03
August
2020
Security Scene: August Edition
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
By Adair Thaxton, Internet2 Cyberinfrastructure Security Engineer
Well, folks, it’s August. Too hot for jokes. Let’s do a quick poll. Not an official poll, no names attached, etc.
A few of you have asked about plans for a virtual “TechEX.” We’re hosting a virtual research and education technical community event called TECHEXTRA 2020 on October 6 & 7, 2020. It will be a a condensed, multi half-day, virtual kick-off event in light of the TechEX cancellation.
Speaking of conferences, DEF CON will be online from August 6-9. The sessions will be streamed on their YouTube channel. I’m a bit relieved to have some physical distance between DEF CON and my devices, personally. Additionally, NANOG 80 will be online in October, and SC20 will be online in November.
You most likely heard about the Twitter hacks. The New York Times had an interesting story on how it was done from the hackers’ perspectives, including transcriptions from the Discord chat logs while the attacks were ongoing. Brian Krebs reported on the attack as well and wrote a follow-up blog post. The investigations showed that Twitter admin accounts were accessed via social engineering, allowing the posting of authorized tweets. Forbes reported that Coinbase and Twitter both attempted to block users from seeing or transferring to the bitcoin addresses in the tweets. Marcus Hutchins tweeted that it could have been a lot worse, and he’s so right.
ISC2 released their 2019 Workforce Study and Security Magazine examined the data to find some good news about more women working in cybersecurity. It showed that more women than men begin their careers in cybersecurity and have higher levels of career satisfaction. However, men still lead in self-perceptions of career success and salary. Supporting our coworkers is especially important right now — tell them how much you appreciate them! If anyone needs any motivation, check out Taleitha’s writeup on the Internet2 Inclusivity Initiative from the 2019 TechEx.
And now for a goofy security story! Can you use an internet-connected 3D printer to set someone’s house on fire? Of course you can. Probably. (Please don’t.)
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