Sean Michael Kerner

A year ago at the Black Hat 2011 event, Microsoft announced the Blue Hat Prize. The goal is simple: It motivates security researchers to come up with a new defensive technology for Windows.  At the 2012 Black Hat conference, Microsoft followed up with a new set of Blue Hat prizes that included one winner and […]

For years, Windows has come under frequent attacks, thanks to hackers exploiting the operating system’s heap memory manager. However, in a new report released at the Black Hat conference here, engineers at Microsoft have done an admirable job of defending memory, making it more difficult than ever before for attackers to exploit. Chris Valasek, a […]

Apple has never taken the stage at the Black Hat conference to explain IOS security. That all changed last week, as Apple Platform Security Manager Dallas De Ately took the stage and explained in great detail how IOS is built for security from the ground up. “IOS is different than Mac,” De Atley said. “The […]

he job of provisioning and defending the Wi-Fi network at Black Hat falls to Aruba Networks. It’s a job that Aruba has been doing at Black Hat both officially and un-officially for the last seven years. For this year at Black Hat, Aruba deployed more than 35 access points across multiple session rooms to deliver […]

In a talk titled “Pinpadpwn,” at the Black Hat conference last week, security researcher Rafael Dominguez Vega and the legendary hacker known only as Nils, explained that the attack surface for payment terminals has grown as usage has gone up. Nils is perhaps best known as the man that walked into the Pwn2own hacking challenge […]

From the ‘Maybe Next Year’ files: We all love open source Wireshark for packet capture right? Apparently, that isn’t always the case. Researcher Robert Deaton took the stage at Defcon to announce a new open source effort that could one day possibly unseat Wireshark. Deaton said that every team at the Defcon CTP (Capture the […]

From the ‘Good Locks Make for Good Security?’ files: LAS VEGAS. I write a lot about software security. Which is why it’s always a great reminder for me to visit Lockpicking Village at Defcon. At the Lockpick Village this year there were 6 or so main tables where attendees tried out different locks and tried […]

From the ‘Truth in Advertising’ files: LAS VEGAS.Security researcher Zachary Cutlip (my pic left) took the stage at both Black Hat and Defcon conferences this weekend. His talk was about doing SQL Injection on MIPS Powered SOHO routers – and in particular he aimed at the Linux powered Netgear WNDR3700. After sitting through an hour […]

With NFC, the promise is that transactions with parking meters, snack machines, or anything else that requires payment or simple information transfer can be completed quickly and easily using nothing more than a mobile phone. In other words, the technology is likely to become a juicy target for hackers. In front of a capacity crowd […]

Unknown to tens of millions of users, a hidden security vulnerability has been lurking on many Intel-based Windows PCs for the past six years. The vulnerability was found by researcher Rafal Wojtczuk from security firm Bromium. Wojtczuk announced his findings at the Black Hat security conference here in Las Vegas. According to Wojtczuk, the vulnerability […]

For 24 years, Shawn Henry worked in the FBI, and served in a number of different positions in the agency. His last position at the FBI was as the executive director, and he now is in the private sector as president of Crowdstrike services. “We need warriors to fight our enemies,” Henry told the capacity […]

For millions of travelers and road warriors, the ubiquitous hotel key card is the primary, and essentially the only, way to access their rooms at the end of day. However, security researcher Cody Brocious believes the current systems used to secure hotel doors throughout the United States and elsewhere are severely flawed. Speaking at the […]