27 February 2012

Registration opens for CyCon 2012

CyCon 2012 is the fourth annual International Conference on Cyber Conflict taking place in Tallinn, Estonia on 5-8 June this year. The conference, which is organised by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence, will focus on military and paramilitary activities in cyberspace. CyCon registration is now open (www.cycon.org/reg) and the Early Bird rate of €421 will apply for participants who sign up before 1 April.

The conference is targeted to experts from the government, military, academic and private sectors and the main topic will be explored from the political, legal and technical perspectives within two parallel tracks: the Law & Policy Track and the Technical Track. Additionally three different workshops and a Strategy Breakout Session will be offered.

The Law & Policy Track will focus on the challenges that cyberspace currently presents to legal and policy practitioners and academics. It will offer relatively short but intensive presentations, followed by moderated panel discussions providing the audience with an opportunity for active participation through questions, comments and statements. Confirmed speakers for this track include Prof. Dr Michael N. Schmitt (Chairman of the International Law Department, United States Naval War College), Prof. Dr Wolff Heintschel von Heinegg (European University Viadrina), Jason Healey (Atlantic Council, Head of the Cyber Statecraft Initiative) and Michele Markoff (Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of the Coordinator for Cyber Issues, United States Department of State).

The Technical Track will be exploring the practical side of cyber conflict, cyber attack and cyber weapons. The track will contain a mix of practitioner and researcher presentations and discussions. Confirmed speakers for this track include Latif Ladid (IPv6 Forum), Prof. Thomas Chen (Swansea University), Felix Lindner (Recurity Labs), Martin J. Muench (Gamma International), Ilias Chantzos (Symantec) and Florian Walther (Independent IT-Security Specialist).

The Strategy Breakout Session will explore cyber conflict, cyber weapons and cyber attacks from the conceptual perspective. The session talks will be based on research papers that aim to explain the current situation as well as propose new approaches for the future.

The conference will feature three workshops on 5 June, two of which will be conducted in cooperation with the Cyber Security Forum Initiative (CSFI). “Introduction to Computers and Networks” (CSFI) is targeted at non-technical experts who would like to have a deeper understanding of the technical side of cyber. “Malware Analysis Workshop” (CFSI) is targeted at computer forensics investigators (law enforcement), incident responders, malware analysts and cyber commands. The audience will be given the understanding, tools and processes necessary to conduct malware analysis and produce reports which can endure legal scrutiny and serve as evidence. There will also be a special workshop for the members of media and its goal is to give journalists an introduction to some of the conference topics and current hot cyber issues in the world. Additionally, this workshop will allow them to have an extensive Q&A with the top speakers of the conference.

The conference registration fee is €495 and the government fee is €195. An Early Bird rate of €421 applies for participants who register before 1 April at www.cycon.org/reg. The fee covers the conference proceedings, all meals during the conference and all social networking events. Discounts apply to students, CSFI members and NATO CCD COE partner organisations, who should contact logistics.cycon-at-ccdcoe.org for information on how to apply for the discount. Journalists wishing to participate the conference are kindly asked to contact kristiina.pennar-at-ccdcoe.org for accreditation.

NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence is one of many NATO Centres of Excellence. Its mission is to enhance the capability, cooperation and information sharing among NATO, its member nations and partners in cyber defence by virtue of education, research and development, lessons learned and consultation.

For additional information:
Kristiina Pennar
Public Relations
+372 717 6811