Cybercrime: the bad guys have gone digital

When the internet emerged, the new digital future seemed bright. By now we know that the internet offers ample opportunities for abuse. Where did things go wrong? And who are these cyber criminals.

Cybercrime: the bad guys have gone digital
In its first years of existence the internet was populated mainly by naive scientists and cyber pioneers, who thought that the new digital world would be a bright one: free access to information; transparency of authorities, preventing abuse of power; unlimited individual possibilities for communication, bringing people together, sharing and enriching their experiences.
By now we know that the internet offers ample opportunities for abuse, that citizens instead of authorities have become transparent, and that the way people communicate and express themselves is not always too positive. Where did things go wrong, not only in terms of outright crime, but also in abuse of power and in abusive language?
Did the bad guys take over the digital world, making it a dangerous instead of a peaceful place? Who are the bad guys anyway: criminal organizations, hackers, the NSA, Facebook, Apple, Google?

Bart Jacobs is a professor of computer security at the Radboud University Nijmegen. With his research group he has worked over the last decade on a number of societally relevant security topics such as
chipcards (eg. in passports and transport), electronic voting, smart metering, road pricing and privacy. He is a member of the National Cyber Security Council in the Netherlands that provides cabinet level
advice in the Netherlands on strategic computer security matters.
 

Through the eyes of a hacker
How does hacking work and what is the hacker mindset? Frank van Vliet will answer these questions in an interactive demonstration. By completing a real life scenario that is illustrative for the hacker mindset the participants will experience how hacking actually works.

Frank van Vliet is a well-known ethical hacker in the Netherlands. He gained international recognition by disclosing security vulnerabilities in slashdot.org, apache.org and freebsd.org. With Certified Secure Frank is responsible for training people in the field of IT Security. He regularly provides interactive presentations and is a guest teacher at various universities and colleges.

Interesting links:
Nos.nl: Bart Jacobs - Cyberaanval is heel gevaarlijk
Nu.nl: Cybercrime grootste bedreiging voor bedrijfsleven en overheid
YouTube: Facts about cybercrime