20th EICAR Conference
Krems, Austria
9-10 May, 2011
"No computer, no virus, no problem". One would be justified in thinking along these lines amongst the picturesque, sun and wine-soaked, rolling hills of Wachau on the banks of the Donau (Danube). However come the eve of the beginning of the conference, a Sunday, the discussions were squarely about computer security, but within the conventional mould. The concept of "Cyber Warfare" had to wait for the next day.
The keynote address by Mr Rainer Fahs, a current employee of NATO and the chairman of EICAR, focussed on a rather hot topic, "Cyber Warfare", in the aftermath of the notorious Stuxnet episode, and other publicised alleged nation-to-nation attacks on computer-based systems. It was a refreshing change to get an opinion on cyber warfare from a military man, even if his NATO-bias emphasised the ‘E’ in EICAR.
One of the topics up for discussion at this year's EICAR was whether AV was the only solution to our computer and information security woes. After some debate, or simply a few discussions, it was unanimous that AV was not nor could be the sole saviour. AV has much to contend with in terms of pleasing demanding consumers whilst attempting to keep up with cyber criminals, whilst being potentially expected to contend with highly-skilled intelligence departments of various nation states, with their leviathan monetary and information resources. Cursory digressions highlighting conspiracy theories wherein certain AV vendors were deemed to be in cahoots with the American government, and the suggestion by one speaker that the analysis, being resource-intensive, of Stuxnet was a waste of time because it involved the "good guys" is a possible indication that in the current global AV economy partisanship may still be in force.
Other presentations included the usual scientific discussions about the threat landscapes and the detection of malware from an academic perspective. There is still a need for a much greater level of cooperation between academia and industry in the field of security software to help avoid misunderstandings and the wasteful investment of effort on unrealistic and impractical supposed solutions.
One interesting topic which is hardly ever discussed within a conference setting is the real-world reasons for cyber crime, dominated by economic benefit, since much of it emanates from countries of the former Soviet Union, and other regions of the world with troubled welfare economies. This was a concept touched on briefly by a Russian presenter at the CARO conference the week before, but it certainly could have played a part at EICAR2011 as well, especially in response to the query whether anything other than AV could be a solution to the security problem. This topic may not be cyber-jazzy, but in the real-world of human existence it is certainly relevant.
The 21st EICAR conference is due to take place next year in Buhr, Germany. The specific dates may even be set in stone, in which case it might be prudent to pencil in the slot in your diaries. Schuss.
Samir K. Mody, K7Computing