Recon 2008


WHAT

RECON is a computer security conference being held in Montreal. The conference offers a single track of presentations over the span of three days. RECON also offers a variety of technical training courses that will take place both before and after the conference dates.
WHEN

Conference: 13-15 June 2008
Trainings: 10-12 June 2008, 16-18 June 2008.
WHERE

Recon will be held in Montreal, Canada. Exact location will be confirmed shortly.
Registration

Training and Conference registrations will open shortly.

So who's going then? ;-).

Have to say I'd been threatening to go myself but I'm not sure "dynamic 15 minute sessions with whiteboards" really appeals to me.

Regards,

CrackZ.

They've really got to give more advance warning of this. 2 1/2 months is not enough for those of us who need to block out entire days for travelling

Howdy,

I have to see what will be presented before I make a decision.

Then again if my "father" is attending, I will be spending the time partaking
in many "pints" .

Woodmann

I'm working on a paper to submit.

Nothing extraordinary but with some luck, it should be enough to get me in.

If not, I'll be there for the drinking at least.

TiGa

I went to the last 2 conferences (not including last year's non-conference) and I'd have to say that they're definitely worth going to. I'm going to do my best to make it out there again this year. I just hope it's in a nicer hotel this time

Perhaps a motel would make you happy

Woodmann

only if they have one of those vibrating beds :P

Canada, damn, hope will be one day on the other side of sea.

I'll almost certainly be there (again) as well

I am planning to be there, as long as life doesn't get in the way. I thought it was time to check it out. Do you guys organized any forum get together or the like while down there?

Howdy,

We usually hang out and have some beers.

Woodmann

Im planning to go, but not 100% sure yet, depends on costs.

would 'some beers' be glasses, pints or pails?

A few tips for Montreal:

1)good line: 'vien voir mon bain tourbillon' (vee-en vwar mon bane tur-bi -on) - loose translation - come see my hot tub.

2)St. Denis and Sherbrooke Streets - good little pub district

3)Crescent Street, off St.Catherine's, used to be good.

4)take along a heavy duty marker pen and change all the French-only signs to English.

Extra Tip:
5)If you get your ass kicked by the locals for seemingly no reasons beside insulting their language and their cultural identity, remember #4.

I'm pretty sure that changing the names to Chinese or Russian would be much less offensive.
The French-English colonial war is not over yet.

TiGa

Howdy,

I would love to hang out with you's.
I can drive there but with the price of gas I could probably fly cheaper .

Woodmann

I've hung around with Quebecois who have a good sense of humour and can't understand what the language and cultural stuff is about. There are a few soreheads who can't get over the Plains of Abraham, after which they were allowed to keep their language and culture.

I'm from the other coast, the 'wet' coast, and we have French rammed up our butts, even though there's no more than 1000 French speaking people in our province. We don't whine about that until we drive into Quebec and find it's illegal to post signs in English. We have no interest in brawling with certain Quebecois over that, even though French-only signs are against Federal Law. So a few French signs overwritten with English should be taken not only as humour, but as equalization.

I know what your saying, however. I've had locals in Montreal refuse to speak to me in English, even though they are quite capable. I'd like to think they are in the minority. I've met too many decent, open-hearted people in Montreal to think otherwise. That's partly what makes Montreal such a great place to visit.

Let me just "nip this in the bud" right here.

The Province of Quebec is a predominatly French speaking Province.
(French, meaning Canadien French, not France type French).

While you are free to take "pokes" at each other, I dont need an international language war. It only makes things worse.

Be respectful of the people in Montreal and we shall all have a good time.

Now, lets focus on beers and RCE stuff. But mostly beers .

Woodmann

I know that it was only a joke.
I'm a French-Canadian from Montreal so that's why I see things differently.

Like Woodmann said, if you go elsewhere in the province of Quebec beside Montreal, the English-speaking rate is almost 0.
Even Montrealers that only speak English are stuck in Montreal.
They happen to be the minority even if they are lucky enough to speak the right language from birth.

I leave it at that but I honestly think it was a dumb thing to write and I see it the same way as "Let's go to New York and write 'Bin Laden Rules!' everywhere".

Anyways, I hope Woodmann has not already forgotten that beer he promised me.

TiGa

I have already left it alone and I'm glad you took it as humour. I said it entirely with tongue in cheek. Also, it was a shot at the politicians and the sign law, not the French-Canadian people. I've discussed this with French-Canadians in the past and no one took offense at what I was saying.

Feel free to PM me if you feel like a civilized conversation. I have always had fond feelings for Montreal and you can't have those feelings for concrete and trees. The French-Canadian culture, as well as the comopolitan nature of Montreal is what makes it for me.

I will be there as always :-)

Looking forward to meet people from this forum, and drink like there is no tomorrow (CrackZ, you better get your ass in Montreal )

i'm now registered. looking forward to seeing all of you there!

We have an extension until May 31... LOL

Ok, I am already registered and made all my reservations, now I have a questions for any one that either live or have been in Montreal before. How is the cost of living?, or better said how much I am expecting to expend per day on food and taxis?.

I need to figure out how much to bring in Canadian Dollars. I particularly don't like to carry to much money in cash but from traveling in Europe and the Caribean, I had come to realize that in some countries there is not easy access to atm machines, if there is any at all and in others paying with Credit card is too much hazard. Thus, it is always a good idea to bring some petit cash.

Plus, what type of weather should I be expecting?. I am bringing my UMPC which has a solid state harddrive, Has anyone experienced any issues with this type of harddrive and airport security? I believed there was something somewhere about it where the airport screeners where having problem differiencing a solid state hardrive and a explosive device.

I'll see you there. . .

Montreal is a safe enough city, so I'd say any place you plan on using your credit card won't be much of a security risk. And besides, almost all credit card companies reimburse the holder in full for fraudulent charges.
Also, as naides said above, there are ATMs everywhere in Montreal.


You're thinking of this: http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/03/10/macbook.air.confusing/

It will probably cost you more on hotel rooms than food.
I live there and I'll probably take the subway instead of my car.
There is the beer factor too... The night life can be the most expensive part of the trip, it depends on you.
Doing crossword puzzles alone in your room is free but boring.


Naides is priceless.
Most ATMs are compatible with the Cirrus/Maestro/PLUS networks.

Canadian airports are not as paranoid as in the US.
I remember hearing about a BlackHat trainer that got turned around at the US border last year.
http://addxorrol.blogspot.com/2007/07/ive-been-denied-entry-to-us-essentially.html

TiGa

Howdy,

No need to worry about anything in Montreal.
Yes food is expensive but you only need to pay for dinner and beer.
The breakfast and lunch spread is plenty big for free food.

The weather in 05 and 06 was very warm to plain old hot.
Most of us just wear shorts and a T shirt.

Woodmann

Actually, Montreal is the only City in the world where you can pay a lapdance from a stripper by swiping the magnetic strip of your credit card between her labia majora.
It is amazing technology!

Yah! But I really don't like the idea of where she's most likely to be keeping your receipt!



Regards,

I worked at the Vancouver airport for a while. In Vancouver, there is an 'oversize' belt for delicate devices. You have to specify that your luggage contains fragile stuff and ask them to put it on the 'oversize' luggage belt. It goes straight downstairs and is taken off by hand and loaded by hand.

If you load your machine on the regular baggage system, it is kicked off at it's destination by violent contraptions that send it flying in the air. It lands somewhere down a chute with a big thud. The contraptions are called 'kickers' and some are shaped like a snowplow. They do kick your bags off, sometimes violently. Baggage occasionally gets caught in them too and gets squeezed pretty badly.

About security. If you have trouble with a customs official, don't argue or get stupid. Ask politely for a supervisor. Many customs agents and security personnel add their own little rules which can go above and beyond the actual rules. If they are being stupid, ask for a supervisor.

Vancouver has X'Ray detection in place for baggage and I'm sure Montreal has it. I'm not exactly sure how X'Rays would affect the electronics in your device, but unless you explain to them what it is, it will no doubt be X'Rayed. I strongly recommend contacting any airports ahead of your travel to see how you should deal with your equipment.

The X'Ray scanners are designed to detect explosives, but they are only part of an extensive process. There are several levels of bomb detection, and if they suspect your equipment, they can put you through the wringer. It all comes down to the guy looking at the X'Rayed baggage on a screen. If he is not sure, he'll send it on to the end of the line and you'll be called down there to open it yourself. If they still are not sure, you could be detained for who knows how long.

Having said all that, I'm sure many people travel with devices similar to your. There is probably a standard way of dealing with them. I wouldn't wait till you're at the airport to find out.

Ok, so expect a hot/humid weather, don't worrry too much about cash, just enough to pay for a cab from the airport to the hotel, and tips. I don't drink so I don't have to worry about running a tap on the local bar, and being my first time in canada, I definetely want to explore around if time allows it.


What is to see around Montreal that may be accessable from metro?, I did some googling and even try google earth to scout the area (that is a amazing software), anyway, all I can come out with is the underground mall, the walking stores on downtown which I believe is close to the hotel, and the park that is a few blocks away.

I am still a newby on the reverse engineering arena, and there still so much stuff out there to learn, than the idea of spending a weekend with a bunch of people that have master most of what is to know on the subject is priceless. Well, I am looking forward to the whole experience, so see you all there and try not to strangle me if I become a pest and start asking too many questions.

Howdy,

Please, no questions outside of the conference .
Well, easy questions are ok.

You can roam around during the day if some of the talks dont interest you.
Just head down the hill and start poking around.

Woodmann

owl, Old Montreal is a cute area: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Montreal
You can also check out the Casino de Montreal: http://www.casinosduquebec.com/montreal/en/home

I'll try

I received confirmation that my talk proposal was approved.
I can finally say that it is about "64-bit Imports Rebuilding and Unpacking".

I'll demonstrate new tools I developed and explain what is different from classic 32-bit unpacking.

Nothing ground-breaking like how to retrieve data by freezing your RAM chips in liquid carbonite at -500 degrees Kelvin or the WiFi-sniffer gun but it should be interesting nonetheless.

I'll also be giving a 4 hours workshop on "Introduction to IDA Pro for OllyDbg users" for IITAC.
It will be live reversing sessions instead of a boring long speech.

TiGa

Me too I received confirmation that my paper has been accepted. The journey of this paper will continue definitely (%)... I think the title can tell what's inside this paper "Towards an Embellished Macro Descriptive Language for Reverse Assembly Code"
See you there...

Howdy,

Some of the lectures have been posted:
http://recon.cx/2008/speakers.html

The list looks most impressive .

Woodmann

ooooh! Ilfak is going to be there but Fravia won't.

I would have liked to meet him too.

TiGa

A shameless plug on my part.

However, for those of you currently established in the RCE arena and looking at the Trainings:

Rolf Rolles Course IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST.

I'll say no more than that.

And just so I don't make Nico hate me, if you are looking for something to get yourself established, I wholeheartedly endorse his material as well ;-).

Regards,

CrackZ.

Howdy,

The trainings always sell out .

Woodmann

I would love to take the static reversing class, but I can't afford it. So it is just briefings for me.

Looks like it's gonna be a good one. See you all there

Another shameless request while we're at it.

Please everyone, if you like it, spread the word about the Collaborative RCE Tool Library to everyone at RECON:

http://www.woodmann.com/collaborative/tools

And if any of you speakers mention it on stage (e.g. as a download location for the tools you're presenting ), I'll buy you a beer or two the next time we meet.

(and of course, also instantly add all the new cool tools that you hear about at RECON to the library, but that goes without saying )

Don't despair if your pockets are empty.
My training will be free.

It has been split into 3 topics spread on 3 days.
The descriptions should be put up shortly.
Inscriptions will be taken only during the conference.

I'll probably make a flash video with audio to put online afterwards.
I'll be sure to mention the CRCETL too.

TiGa

oh well, if someone loves too to spread something about ARTeam is welcome. We have an insider at the conference, TiGa and an aficionados, Mutable, but t-shirts are always available

ARTeam should send deroko to be a booth babe ;-)

Howdy,

I want everyone who hangs out here to come up to me and say HI.
You might receive a gift.

You cant miss me, I am the old bald guy sitting in the back by the food/drink tables .

Shake my hand and tell me your screen name so I know who you are.

Woodmann

I wonder how many bald guys will be in the conference?, oh well, I'll come up to each of them and ask them if they are woodmann. I will be the annoying pest that doesn't go away.

He'll be the one in the fishing vest!!!

Regards,

That will be easier to find. See you all there!, can't wait.

Now I have to buy a fishing vest ?

I will wear a woodmann shirt.

That would be even easier.

Regards,

Tiga, what are you planning to present?.

I'm voting he'll have a trunk full, but that's just a "wag." (Wild Ass Guess)

Regards,

My presentation is about "64-bit Imports Rebuilding and Unpacking".

I'll demonstrate new tools I developed and explain what is different from classic 32-bit unpacking.

Here's a short teaser video:
http://rapidshare.com/files/120361107/MPRESS-64.zip.html

I will also be giving 3 lunch-hour workshops on "Introduction to IDA Pro for OllyDbg users" for IITAC.
Registrations are already opened.

I'm having kind of a déjà-said feeling but that's one more shameless plug to me.

TiGa

Sounds great
looking forward to meeting you and others at RECON.

The pre-ReCon trainings have begun today.

It's a wake-up call to get ready to get ready.

TiGa

Howdy,

I am looking forward to seeing you all at the RECON party.

Woodmann

You'll not be at the conference itself W?

Howdy,

Yes I will be attending but I will miss most of Friday.

Woodmann

no wandered, I had been asking every bald guy I see if he is woodman. Oh, well, I will be on the look out for a fishing vest.

OMG, somebody should have told me that Woodmann was such an ass.

Just kidding.

He's really a great guy.
Meeting him and the others is really one of the best things of this conference.

TiGa

Howdy,

Sorry I had to leave so early.
My real life work was calling and I need to be there on Monday.
I wasnt planning on leaving until Monday afternoon but,
shit happens .

I met some incredible people this year.
It seems like every year they get better and better.
Actually, everyone I met this year have great talents.

I would love to tell you all about everyone I met and how cool they
are but, it would be an extremely long post.

They are all great reversers and I wish more of them would post here.
As for the great ones who do post here, you know who they are .

OK, I have used the word great too much but, they are really very talented.

Lastly, to WTBW, best wishes with your future endeavours.
I hope you will still stop by and give us some guidance.

Woodmann

ReCon 2008 has come and gone.

Everybody was wondering where Woodmann had gone.

This was the first conference that I attended and participated in.
It is a really great experience.
I recommend it to everybody.

And I got a Woodmann shirt too.

TiGa

ReCon was really great this year (you missed a good one yatesy). Nice to see some old faces again and meet some new ones!

Thanks Woodmann, I can't extract this part of my mind and I still have one idea I'd like to work on, so you're not quite rid of me yet

Yo,

It was really great to meet you guys
I am still in montreal till Wednesday tho

I loved this RECON, the best one so far !

I tried to call you room a few times but no answer...

If you see this before leaving, give me a call.
I left a message on your voice mail.

My stomach had time to rest a bit since the conference.

TiGa

I concured with what many had already said, it was great to finally associated faces with handles. I had fun meeting you all, and hope this is not the last REcon I will be able to attend. Now I have to wait two more years for it, oh well, I guess more time to get ready for it.

Woodman, thanks for the t-shirt, and as TiGa said, we missed you on Sunday. I even wore the T-shirt on Sunday. TiGa, I enjoyed your workshop, I got so much of it that now I need to make time to put it into practice.

Yes, let's not forget owl.

Most of the people at ReCon were sent there by their company.
It's nice to see other people attending on their own.
Who knows, maybe she'll be presenting something in 2 years.
It has all to start from somewhere.

TiGa

Howdy,

There might not be a two year lapse.
Wait until the spring of next year to find out.

Woodmann

As a side note, I need to recommend a site:
http://www.iitac.org/

I will be boosting this site because it is very important
for reverse engineers.

This is a place that will help you utilize your skills as a
reverse engineer to aquire the credentials you need
to get a great job in the virus/malware/security sector.

There is no longer any shame associated with being a cracker/reverse engineer. Your skills are very much valued.

Woodmann

I don't know about that

Yeah, wtbw and I drew pictures of yates to help us spot him in the crowd:

ReCon videos are finally available.
http://ia311336.us.archive.org/1/items/RECON2008/


I guess that a standard ReCon week equals 4 to 6 normal weeks.

TiGa

Finally, there are a few videos I want to keep around.

is it just me or are those videos fubar?

1-Make sure you have the right codecs.
2-Use VLC media player instead of Windows Media Player

it's not a codec issue, it seems the videos are in a, let's say, non-standard format. not a single player or video tool can handle them (mpc, wmp, qt, vdub, ...) except for vlc (well, and mplayer, but seeking doesn't seem to work there). wtf

VLC Worked for me. . .

Howdy,

I dont see why I should need the VLC player.
The formats are .avi, .mp4 and .flv

I get the sound but no video from all players. Well except the .flv
which seems to be completely FUBAR.
I have not tried the VLC player BUT, anything should play
a friggen .avi file

Somethings fucked up.

Woodmann

Excuse me, but this seems to be the only thread I can find about video playback issues. I have a question and i do not know whether i should post here. Recently I recorded a gameplay video with Fraps and later found it was too big, (the video length is just 10 minutes but the output is near 2G).So I downloaded this software as you can see (http://www.videoconverterfactory.com/tips/compress-fraps-videos.html) to help me compress Fraps videos. But after conversion, the original AVI file got converted into MP4 and I found there was some kind of quality loss and the frame rate also dropped a little. I want to know if you guys know any better parameter settings which can make it look better.

I didnt look at your converter program but either you missed a setting during conversion or it is "crippleware" and will only let you save it as mp4.
There are free softwares that will do what you want.

http://www.anvsoft.com/any-video-converter-free.html

Woodmann

We do. One better parameter setting is choice of software, which can be changed to https://plays.tv/ ("https://plays.tv/").