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The next meeting will be held at the Hilton Grosvoner on February 28th starting at 7pm. We have secured Dr Steven Moyle as the Guest Speaker. Details on Steve and his presentation can be found below. I have sat in on one of Steve’s presentations at RSA and they are extremely informative and dynamic.

Look forward to seeing you soon.

John

Title: "Databases: A class break by design! Is there a class defense?"

Abstract:

"The very foundation principles of relational databases combined with their complexity and ubiquity make them delicately poised to explode sensitive data across the Internet. The trigger is  applications developed insensitively to the class breaks in the  databases beneath. Can applications be developed with security to mitigate against these vulnerabilities? Are there any class defenses  available?"

Biographical sketch:

"Steve Moyle is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Secerno - the database security company out of Oxford. He has a diverse background.  His early career was in process engineering for heavy industry, working for Comalco Aluminium (now part of the Rio Tinto group).  He then focused on process automation and computer control systems - first for Comalco, and then for Honeywell Control Systems.  He designed and engineered computer monitoring and control systems for not-normally-manned North Sea gas platforms for Total & Conoco. An interest in data mining drew him into research at the Oxford University Computing Laboratory where he spent the next decade.   After obtaining his doctorate in symbolic machine learning Steve continued his research at Oxford. His research results in machine learning found a powerful fit in the field of computer security.  Steve has built the team of people at Secerno to embed these techniques into the company's range of database security products."

'''Next Meeting - Wednesday 23rd January 2008 Guest Speaker: Rory McCune, Technical Specialist, HBOS PLC

Venue: Hilton Caledonian

Time: Wednesday 12th December; 7.00pm for a 7.30pm start

Abstract to follow

Inaugural Meeting

Venue: Hilton Caledonian Hotel

Time: Tuesday 23rd October; 7.00pm for a 7.30pm Start

Main Speaker: Brain Chess, Chief Scientist, Fortify Software

Title: Secure Programming with Static Analysis

Abstract:

Creating secure code requires more than just good intentions. Programmers need to know how to make their code safe in an almost infinite number of scenarios and configurations. Static source code analysis gives users the ability to review their work with a fine tooth comb and uncover the kinds of errors that lead directly to vulnerabilities. This talk frames the software security problem and shows how static analysis is part of the solution.

Highlights include:

- The most common security short-cuts and why they lead to security failures

- Why programmers are in the best position to get security right

- Where to look for security problems

- How static analysis helps

- The critical attributes and algorithms that make or break a static analysis tool

We will look at how static analysis works, how to integrate it into the software development processes, and how to make the most of it during security code review. Along the way we'll look at examples taken from real-world security incidents, showing how coding errors are exploited, how they could have been prevented, and how static analysis can rapidly uncover similar errors.

Other: 10 Minutes on OWASP and the Edinburgh Chapter