Las Vegas, NV, August 18, 2005 � Kevin D. Mitnick,
founder of Mitnick Security Consulting LLC and the world's most famous
former hacker, will be the keynote speaker at the Transaction Security
Summit, September 28 & 29 in Las Vegas, NV. This summit, which
asks attendees Are Your S.A.F.E.? � Secure Against Fraud Electronically,
is sponsored by Shift4 Corporation and is designed to provide merchants
and payment applications the information they need to obtain, maintain
and certify the security of their payment process.
With more than fifteen years of experience in
exploring computer security, Mr. Mitnick is a largely self-taught expert
in exposing the vulnerabilities of complex operating systems and telecommunications
devices. His hobby as an adolescent consisted of studying methods, tactics,
and strategies used to circumvent computer security, and to learn more
about how computer systems and telecommunication systems work.
In building this body of knowledge, Mr. Mitnick
gained unauthorized access to computer systems at some of the largest corporations
on the planet and penetrated some of the most resilient computer systems
ever developed. He has used both technical and non-technical means to obtain
the source code to various operating systems and telecommunications devices
to study their vulnerabilities and their inner workings.
In Mr. Mitnick�s keynote presentation � The Art
of Deception: Are YOU in Danger of Being 'Conned?' � he will share his
perspective on the threat of "social engineering", a highly effective type
of attack that exploits the human element of corporate security.
While relatively unknown to the general public,
the term "social engineering" is widely used within the computer security
community to describe the techniques hackers use to deceive a trusted computer
user within a company into revealing sensitive information, or trick an
unsuspecting mark into performing actions that create a security hole.
Mitnick will illustrate why a misplaced reliance
on security technologies alone, such as firewalls, authentication devices,
encryption, and intrusion detection systems are virtually ineffective against
a motivated attacker using these techniques. Although there are no reported
statistics on the number of successful social engineering attacks, these
ages-old techniques have been and continue to be extremely effective against
unsuspecting targets, and pose the least risk and cost to your adversary.
In the corporate environment, a large number
of unsuspecting victims never realize they have been manipulated. Through
concrete examples, Mitnick shares what businesses can do to develop a creative
and engaging security program that heightens awareness, motivates employees
to change their attitudes, influences them to think defensively, and encourages
the adoption of good security habits.
�The Transaction Security Summit delves into
the latest security regulations from the card associations. These
mostly deal with the security of a merchant�s network and a payment application�s
software. But there is much more to building a secure payment process,�
stated J. David Oder, President & CEO of Shift4. �Having a dynamic
speaker like Kevin Mitnick focus on such a key issue as social engineering
really helps round out the summit and ensures that our attendees leave
with a good understanding of what it takes to be secure, even beyond what
the card associations require.�
The Transaction Security Summit will be held
at the beautiful JW Marriott Las Vegas, located on 50 acres of lushly landscaped
grounds 15 minutes from the Las Vegas Strip. Sessions will run all
day on September 28 & 29 and will be led by a variety of industry experts
from some of the most recognized names in the credit card industry.
More details about the event and online registration forms can be found
at www.shift4.com or by calling (702)
597-2480, ext. 3439.
About Kevin Mitnick
As the world's most famous hacker, Kevin has
been the subject of countless news and magazine articles published throughout
the world. He has made guest appearances on numerous television and radio
programs, offering expert commentary on issues related to information security.
In addition to appearing on local network news programs, he has made appearances
on 60 Minutes, The Learning Channel, Tech TV's Screen Savers, Court TV,
Good Morning America, CNN's Burden of Proof, Street Sweep, Talkback Live,
National Public Radio, and as a guest star on ABC's new spy drama "Alias".
Mitnick has hosted a weekly talk radio show on KFI AM 640 in Los Angeles,
testified before the United States Senate, written for Harvard Business
Review and spoken for Harvard Law School. His first best-selling
book, The Art of Deception, was published in October 2002 by Wiley and
Sons Publishers. His second title, The Art of Intrusion, was released
in February 2005. www.mitnicksecurity.com
About
Shift4 Corporation
Shift4, a leading developer of financial transaction
processing software and services, provides web-based, real-time enterprise
payment solutions for leaders in the hospitality, retail, foodservices
and e-commerce markets. Through connectivity to most major processors,
$$$ ON THE NET provides both high speed and low cost authorizations and
settlements for credit, debit, check, private label and gift card transactions.
$$$ ON THE NET also includes the ability to access, review and edit transactions
prior to settlement, as well as a searchable, 24-month archive of transactions
for reporting and charge back defense. For more information contact
Shift4 at (702) 597-2480 or visit Shift4 online at www.shift4.com. |