quick question - SXSW

[gunnar at arctecgroup.net (Gunnar Peterson)]

I agree this is a big issue, there is no cotton picking way that the 
security people are solving these problems, it has to come from the 
developers. I put together a track for QCon which included Brian Chess 
on Static Analysis, John Steven on Threat Modeling, and Jeff Williams on 
ESAPI and Web 2.0 security. The presentations were great, the audience 
was engaged and enthusiastic but small; it turns that it is hard to 
compete with the likes of Martin Fowler, Joshua Bloch, and Richard 
Gabriel. Even when what they are talking about is some nth level 
refinement and what we are talking about is all the gaping holes in the 
previous a-m refinements and how to close some of them.

http://jaoo.dk/sanfrancisco/tracks/show_track.jsp?trackOID=73

-gp

Kenneth Van Wyk wrote:
> Ben,
>
> Your point is a good one -- the software security community needs to be 
> vigilant in reaching out to developers and spreading "the word".
>
> FWIW, some dev conferences have done this.  I spoke at SD West in 2006, 
> and there was a significant security track there.  Still, it'd be great 
> to see that sort of thing at more dev-specific conferences.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Ken van Wyk
> SC-L Moderator
>
> On Mar 12, 2008, at 5:31 PM, Benjamin Tomhave wrote:
>
> > First, thanks for that Bill, it exemplifies my point perfectly. A couple
> > thoughts...
> >
> > one, targeting designers is just as important as reaching out to the
> > developers themselves... if the designers can ensure that security
> > requirements are incorporated from the outset, then we receive an added
> > benefit...
> >
> > two, a re-phrasing around my original thought... somehow we need to get
> > security thinking and considerations encoded into the DNA of everyone in
> > the business, whether they be designers, architects, coders, analysts,
> > PMs, sysadmins, etc, etc, etc. Every one of those topics you mention
> > could (should!) have had implicit and explicit security attributes
> > included... yet we're still at the point where secure coding has to be
> > explicitly requested/demanded (often as an afterthought or bolt-on)...
> >
> > How do we as infosec professionals get people to the next phase of
> > including security thoughts in everything they do... with the end-goal
> > being that it is then integrated fully into practices and processes as a
> > bona fide genetic mutation that is passed along to future generations?
> >
> > To me, this seems to be where infosec is stuck as an industry. There
> > seems to be a need for a catalyst to spur the mutation so that it can
> > have a life of its own. :)
> >
> > fwiw.
> >
> > -ben
> >
> > -- 
> > Benjamin Tomhave, MS, CISSP
> > falcon at secureconsulting.net
> > LI: http://www.linkedin.com/in/btomhave
> > Blog: http://www.secureconsulting.net/
> > Photos: http://photos.secureconsulting.net/
> > Web: http://falcon.secureconsulting.net/
> >
> > [ Random Quote: ]
> > Augustine's Second Law of Socioscience: "For every scientific (or
> > engineering) action, there is an equal and opposite social reaction."
> > http://globalnerdy.com/2007/07/18/laws-of-software-development/
> >
> > William L. Anderson wrote:
> > > Dear Ben, having just been at SXSW Interactive (I live in Austin, TX) I
> > > did not see many discussions that pay attention to security, or any
> > > other software engineering oriented concerns, explicitly.
> > >
> > > There was a discussion of scalability for web services that featured the
> > > developers from digg, Flickr, WordPress, and Media Temple. I got there
> > > about half-way through but the discussion with the audience was about
> > > tools and methods to handle high traffic loads. There was a question
> > > about build and deployment strategies and I asked about unit testing
> > > (mixed answers - some love it, some think it's strong-arm micro-mgt (go
> > > figure)).
> > >
> > > There was a session on OpenID and OAuth (open authorization) standards
> > > and implementation. These discussions kind of assume the use of secure
> > > transports but since I couldn't stay the whole time I don't know if
> > > secure coding was addressed explicitly.
> > >
> > > The main developer attendees at SXSW would call themselves designers and
> > > I would guess many of them are doing web development in PHP, Ruby, etc.
> > > I think the majority of attendees would not classify themselves as
> > > software programmers.
> > >
> > > To me it seems very much like at craft culture. That doesn't mean that a
> > > track on how to develop secure web services wouldn't be popular. In fact
> > > it might be worth proposing one for next year.
> > >
> > > If you want to talk further, please get in touch.
> > >
> > > -Bill Anderson
> > > praxis101.com
> > >
> > > Benjamin Tomhave wrote:
> > > > I had just a quick query for everyone out there, with an attached
> > > > thought.
> > > >
> > > > How many security and/or secure coding professionals are prevalently
> > > > involved with the SXSW conference this week? I know, I know... it's 
> > > > a big
> > > > party for developers - particularly the Web 2.0 clique - but I'm just
> > > > curious.
> > > >
> > > > Here's why: I'm increasingly frustrated by the disconnect between
> > > > business/dev and security. I don't feel like we're being largely
> > > > successful in getting the business and developers to include 
> > > > security as
> > > > part of their standard operating procedures. Developers are still
> > > > oftentimes lazy and sloppy, creating XSS and CSRF and SQL injection
> > > > holes.
> > > >
> > > > I then look at SXSW from afar and think: a) shouldn't I be there
> > > > evangelizing security? and, b) shouldn't a major thread to all these
> > > > conferences be about how security is integrating with dev processes and
> > > > practices, making it better?
> > > >
> > > > Maybe I'm just too idealist. I'm curious what everyone else thinks.
> > > >
> > > > cheers,
> > > >
> > > > -ben
>
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