DotNet Columbia SC User Group

Dennis Hurst, Senior Consulting Engineer at S.P.I. Dynamics Incorporated will present

It's been estimated that three-fourths of today's successful system hacks are perpetrated not via network security flaws, but by entering directly through the "front door" - exploiting vulnerabilities in customer-facing web applications.

Is *your* front door wide open? Join us and find out. This is not for the faint of heart. If you have a web site out there - it doesn't even have to be a commerce site - you may not sleep well after this meeting... until you have done some of these tests yourself and maybe plugged some holes in your site(s).

As a developer, I will watch this session and others like it until I can repeat it in my sleep. And any manager responsible for development, security, operation, or maintenance of a website should watch this. Some big hitters have been subject to these types of attacks...

Pre-register by sending an email to Tore Bostrup stating that you are pre-registering for the event.

Location: Midlands Technical College - Northeast Campus/Center of Excellence for Technology The Auditorium 151 Powell Rd. Columbia, SC 29203 (803) 691-3925 Map http://www.midlandstech.edu/northeastmap-b.htm
Event Date: Thursday, March 3, 2004
6:00 PM Registration and Networking	Registration and Networking Meet and Mingle. The time before the meeting is a great time for networking with other developers in the area. Have some (free) pizza and refreshments. Any handouts and pizza will be available on a first come first served basis. Who - knows - there may be another Code Corner - and maybe it won't be me this time. However - who knows. Come to the meeting and find out...
6:45 PM Announcements	Introductions and Announcements We announce the results of November's survey, as well as other club business, upcoming events and happenings within the community, and words from our sponsors. Speaker - Committee & Sponsor
7:00 PM Spotlight Presentation	Live Hacking Demo: Top Web App Attack Methods and How to Combat Them. It's been estimated that three-fourths of today's successful system hacks are perpetrated not via network security flaws, but by entering directly through the "front door" - exploiting vulnerabilities in customer-facing web applications. The hacker has evolved. Reality is that web sites and web applications are hacked with frightening ease. By taking advantage of the public access to a company through port 80 and 443 and using it to subvert your applications, hackers can gain easy access into your company's sensitive backend data. Firewalls and IDS will not stop such attacks because hackers using the Web application layer are not seen as intruders. Watch and learn as our top security experts from SPI Dynamics show you how to defend against attacks at the Web application layer with examples covering recent hacking methods such as: SQL Injection, Cross Site Scripting, Parameter Manipulation, and Session Hijacking. Dennis Hurst, senior consulting engineer for SPI Dynamics, is responsible for working with developers to educate them on the need for Web Application security and practical ways to protect Web Applications from hacking attacks. S.P.I. Dynamics Incorporated, the expert in web application security testing and enterprise security risk management, provides software and services to help organizations protect against the loss of confidential data across the enterprise. SPI Dynamics’ internal research and development group, SPI Labs, is recognized as the unequivocal authority on web application security with security experts who have received worldwide recognition for the identification of security vulnerabilities and exploits. With more than 15 years experience in the Information Systems/Application Development industry, he is an expert in system design, implementation and maintenance of complex multi-vendor, multi-platform computer applications and networks. He has extensive experience in planning developing and enhancing Internet systems as well as integrating Internet systems with legacy systems. For the past three years he has focused on developing tools to test and secure the HTTP protocol. Dennis is a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MSCD in Visual Basic and SQL Server) and a Certified Novell Engineer (CNE) for version 3.x and 4.x. Furthermore, he has published articles and developed classes on the secure application development process. Dennis has spoken on the topic of secure coding practices at Software Development West 2004, Better Software 2004, WebSec 2003 and various user group chapter meetings. He has been published in asp.net PRO and on 15 Seconds Speaker – Dennis Hurst
About 8:00 PM Raffle and Conclusion	Raffle Door prizes - check out this month's goodies... Must be present to win. Speaker - Committee After the meeting we encourage a social gathering at Sticky Fingers on Two Notch Road at the corner of Parklane.

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March 2005 Meeting Announcement

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