[ale] [Fwd: February Meeting of The Atlanta UNIX Users Group (AUUG)]
Michael H. Warfield
mhw at WittsEnd.com
Wed Feb 2 15:00:00 EST 2011
Hey all!
At my talk last month on IPv6, there was some discussion over DNS and
we've had a bit of a DNS thread here on the list shortly after. At my
talk, I mentioned this month's AUUG talk, which is coming up next Monday
up at the Mirant Building off Perimeter Center West. I know a lot of
you are on the AUUG mailing list but some aren't, so here is the
announcement from that group. A little "self promotion". :-)=)
Regards,
Mike
-------- Forwarded Message --------
From: Atlanta UNIX Users Group <auug at auug.org>
To: mhw at wittsend.com
Subject: February Meeting of The Atlanta UNIX Users Group (AUUG)
Date: Sun, 30 Jan 2011 19:00:52 -0500
Topic: Toward a Robust Domain Naming System
Speaker: Mike Warfield
Senior Researcher and Analyst
Enterprise Solutions Group
I.B.M.
Atlanta, GA
Location: Mirant Corporation
1155 Perimeter Center West (Near GA-400 & Abernathy Rd)
Atlanta, GA 30338
Date: Monday, February 7, 2011
Time: 7:30pm
(Our speaker has supplied the following)
DNSsec is finally picking up deployment steam. The root zone has
been signed and tested and numerous gTLDs have been signed, such
as .gov, signed as well. Demand for DNSsec is reported to be
high. It is coming and enterprises want it. But are they ready
for it?
DNSsec solves one piece of the DNS security puzzle, that of cache
poisoning, but only that piece. Name servers are still being
abused in many other ways from DDoS attacks and fast flux, to
malware beaconing and full covert VPN transports. Many deploy-
ments of DNS name servers, from small organizations all the way
to large international enterprises, are minimally structured to
provide secure authoritative services while isolating and limit-
ing caching services and global access to DNS. What is needed,
in addition to DNSsec, is a robust DNS deployment which is re-
siliant to attack and easy to manage and verify.
This talk will look at some best practices to deploy DNS in a ro-
bust manner which can mitigate these threats. This will cover
deployment of name servers and services with effective isolation
and verification to ease management and improve performance. It
will include some heuristics and recommendations for detecting
and tracking anomalous DNS behavior that may be indicative of
malware attacks or covert communications channels. It will also
include some examples where perfectly legitimate and useful ap-
plications may be using DNS in a way that appears to be malicious
or anomalous, without actually abusing it.
If we are to be serious about DNSsec, we must be serious about
securing our deployments and the infrastructure which it runs up-
on. While barely touch on the DNSsec particulars, this talk will
provide guidance in preparing for DNSsec.
-- Bio:
Michael Warfield is a Senior Researcher and Analyst for the X-
Force Threat Analysis Team of IBM Security Systems and one of the
founders of Internet Security Systems.
With computer security experience dating back to the early 1970s
and Unix experience dating back to the early 1980s, Mike is re-
sponsible for doing research into security vulnerabilities and
intrusion protection techniques for the X-Force Threat Analysis
Service.
Prior to joining Internet Security Systems (now with IBM) Mike
held positions such as, a Unix systems engineer, Unix consultant,
security consultant and network administrator on the Internet.
Mike has published various articles and papers on network Securi-
ty and is a respected cryptographer in the Open Source community.
Mike has been involved in consulting on DNS issues and deploy-
ments for many, many years and runs his own personal domains and
name servers which have been signed and registered with DNSsec
for several years.
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Prior to the meeting, there will be an informal, non-structured
"guru" session open to anyone wishing to attend. This will start
around 6:45pm in the meeting room, and we will have one or more gu-
rus available to discuss whatever topics/problems/questions the at-
tendees care to bring up.
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E-mail facilities have been graciously provided by Dragon Networks,
Inc. Please visit their web site at http://www.dragon.com to learn
of their many services.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
It is with great pride that we recognize our Corporate Sponsors.
Being aware of the contributions made by the AUUG membership to the
UNIX community, these firms, both large and small, have made a com-
mitment to provide financial assistance for defraying the operating
expenses of AUUG. We are both pleased and grateful for their spon-
sorship, and hope that they will continue to support AUUG in the
days to come.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Subsequent Meeting: Monday, March 7, 2011; 7:30 pm
Topic: The Atlanta I.T. Job Market
Speaker: Brian Mack - TekSystems
-------------------------------------------------------------------
For those who need some sustenance before the meeting, you will
find kindred AUUG spirits at "Sweet Tomatoes" restaurant in front
of the Costco store (6350 Peachtree Dunwoody Road) at the turnoff
from Peachtree-Dunwoody Road to the Mirant building. Drop in any
time after 5:30pm to sit around and chew the fat and indulge in
some of their fine cuisine. This is a chance for folks to get to-
gether and exchange rumors, ideas, assistance, etc.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
There is no charge to attend the meeting, nor any fee for member-
ship. Just show up!
--- PLEASE POST ---
For directions to meeting or other information, see:
http://www.auug.org
Corporate Sponsors:
Mirant Corporation
www.mirant.com
Hewlett-Packard Co.
www.hp.com
Sun Microsystems [Now part of Oracle Corp
www.sun.com www.oracle.com]
Morris, Manning & Martin L.L.P.
www.mmmlaw.com
Dragon Networks, Inc.
www.dragon.com
--
Michael H. Warfield (AI4NB) | (770) 985-6132 | mhw at WittsEnd.com
/\/\|=mhw=|\/\/ | (678) 463-0932 | http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/
NIC whois: MHW9 | An optimist believes we live in the best of all
PGP Key: 0x674627FF | possible worlds. A pessimist is sure of it!
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