The goal of Hack Secure is to help educate the cybersecurity community on as many issues and ideas as we possibly can. In that vein, we like to host intimate dinners with cybersecurity practitioners and executives to discuss current topics.
Our next dinner will be highlighted with a talk given by Professor Brian Levine of The College of Information and Computer Sciences at UMass Amherst. (If you're interested in attending a future dinner, please reach out to us below.)
Professor Brian Levine of The College of Information and Computer Sciences at UMass Amherst.
Brian's talk will focus on blockhains, and how blockchain-based cryptocurrencies are quickly advancing from simply supporting financial transactions to hosting advanced software services and initial public/coin offerings. He’ll discuss the security of using blockchains for those purposes. He will also explain the basic operation and assumptions of blockchains, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, then describe the successes of these platform, as well as the attacks that these systems have suffered.
We will be taking a look at a few specific cases. For example, in May 2016, an Ethereum-based service called "The DAO" was created as a type of decentralized hedge fund. It raised over US$150M worth of ether during a crowd sale. By June 2016 an attacker began stealing ether from The DAO, but not due to a flaw or vulnerability in Ethereum; rather it was a flaw in the DAO's programming. Also to be discussed is how in July 2017, a flaw in a software "wallet" for Ethereum allowed an attacker to steal US$30M from some users.
If you would like to attend this event, or any future events being held by Hack Secure, please reach out to us below: