Robert Beggs

As a former member of the Canadian Forces, I learned how to define security by conducting aggressive security testing. Transitioning these skills to cybersecurity testing of the corporate world has identified consistent mistakes - on the part of the target networks, and by the red team itself. Using real world "war stories", the talk will review the set-up and operation of red team tests against Canadian-specific targets. What works in setting up a successful team? How do you manage test up-front with the target organization? Most importantly, what are the mistakes we have seen over and over in the past? (And it's not just a lack of patching!). And when it comes to the testers, are they making mistakes that contribute to poor or ineffective testing? The goal of the talk is to understand how to effectively test a network's security and make the most of this type of testing. There has been a reluctance to do red team testing in Canadian networks, but now it's time to move beyond "scans and pokes", and treat a network the way the hackers do!