May 6th, 2008
Can I interest you in a glass of Berry Blue Kool-Aid?: A recap of Microsoft Blue Hat v7
Hey all,
I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend Microsoft Blue Hat v 7 as I had some research that Microsoft was interested in bringing me in to talk about. Microsoft got to have co-worker and fellow researcher Rob Carter and I in to talk to product security teams about some of the things we’d found, and we got a free pass to an invite only conference that had some great talks.
Microsoft also asked me to write a guest blog on their Blue Hat site, which I was happy to do. Good friends and fellow bloggers Ryan Naraine and Rob McMillan gave me some good natured ribbing about why I got to go, and I returned the favor by saying Microsoft gave me an “exclusive” look at Blue Hat. It wasn’t really the way it went down, but it was more fun to poke some fun at the guys, so I thank Microsoft for letting me keep that in. In fact, Microsoft didn’t edit my posting at all, except to make a couple grammatical changes, so that was much appreciated. It was a very interesting trip, and I got to see several great talks and interview a few interesting people.
One thing you’ll see coming up soon is an interview I did with the guys who created DEP and ASLR, so keep your eyes open for that.
I’ve also included a gallery of pictures that includes shots of the conference, and some funny ones from the IOActive Limo Party… thanks to Josh Pennell and all the IOActive crew for putting that on, tons of fun.
-Nate
Nathan McFeters is a Senior Security Advisor for Ernst & Young's Advanced Security Center in Chicago. The views and opinions expressed in this article are his own and do not represent the views and opinions of Ernst & Young Advanced Security Center or Ernst & Young, LLP. Nathan has performed web application, deep source code, Internet, Intranet, wireless, dial-up, and social engineering engagements for numerous clients in the Fortune 500 during his career at Ernst & Young and has spoken at a number of prestigious conferences, including Black Hat, DEFCON, ToorCon, and Hack in the Box. He can be found at his Pwn* blog and XS-Sniper, a blog with Billy Rios. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
