Harry McLaren - Personal Website

Cloudflare has just announced an interesting and potential game changer for IoT-based threats:

“Orbit sits one layer before the device and provides a shield of security, so even if the device is running past its operating system’s expiration date, Cloudflare protects it from exploits. And while devices may be seldom patched, the Cloudflare security team is shipping code every day, adding new firewall rules to Cloudflare’s edge. Think of it like changing IoT to I*oT — devices can still access the Internet, but only after passing through Cloudflare where malicious requests can be filtered.
For the last year, Cloudflare has been working with a number of IoT vendors to develop Orbit. Already more than 120 million IoT devices are safer behind Cloudflare’s network. Lockitron is one of the IoT companies using Cloudflare. “Keeping our products and customers secure is our primary concern,” says Paul Gerhardt, co-founder of Lockitron. “Cloudflare provides an extra layer of security that allows us to keep our devices continually updated and ahead of any vulnerabilities.””

Source: https://blog.cloudflare.com/orbit/

Splunk Hackathon for the Big Data Conference 2017

I’m hosting (along with my employer ECS) a Splunk focused Hackathon as part of the Big Data Conference for Cybersecurity next month!

It’s shaping up to be a cool event where attendees will be given a number of challenges in a CTF (Capture the Flag) style over a few hours. We have re-developed our custom Splunk App to have a great selection of security and cloud-focused data sources which should present lots of opportunities to show off some cool data analytics using the Splunk platform!

Then later on in the afternoon, I’ll be presenting a session on ‘Deconstructing the SIEM Platform’ in which I’ll discuss what makes a ‘modern’ SIEM, break out its component parts and discuss the important of frameworks to hold it all together.

Hackathon Registration: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ecs-splunk-hackathon-cyber-academy-international-conference-on-big-data-in-cyber-security-2017-tickets-33455759076

Big Data Conference Registration: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/international-conference-on-big-data-in-cyber-security-2017-tickets-30453302648

Event Blub:

As part of the Cyber Academy’s International Conference on Big Data in Cyber Security, ECS and Splunk are holding a Hackathon based around the Splunk Platform that will test your skills and logic against other like-minded technologists and in the end the team with the best analytical skills, use cases and dashboards will prevail and take the prize! You will first receive a brief overview of the big data platform (Splunk) and an introduction to starting your data analytics using this powerful software.

This event provides an opportunity to not only demonstrate your technical and analytical know-how using the Splunk technology, but also to win prizes (Amazon Vouchers & Splunk T-Shirts)!

Our Hackathon presents a challenging scenario for attendees to work as part of a team in a fun and relaxed environment.

Even if you don’t have deep technical skills we’ll make sure your team does is well balanced for the challenges.

(Complimentary refreshments will also be available!)

A Private Network for IoT Devices

Splunk Hackathon for the Big Data Conference 2017