Hacker 2.0

PR companies and consultants will go to any lengths it seems to raise the interest of us tired and cynical hacks. As I opened my email inbox this morning, two headlines leaped out at me (which I must say is pretty unusual as I generally find it hard to get excited about any press release that graces my inbox); "Hacking the Stock Market with Comsec," read the first one, and the second one was "The Hackers arms race 2.0," which sounds more like something that belongs on the front page of a tabloid newspaper.

The first pertained to an invitation from Comsec Consulting to come and see them "hack" into the world of online stock trading at the upcoming RSA Conference.

The Comsec presentation said that it would "review advanced analysis and hacking capabilities within the world of online stock trading – one of the most vulnerable sectors of online business, as well as demonstrating common weak security practices used by developers from an attacker's perspective, and an in-depth look into commonly used protocols and their vulnerabilities."

The other presentation at the same conference pertains to websites designed using good old "Web 2.0" technologies which are meant to provide a richer, more interactive internet experience, but allegedly at the expense of security says VeriSign who adds that the "complexity" of Web 2.0 websites means "traditional" security measures can no longer keep pace, leaving gaps for hackers to get in.

I am beginning to wonder if the IT security companies, hackers and PR companies are all in cahoots with one another?