Business & Money | Monday 26 November, 2018 3:30 am |

Several key figures in the global cyber security industry will be speaking at the Hack In The Box (HITB) Security Conference, which takes place from 25thto 28thNovember 2018 at the Grand Hyatt Dubai. 

Opened by DESC Director General, His Excellency, Yousuf Hamad Al Shaibani, HITB2018DXB will include keynote presentations by Luta Security founder and CEO Katie Moussouris, an information security veteran who has offered her expertise to both the US Government and European Parliament; and F-Secure Chief Research Officer Mikko Hypponen, a worldwide authority on computer security, whose accolades include being listed in Foreign Policy Magazine’s Top 100 Global Thinkers list. 

Keynote presentations will also be offered by local experts Dr. Manar Abu Talib, the Assistant Dean of College of Sciences at the University of Sharjah, and Dr. Qassim Nasir, Associate Professor at University of Sharjah. Other prominent speakers are ElcomSoft CEO, Vladimir Katalov, Oracle’s Marc Schoenefeld, and also members of Qihoo360’s car hacking team; among many others.

HITB2018DXB is organized by HITB in association with Dubai Electronic Security Center (DESC), the official government department entrusted to make Dubai the safest city in cyber space, and local partner DarkMatter Group, the region’s first and only fully-integrated digital transformation, defense and cyber security consultancy and implementation firm. Being held atthe Grand Hyatt Dubai, it marks a return of the popular conference series to Dubai and the Middle East after an 8-year hiatus.

HITB Founder and CEO, Dhillon Kannabhiran said: “This level of participation by world famous speakers reflects the global community’s embrace of Dubai as a major hub for cyber security in the Middle East. We have held HITB conferences every year in Asia and Europe, and have had some of the most respected names in the computer security industry deliver cutting-edge presentations on some of the most pressing issues being faced by our industry today. We look forward to bringing the same calibre of speakers to Dubai, which has made great strides in the field, and continues to reinforce its position as a regional leader.”

Moussouris’ company Luta Security specializes in government and multi-party supply chain vulnerability coordination. She was recently asked to testify as an expert on bug bounties and the labor market for security research for the US Senate, and has been called upon for European Parliament hearings on dual-use technology. Ms. Moussouris was also invited by the US State Department to help renegotiate the Wassenaar Arrangement, where she successfully helped change the export control language to include technical exemptions for vulnerability disclosure and incident response. 

Hypponen is a hugely respected name in the global cyber security community. He has written on his research findings for the New York Times, Wired, and Scientific American, and has lectured at the universities of Oxford, Stanford, and Cambridge. 

HITB Security Conference will also feature HITB’s popular Capture The Flag (CTF) competition, which will see over 20 international teams battle it out on 27 and 28 November in the kick off leg for the 2019 HITB CTF competition series. It will continue in Amsterdam next year, and then in Singapore and beyond. Winning teams are flown to compete in the next leg of the game, therefore the reigning winners from HITB’s 2018 Amsterdam CTF will also be participating. The competition is an ideal opportunity for UAE’s local security talents to show off their skills alongside and against some of the world’s top-ranked players. In addition to the professional-level CTF game, HITB will also be hosting an edu-level CTF competition for undergraduate and high school students aimed at motivating UAE’s younger talent.

Individuals attending the event will also be able to participate in numerous contests including a Car Hacking Village run by China’s Qihoo360 Radio Team; a Wireless Capture the Signal contest, an IoT Village run by Independent Security Evaluators who run the same event at the world's oldest and largest hacking conference DEFCON; an area run by DEFCON’s Car Hacking Village; and a Security Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) CTF contest by South Korea-based NSHC Security.   

Free and kid-friendly, this HITB CommSec area will also feature other hands-on activities at the AI Village, Soldering Village, Badge Village, Career Zone, a Hack In The Class for children, and the Armory – a security tools demonstration zone. HITB is also collaborating with BSides Dubai to feature a series of free 30-minute talks that will also be livestreamed.