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Tonight saw Business Technology Alliance joining forces with Microsoft UK to present two security focussed sessions expertly delivered by Stephen Lamb.

Stephen has allowed RSL to make his presentations available for download:

How to stop the nasties (ZIP archive with PowerPoint 2003 format file)

Windows Vista Security (ZIP archive with PowerPoint 2003 format file)

He has also given us the presentations decks for the sessions he presented on the afternoon of the 28th of November in Edinburgh. You may need to get the Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats to be able to view the decks if you’re not already running Office 2007.

Windows Vista Security Tidbits (ZIP archive with PowerPoint 2007 format file)

Securing Your Data Using Microsoft Technologies (ZIP archive with PowerPoint 2007 format file)

All the sessions were excellent and are well worth seeing if you have the opportunity when he runs them elsewhere. Thanks go to Stephen and Microsoft for everything they did to make the last few days so successful.

The Think Security advertisement from Microsoft Japan was the video John A Thomson of RSL presented at the beginning of the 2nd session to show the effectiveness of a 30 second TV advertisement in putting across the concepts and ideas from the Nasties presentation.

No we aren’t talking about sleeping on the job! We’re talking about Denial Of Service attacks.

On the 8th of November 2006, The Police and Justice Bill was accepted into UK law. Under Clause 40 it became amongst other things, a criminal offense to perform DOS attacks in the UK.

A number of other important changes were made, including the doubling of sentences from five to ten years for hacking into computer systems. Various amendments were made to the Computer Misuse Act 1990 under this new law. Only took them sixteen years to get something done!

At last the law has some teeth to go after the hackers who use DOS attacks for criminal intent. The law is slowly catching up with technology.

An interesting take on the Ten Commandments placed into the context of Information Technology:

1. Thou shalt not use a computer to harm other people.

2. Thou shalt not interfere with other people’s computer work.

3. Thou shalt not snoop around in other people’s files.

4. Thou shalt not use a computer to steal.

5. Thou shalt not use a computer to bear false witness.

6. Thou shalt not use or copy software for which you have not paid.

7. Thou shalt not use other people’s computer resources without authorization.

8. Thou shalt not appropriate other people’s intellectual output.

9. Thou shalt think about the social consequences of the program you write.

10. Thou shalt use a computer in ways that show consideration and respect.

Reproduced with permission from THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR COMPUTER ETHICS