This month at SWIG, we are lucky enough to have Steve Riley from Microsoft giving us a talk...................see you at AMP Building, 50 Bridge Street, Ground Floor in the Healy Room at 6pm on Tuesday 24th April!!!

Here is Steves Topic:

Attack trends and techniques

The bad guys just keep getting better! They're constantly changing their tactics and inventing new techniques to cause you harm, damage your data, and make your resources unavailable. Why do they do this? What motivates someone to -- let's call it what it is -- commit computer-related crimes? How have they changed and improved? What kinds of attacks are popular now and why are they so effective? What might we expect to see in the future? Steve Riley will help you understand the latest in attack trends and techniques, so that you can plan appropriately and implement effective processes and technologies to mitigate their threats.

About Steve Riley

Steve’s career at Microsoft began in 1998 in the telecommunications practice of Microsoft Consulting Services where he worked with several ISPs and ASPs to design highly-available network architectures, develop hosting platforms for various custom and off-the-shelf applications, and deploy complex multi-site VPNs. His specialization in security led him next to the security consulting practice, where he worked with many customers to conduct security assessments and risk analyses, deploy technologies for attack prevention and intrusion detection, and assist with occasional incident response efforts.

Steve is now a senior security strategist in Microsoft's Security Technology Unit. He is a frequent and popular speaker at conferences worldwide, often appearing in Asia one week and Europe the next: speaking engagements have included multiple Microsoft TechEds and other conferences, plus SANS, RSA, Black Hat, Windows and Exchange Connections, Windows IT Pro Magazine roadshows, TechMentor conferences, the Institute for Applied Network Security, and InfoSec US. When not evangelizing the benefits of Microsoft security technology, Steve spends time with customers to better understand the security pain they face and show how some of that pain can be eliminated.

Steve’s technical specialties include network and host security, communication protocols, network design, and information security policies and process. Having been born with an Ethernet cable attached to his belly button, Steve grew up in networking and telecommunications; he finds the simple telephone still provides endless hours of exploratory joy. Steve is co-author of Protect Your Windows Network published by Addison-Wesley. Besides lurking in the Internet’s dark alleys and secret passages, he enjoys mountain biking, clubbing and the occasional rave, freely sharing his opinions about the intersection of technology and culture, and hanging with his family and friends.