For decades, information security research has focused on aspects such as hardware, software, data, and communications. Malcolm Pattinson suggests that we humans – what we think, what we know, what we do, how and why we do it – are perhaps the "silver bullet" of achieving an acceptable level of information security within organisations. Or maybe not!

The session was part of Secure South West 4, at Plymouth University on 10 July 2014.

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The exploitation of vulnerable systems is a significant attack vector for both intruders and malicious code. Steven Furnell examines the challenge of vulnerability management, and the possible overheads even if trying to take a responsible stance. He also considers cases in which exposure is heightened by continuing to use vulnerable technologies that cannot be adequately secured.

The session was part of Secure South West 4, at Plymouth University on 10 July 2014.

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Geoff Anderson looks at some of the problems with current authentication solutions, discussing why security keeps making the news and why most of us do not like logging in.

The presentation draws from Geoff's experience as the Co-Founder of PixelPin and his journey to bring a new authentication technology to market.

The session was part of Secure South West 4 at Plymouth University on 10 July 2014.

[(CC) BY-NC-SA 2.0 UK]

We live in an era where malicious code can be used to create highly-sophisticated cyber-weapons. It's easy to imagine that such attacks - aimed at 'critical infrastructure' installations - have little relevance for ordinary businesses. But any organisation can become a victim. David Emm outlines the cyber-weapons we've seen so far and highlight the implications for ordinary businesses.

The session was part of Secure South West 4 at Plymouth University on 10 July 2014.

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Prof. Andy Jones looks at the way in which digital forensics is currently undertaken and the changes that will have to be made to meet future demands. The presentation examines the development and testing of tools and the training of investigators that is required to meet the challenges.

The talk was delivered to the South West Branches of BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, and the Institute of Information Security Professionals at Plymouth University on 6 May 2014.

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Paul Stephens discusses the development, delivery and evaluation of the “Forensic Scripting Using Bash” course for EU law enforcement, the aim which is to take police with no programming experience, and give them a common level of knowledge of scripting for forensic computing applications in Linux.

The talk was hosted at Plymouth University and delivered to the South West Branches of BCS and the Institute of Information Security Professionals on 24 April 2014. [(CC) BY-NC-SA 2.0 UK]

Richard Mayall shows how a variety of risk and compliance activities can be combined into an Integrated Management System (IMS), as illustrated via Acuity’s STREAM tool. The talk covers the key elements of an effective IMS involving multiple control standards, how to create an asset based approach, and the benefits this gives. The talk was presented at Plymouth University on 11 March 2014 for the South West Branches of the BCS and the IISP. [(CC) BY-NC-SA 2.0 UK]

Bitcoin has shown that an alternative, decentralized currency is now possible. As there is no central authority, anyone can create his own handle and start micro-managing his own e-wallet. However, allowing such anonymity is a natural propeller of illegal activities.

This panel considers whether regulation will eventually kill or stabilize the market. It was held during Kaspersky Academy’s CyberSecurity for the Next Generation Conference in Seoul on 12 March 2014. [(CC) BY-NC-SA 2.0 UK]

Short video showing how to evenly distribute and space subviews using autolayout in Xcode 5.1.1

Prior to Xcode 5.1, you probably did this in code. Now it's simple in Interface Builder (Storyboard)

This technique seems to work as expected, although I would welcome comments if you know of a better way. [Released under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 UK: England & Wales licence.]

Social engineering attacks involve tricking users to do something they are not supposed to. Such attacks may now target individuals by taking advantage of publicly available information in social media and other online resources.

Dr Maria Papadaki examines the nature of human vulnerabilities and considers ways of identifying and addressing them.

The talk was delivered at the International Islamic University Malaysia on 20 February 2014.

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