II Cybersecurity Seminar: Threats of the 21st Century

This week I have been in La Serena, Chile, to give a talk about Bitcoins and cryptomonedas at the Second CyberSecurity Seminar organized by the Chilean Investigation Police (PDI) and INACAP Technological University.

This is the second time this seminar has been held and assistance has increased over the previous year so it seems that the region shows interest in CyberSecurity and that present interesting talks. In addition to the talks, some interesting advances are shown as is the case with the facial recognition for the registration process associated with the civil registry database presented by NEC people… everything very modern, as you passed in front of the camera were automatic

you are recognized, although I fear that in Spain it is not applicable by laws on privacy and protection of personal data.

Can I get rich mining Bitcoins?

With this suggestive title I presented the paper of my talk. The idea was to talk about the history of the Bitcoin and the mining process as a way to generate new Bitcoins, all in an easy, understandable and understandable way. so that those who were less familiar with technology could understand the concepts:

Since the mining process is becoming more and more energy-demanding as the algorithm is getting complicated (as we have already commented on in This entry), a time has come when no longer cost-effective having one or more computers at home mining Bitcoins, so we can go say goodbye to the Lambo if we thought we’d get rich this way:

But not all is lost, we can still use cryptomonedas a form of investment and take advantage of the new cryptomoneda entries to the market to buy them at a low price waiting for them to rise, which we know as trading or investments in ICOs, of which we have already spoken also in this other entry:

Although this form of investment has a high risk component… to become a ludopathI think that’s what happened to me:

In addition to the usual risks associated with any capital investment, you have to add the risks inherent in Blockchain technology… and of course there is always the risk of cybercriminals, malware designed to steal our crypto- savings or the possibility of being fooled in the same way that we were trying to be fooled by phishing techniques posing as our bank, We also discussed it a few weeks ago:

Still and after having painted it quite black so that the attendees didn’t think that investing in cryptomonedas is the panacea, There were several of those present who asked me once the talk ended how they could invest in Bitcoin or other cryptomonedas to start getting familiar with the world crypto-blockchain. If human beings like risk, we can’t help it, we spend our lives playing!

Other interesting talks

Some of the talks were really interesting. The Commissioner Danic Maldonado de la PDI He talked about Police-based computer crimes, with special emphasis on the risk of being deceived and child pornography… it was funny when he said that when we talk about this issue, we think automatically of a very low age range, when a video in which a 17-year-old girl, 11 months and 20 days of age, remains child pornography and cited several examples of videos that had become viral a few months ago.

is to be starred by a minor.

The other side Cristian Bravo He talked about the Policy of CyberSecurity and CyberDefense of Chile in which he had actively participated and which had taken a step forward from Chile in CyberSecurity, not only to update his internal policies but also to position himself as one of the references in this sector within South America.

And finally the fun talk of Gabriel Bergel, creator of the Security Congress 8.8, speaking on Social Engineering. What I found most curious about this talk was that I used some slids that I also use when I talk about social engineering, even the same examples in some cases!, so the talk was very fun.

As you can see, it has been a II very interesting CyberSecurity Seminar that will have to be at the point of view in possible editions, I will start thinking about next year’s theme in case they invite me again;)