IoT Village Announces 2016 List of Speakers for Annual Hacker Event at DEF CON

Researchers from USA, UK, and France to present new security vulnerabilities afflicting smart cities, connected hospitals, and smart homes.

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Independent Security Evaluators

Jul 29, 2016, 11:30 ET

BALTIMORE, July 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Independent Security Evaluators ("ISE"), the elite group of security consultants and researchers who organize IoT Village, which runs at several security conferences including DEF CON 24, today announced the list of speakers scheduled to present at the landmark security research event, which occurs August 4-7 2016 in Las Vegas.

The speakers represent many prominent security organizations, hailing from the United States, France, and the United Kingdom. Organizations include Bastille Networks, Independent Security Evaluators (ISE), Digital Security/Econocom Group, and more. Attendees will also hear from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

"We have invited some of the brightest security researchers in the world, to present at this year's event," notes Ted Harrington, one of the organizers of IoT Village. "We believe that sharing their diverse and insightful research, supported with the perspectives from leaders of government and top legal experts, will have a meaningful impact on improving the future security of connected devices."

This year's IoT Village will feature several prominent security experts, such as Paul Dant, Chief Strategist for Independent Security Evaluators, Ken Munro, a principal security researcher at PenTest Partners, and Stephen Chavez, a computer scientist at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Dant will analyze pervasive security challenges in IoT, highlighting recent research he led focused on medical devices; Munro will follow up his 2015 IoT Village workshop on hacking the FitBit Aria scale, by discussing attacks against thermostats; and Chavez will present results from an investigation into his own wheelchair to find ways to exploit the CAN BUS, the same protocol that operates the electronic functions of automobiles.

"As a passionate security researcher myself, I am eager to hear these presentations," says Steve Bono, one of the organizers of IoT Village. "They represent extremely impressive research that provide terrific insights into IoT security."

Complimenting the security research, this year IoT Village will include leaders at the highest level of government who are taking action to improve security on a national level. Rear Admiral (ret.) David Simpson, Bureau Chief of the FCC, will discuss the risk reduction initiatives that the FCC is taking in order to better protect consumers. Terrell McSweeny, Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, will outline the FTC's law enforcement actions related to inadequate data security in various connected devices.

Presentations will focus on a variety of topic areas, including ransomware, man-in-the-middle attacks, reverse engineering, hardware hacking, and more. Talks will highlight security flaws in many device types, ranging from smart cities to connected hospitals, to smart homes. Researchers will present flaws in traffic control systems, patient health monitors, hotel infrastructures, drones, electric wheelchairs, airport infrastructures, and more. Complete details of speaker and topic information can be found at the official event website.

About IoT Village
IoT Village is a traveling security event focused on highlighting and resolving security flaws in the connected devices that comprise the Internet of Things ("IoT"). It is composed of talks, workshops, live hacking demos, and an onsite hacking contest. In it's 2015 debut, IoT Village served as a platform to publish 66 previously unknown critical security vulnerabilities across 27 different devices types and 18 different manufacturers.

About ISE
Founded in 2005 out of the PhD program at the Johns Hopkins' Information Security Institute, ISE is a security consulting firm comprised of hackers, computer scientists, reverse engineers, and cryptographers who help companies defend against sophisticated adversaries through manual, white box security assessments. ISE is widely recognized as being the first company to hack the iPhone.