Day 3 – Wednesday, 8 July 2009

Workshop on practical information security awareness and defence mechanisms

Brief description: The workshop will deal with various types of security issues faced within current technology. Basic techniques will be covered; these include password authoring up to more advanced techniques like software exploits. Invaluable information will be provided specifically for the corporate world on topics such as Intrusion detection systems and firewalls. Often after a few security measures have been taken then the false sense of safety takes home.

Therefore one should be informed on important information security topics, in particular social engineering. Practical examples will be covered to demonstrate social engineering attempts. Focus will also be shed on security issues closer to the South African context. Lastly a discussion follows on the flaws of the very popular software MXit as well as a well-known vulnerabilities within the ADSL environment.

Workshop facilitator: Francois Mouton, Information and Computer Security Architectures Research Group, Department of Computer Science, University of Pretoria

09:00-10:30

Workshop session 1: Password authoring and steganography

11:00-12:30

Workshop session 2: Intrusion detection systems and software exploits

13:30-15:00

Workshop session 3: Corporate and personal firewalls

15:30-17:00

Workshop session 4: Social engineering and vulnerabilities in the South African context