers are really smart and adept at what they're doing, and some of the implementation decisions made by Nintendo are best filed under batshit insane. Combine the two and you've got a highly entertaining couple of hours.
posted by samworm at 1:34 PM on January 4, 2014
They're really good presentations - the speakers are really smart and adept at what they're doing, and some of the implementation decisions made by Nintendo are best filed under batshit insane. Combine the two and you've got a highly entertaining couple of hours.
posted by samworm at 1:34 PM on January 4, 2014
My hacker friends keep telling me I need to join them for this congress one of these years. Maybe this year!
posted by Too-Ticky at 1:39 PM on January 4, 2014
posted by Too-Ticky at 1:39 PM on January 4, 2014
The secrecy landscapes Trevor Paglen is a must-see youtube. He presents photographs of CIA agents who do kidnappings on the front porch of their houses, posts their addresses, &c. I wish I had that guy's chutzpah.
posted by bukvich at 2:31 PM on January 4, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by bukvich at 2:31 PM on January 4, 2014 [3 favorites]
You may also enjoy this panel that Trevor Paglen participated in at PS1 this past summer.
I was there for this event- it was originally supposed to include Laura Poitras and metafilter's own ioerror, but then we all know what happened shortly before this talk took place. The strange introduction at the start is due to a secret screening of special previously unreleased footage of Snowden.
Paglen's website documents many more of his projects.
posted by stagewhisper at 4:16 PM on January 4, 2014
I was there for this event- it was originally supposed to include Laura Poitras and metafilter's own ioerror, but then we all know what happened shortly before this talk took place. The strange introduction at the start is due to a secret screening of special previously unreleased footage of Snowden.
Paglen's website documents many more of his projects.
posted by stagewhisper at 4:16 PM on January 4, 2014
> I wget'd all of them the other day ...
You mean
posted by benito.strauss at 4:30 PM on January 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
You mean
wgot. No, wait, wgetted. Wait, wait, I mean "did wget". Aaaaaaaaarrrrgghhhhh....posted by benito.strauss at 4:30 PM on January 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
I wish I could get a transcript of the videos, or at least download them, but apparently there is no way to view them with regular http, only https; and the tools I have won't work with that. But hey, at least the NSA won't know I'm watching them.
posted by Joe in Australia at 11:29 PM on January 4, 2014
posted by Joe in Australia at 11:29 PM on January 4, 2014
Non https downloads are available at http://cdn.media.ccc.de/congress/2013/.
List of all download methods (including torrent): https://events.ccc.de/congress/2013/wiki/Static:Documentation.
posted by mirage pine at 2:15 AM on January 5, 2014 [3 favorites]
List of all download methods (including torrent): https://events.ccc.de/congress/2013/wiki/Static:Documentation.
posted by mirage pine at 2:15 AM on January 5, 2014 [3 favorites]
An important point made in The Year In Crypto : Too few HTTPS connections are forward secure.
You should always establish session keys with forward secure protocols like Diffie–Hellman. Yet, most web servers require the client make up the whole session key themselves, allowing an adversary to decode all past connections if ever obtains the servers private key.
We should change the browser's lock icon to a warning color like yellow when Diffie–Hellman is not used.
posted by jeffburdges at 7:07 PM on January 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
You should always establish session keys with forward secure protocols like Diffie–Hellman. Yet, most web servers require the client make up the whole session key themselves, allowing an adversary to decode all past connections if ever obtains the servers private key.
We should change the browser's lock icon to a warning color like yellow when Diffie–Hellman is not used.
posted by jeffburdges at 7:07 PM on January 5, 2014 [1 favorite]
I found the PSHDL and FPGA talks interesting too, btw.
posted by jeffburdges at 7:14 PM on January 5, 2014
posted by jeffburdges at 7:14 PM on January 5, 2014
Security researchers analyze malware which has been infecting ATMs and uncover the business behind how malware is used to steal money from cash machines.
I came into possession of a dozen or so ATMs that were left behind in a business move. I made inquiries about selling them, and eventually a whole crew of ATM nerds came by together, but we had to wait for "the doctor" to arrive. When he did arrive, a stringy-haired little guy in a vest, he proceeded to open every one of them down to the (empty) cash drawer. In the process he used master service keys and then batteries with wire leads to touch traces on circuit boards, unlocking the next level, until he opened them all up completely.
And yes, they really were ATM nerds. They were fun and interesting people, so I tried to strike up some friendships, but it became apparent that these people were pretty much only interested in ATMs, like that was the center of their whole professional and social life.
posted by StickyCarpet at 6:18 PM on January 6, 2014 [1 favorite]
I came into possession of a dozen or so ATMs that were left behind in a business move. I made inquiries about selling them, and eventually a whole crew of ATM nerds came by together, but we had to wait for "the doctor" to arrive. When he did arrive, a stringy-haired little guy in a vest, he proceeded to open every one of them down to the (empty) cash drawer. In the process he used master service keys and then batteries with wire leads to touch traces on circuit boards, unlocking the next level, until he opened them all up completely.
And yes, they really were ATM nerds. They were fun and interesting people, so I tried to strike up some friendships, but it became apparent that these people were pretty much only interested in ATMs, like that was the center of their whole professional and social life.
posted by StickyCarpet at 6:18 PM on January 6, 2014 [1 favorite]
Kate Krauss' "ID Cards in China" talk is terrifying.
posted by ryanshepard at 10:41 AM on January 8, 2014
posted by ryanshepard at 10:41 AM on January 8, 2014
India Developing Additional National Surveillance System; US Has No Moral High Ground To Protest
posted by jeffburdges at 12:55 PM on January 14, 2014
posted by jeffburdges at 12:55 PM on January 14, 2014
There were many interesting activities around GNUnet and YBTI stuff, but more working groups, not talk, except the GNU Name System. There was however a talk on YBTI way back in August :
You broke the Internet. We're making ourselves a GNU one.
posted by jeffburdges at 2:10 AM on January 15, 2014
You broke the Internet. We're making ourselves a GNU one.
posted by jeffburdges at 2:10 AM on January 15, 2014
Apparently some folks at 30c3 created copywrongs.eu to help folks fill in the forms for the European Commission's public consultation on copyright reform. (/.)
posted by jeffburdges at 9:15 AM on January 16, 2014
posted by jeffburdges at 9:15 AM on January 16, 2014
VPN Related Vulnerability Discovered on an Android device - Disclosure Report
posted by jeffburdges at 3:03 AM on January 20, 2014
posted by jeffburdges at 3:03 AM on January 20, 2014
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posted by benito.strauss at 10:05 AM on January 4, 2014 [3 favorites]