Ron Deibert & Rafal Rohozinski

Rafal Rohozinski is a principal with The SecDev Group and CEO of Psiphon inc. He is a founder and principal investigator of the Information Warfare Monitor and the Open Net Initiative, where he directs a network of field-based staff in Asia, the CIS and Middle East.  He was formerly the director of the Advanced Network Research Group, Cambridge Security Programme, University of Cambridge.

Rafal has 18 years of field-based experience working in an operational and advisory capacity in 37 countries, including conflict zones in the CIS, the Middle East, and Africa. In 2005-2006, Rafal served as an embedded Chief Technical Advisor to the Palestinian Authority.

Rafal's recent publications include two co-authored studies for the Centre for Strategic Leadership, US Army War College, examining "Information Effects" in counterinsurgency and stability operations, and "New Media and the Warfighter" (the latter based on a case study of the

2006 Hizbullah-Israeli conflict). Rafal is the co-editor and contributor to "Access Denied: the practice and policy of global Internet filtering"

(MIT press). He is currently completing a follow- up volume entitled "Access Controlled" examining the emergence of complex information controls in the CIS, including a chapter on the strategic cyber-war dimensions of the Russian-Georgian conflict. He is a principal investigator and co-author of the GhostNet Study.

Nart Villeneuve is the CTO of Psiphon Inc. and the Psiphon Research Fellow at the Citizen Lab, Munk Centre for International Studies, University of Toronto. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto and the former Director of Technical Research at the Citizen Lab where he analyzed the Internet filtering policies around the world as part of the OpenNet Initiative (ONI). His research focuses on Internet censorship as well as the evasion tactics used to bypass Internet filtering systems. He has developed several tools for network-based reconnaissance and interrogation. Nart leads the Psiphon "Red Team".

Nart is also a Senior Research Associate at the Information Warfare Monitor where he focuses on electronic surveillance, cyber-attacks and digital security. Nart has been involved in several in field investigations of  alleged CNO/CNA, including in Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, and Myanmar. He is the author of the  "Breaching Trust" study examining Chinese surveillance practices on the TOM-Skype platform, and the lead technical investigator and lead co-author of the GhostNet study.

Abstract of the Presentation: Tracking GhostNet

GhostNet is a recently discovered Internet-based intelligence collection network operating from the People's Republic of China. At its peak, the network consisted of over 1,295 compromised computer systems in 103 countries, 30% of which were high-value targets, including ministries of foreign affairs, embassies, international organizations, news media, and NGOs. GhostNet's capabilities are far-reaching. The study underlines the extent and the ease with which computer network exploitation can successfully target unclassified but sensitive networks. The study concludes that we have entered a new era of do-it-yourself signals intelligence which requires a new approach to information security. The briefing will include a walkthrough of the investigation in the Palantir analytical environment.

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