.:Computer Defense:.

I had a lot of great plans for this weekend... I'd get away from computers for bit and get outside. Enjoy a nice weekend and get some fresh air... Of course, everytime you plan something, something else happens... in this case I got sick... and since the wet stuff has been falling, I'm trying to avoid venturing out. I decided that since I had some free time that it was time to check out Mike Murray's Hacking the Mind presentation from HOPE. I pulled up the slides, downloaded the MP3 and away I went. Because I didn't know where the slides linked with the audio before listening I occasionally feel slighly behind and had to click ahead to catch up, but for the most part the talk transitioned nicely from slide to slide.

It was rather interesting to listen to and follow along with. The presentation itself is around 30 minutes long with another 20 or so minutes of Q&A included in the audio. I rather enjoyed the one of the intro quotes:

“By reading this, you have already given me control over a tiny slice of your mind.”

Since the presentation is dealing with hypnosis and the human mind, and it's relation to hacking, it isn't overly technical, it does, however, depend on some prior knowledge of buffer overflows, format string attacks and data-driven attacks (Injection, etc). The relation of those exploitation methods to the human mind gives those with knowledge on vulnerabilities and exploitation a bit more insight into the world of hypnotism.

There's a hypnotist performing around the corner in an hour and a half and if I find the energy (and some cough drops) I'm going to head over and check it out, see just how much of the presentation comes into play as he performs his on stage hypnosis.

The presentation is definately worth the time, so check it out and enjoy yourself. After all, that's the point... isn't it? At the same time you should add Murray's Blog to your daily reading list. Some interesting stuff comes across it.

Peace,
HT