Null as we know is an open security community and organizes international security conference Nullcon every year. Usually the conference was being held in Goa for the past three times. But this time the conference also took place in Delhi for the first time.



The conference was to start from 26 of September to 29 of September. The venue was Hotel Leela Kempinski, Gurgaon, a pleasant five start hotel. The first two days i.e. 26 and 27 were devoted to trainings and workshops for students and all professional eager to learn and expertise in the security domain. The domains covered were Android security, Web hacking, Forensics, Exploitation techniques, Mobile hacking and Reverse engineering. All these workshops went for the first two days. The real action started from 28 of September!


In morning all like minded professionals gathered, collected pass and got ready for the wonderful day ahead! There was a welcome note before the action to start. The talks and track started with keynote speaker, Mr Raghu Raman, CEO,NATGRID. His talk title was “The battle of the minds”. It was great to see an ex-armed force officer presenting his awesome talk on the security domain. Most of us got bit late, so entered talk at the mid. But still it was a wonderful talk that gave us moments to smile as well as think deeply.

 

Tea break gave us the moment to meet and talk to the security geeks and 1337s out there! This was the time when I met many security professionals whom I have talked virtually in the cyber space. A few to name are Mr. Atul Alex, Mr. Rahul Sasi, Mr. Anant Srivastava, Mr. Akash Mahajan, Mr. Jakhar and many more. (Can’t name them all, list is long J ). We had talks and intro of each other. Discussed about work, happenings in the industry and about our life going on! There were some funny moments, the ins and outs of our industry, discussing opportunities for youngsters and beginners in the security domain. We all got lost so much in our personal talks that we skipped some tracks and talks! J After all, the main motive as always is to meet and share experiences with people out there. I got accompanied by Mr. Atul Alex Cherian, Malcon founder who noticed me first and that was unexpected by me to see one of my inspirations getting to me first!


Coming to talks, as I told earlier, we got busy in our discussions. But still sneaked to some talks. One of them was “Another Security Lab” by Mr. Joerg Simon. The talk was focused on Open Source Security Testing Methodology Manual using Fedora with set of security tools. It was much like a demonstration for using the distro while implementing and testing OSSTMM methodology. The talks were running in two conference halls. So there were two talks at a time which made us difficult to attend all talks. Meanwhile we sneaked into another good talk “Securing Software Ventures” by Mr. Aiden Riley Eller awaking how SMEs should practice security in regular cycles. It was good security business oriented talk.


But the talk that made the day was “Security Conclave” discussing the cyber infrastructure of the nation and making think whether we are ready or not for cyber attacks. This was talk that gave us light moments to laugh and deep thoughts to think over. Mr. KK Mokhey from NII and Mr. Alok from NTRO made the debate a healthy discussion where Mr. Mokhey was lightning up the issue whether we are secure and Mr Alok covering up the tracks! (Great humors jokes, seriously must attend one! J ) The day ended with a splendid party from the Sans, the cocktail sponsors for the conference, though most of us left bit early to travel long distances and avoid jams of Delhi.



Next day, the keynote speakers was Dr Alok, DG NTRO. In the meanwhile, I forgot to tell you that there job fair both days. Various security organizations took place in it, exhibition was conducted in the hall where various products and services were detailed by various security companies. This was the place where fresher’s and info-sec enthusiast got opportunities to explore as well gain knowledge on different products and services.

Mr. Rahul Sasi’s talk on “Highly harmful audio waves a.k.a DTMF fuzzing” was never to be missed. He had given that talk on different international conference and was just back from Burcon to Delhi for this talk. It was quite interesting and demonstration must have made many people to get curious and try this at home! “How Secure is Internet Banking in India” by Mr. Ajit Hatti was also an interesting talk to attend focusing how secure the banking in India is. He had done a devoted research on websites of banks and evaluated the security flaws as well. Its always good to see such talks, you never know who sneaks into your online transactions!

Also there were Null awards for professionals and null chapters. Congrats to Null Banglore Chapter for winning the best chapter award.


This conference was a business oriented conference, joining organizations around the world to focus on growing information security business, opportunities of jobs, cyber security infrastructure etc. It was great to see many big names and motivations under one roof, a life time experience for me that would always last in my memory as it was my first security conference.

I would once again thanks my home team, SecurityXploded for giving me this wonderful opportunity of being part of this much awaited hackthon. I would request our readers to be there at Nullcon Goa 2013. These types of conferences give you exposure, meeting and sharing amongst the community members.



And of course, learning experience as always. Leaving back home, I took great memories. Hope to see much more people the next time. So next time, be aware, be there!