Black Hat USA 2020 Preview: Election Security, COVID Disinformation and More

[tarekma7]

Threatpost editors break down the top themes, speakers and sessions to look out for this year at Black Hat 2020 – from election security to remote work and the pandemic.

Despite COVID-19 pushing the Black Hat USA 2020 conference to go virtual for the first time, you can expect a steady stream of new security research, threat intel and an impressive lineup of high-profile speakers.

This year’s conference kicks off with Matt Blaze, McDevitt Chair in Computer Science and Law at Georgetown University, who is slated to talk about election security measures. Earlier this week, Blaze put President Donald Trump in the Twitter spotlight blasting him in a high-profile tweet for spreading “baseless” election concerns. Election security is also on the mind of Christopher Krebs, director of the Department of Homeland Security’s CISA unit, whose Black Hat session is called “Election Security: Securing America’s Elections.”

COVID-19 and remote work will also be a theme at the conference, with Renée DiResta, research manager at Stanford Internet Observatory giving a keynote (“Hacking Public Opinion”) on online disinformation about coronavirus and nation states spinning pandemic conspiracies. Beyond that, you can look out for advancements in research around some of the typical hot topics unveiled at Black Hat USA, including Apple research by Patrick Wardle, vulnerabilities found in connected cars (this year a Mercedes-Benz), critical infrastructure weaknesses and even “satellite eavesdropping attacks.”

Threatpost editors Tom Spring, Tara Seals and Lindsey O’Donnell-Welch break down the top sessions, keynotes, speakers and themes to look out for in this week’s podcast.

More info HERE