Melanie Rieback

CEO/Co-founder of Radically Open Security

Location
The Netherlands
Area of Expertise
Computing, Governance, Ethics, Leadership, Exponential Thinking, Cybersecurity
Type
Expert

Dr. Melanie Rieback is CEO/Co-founder of Radically Open Security (the world’s first not-for-profit cybersecurity company), and “Post Growth” startup incubator Nonprofit Ventures. She designed and teaches the Post Growth Entrepreneurship' class in the Business School at the University of Amsterdam, is a Cybersecurity lecturer at Singularity University, and is a former Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Melanie is a Fellow of the Post Growth Institute, and she was also named “Most Innovative IT Leader of the Netherlands” by CIO Magazine (TIM Award) in 2017, and one of the “9 Most Innovative Women in the European Union” (EU Women Innovators Prize) in 2019. She is also one of the 400 most successful women in the Netherlands by Viva Magazine (Viva400) in 2010 and 2017, and one of the fifty most inspiring women in tech (Inspiring Fifty Netherlands) in 2016, 2017, and 2019. Her company, Radically Open Security was named the 50th Most Innovative SME by the Dutch Chamber of Commerce (MKB Innovatie Top 100) in 2016.*

Sessions

Adventures in Spearphishing: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Public Good, Cybersecurity, Privacy, Risk Management

Spearphishing is a known tactic, but how about using spam as a phishing vector? This presentation introduces "phishing spam", an open-source Spearphishing Toolkit. The need, process and methods used for spearphishing are illustrated through an actual client case from Radically Open Security. The case has a surprising ending with an ethical + philosophical twist. This is the kind of story that only comes from the trenches.

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Capture the Flag

Public Good, Cybersecurity, Risk Management , Lifelong Learning

This demo is a custom built demo targeting the level of the participants. Melanie will set up a hacking environment in which the participants will partake in a custom hacking challenge battling in teams. Besides hacking challenges, this demo can be altered for beginners with challenges like lock picking.

Cross-site scripting (XSS)

Public Good, Cybersecurity, Privacy, Risk Management

We have all received an e-mail with a suspicious link or attachment. During this demo Melanie will show what the consequences are if you click on a malicious link in an e-mail. She will tell participants more about how hackers use the technique cross-site scripting and the tool Browser Exploitation Framework (BeEF). Using the same tools Melanie will demonstrate how she can make webpages dance on your screen, turn the webcam on and sniff passwords.

Cybersecurity

Public Good, Cybersecurity, Privacy, Law and Policy, Risk Management

As cyberattacks grow in number and sophistication, it is essential that data is protected. With today’s evolving threat landscape, cybercrime is growing parallel to technological progress, and incorporating exponential algorithmic and computational advances. Award winning Cybersecurity expert and social entrepreneur Melanie Rieback will explain what you need to know, and help you future-proof the security of your systems and infrastructure.

Demos and trainings Melanie gives include: Hacking, Phishing WiFi attacks, Password cracking, Open-Source Intelligence, Social Engineering and Security Awareness.

Nonprofit Companies: Experiments in Business Model Hacking

Public Good, Information Technology, Business Models, Philanthropy

This presentation introduces the concept of the Nonprofit Company (based upon the Dutch concept of a Fiscal Fundraising Institution). Melanie Rieback is the CEO/Co-founder of Radically Open Security, the world’s first non-profit computer security consultancy company. She will present a few case studies (in the IT industry), and provide a number of compelling reasons why your next startup should be... not-for-profit!

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Open-Source and Exponential Business

Public Good, Open Source, Business Models, Corporate Innovation

Both startups and multinationals cling to outdated reasons for proprietary business models: “competitors will steal our stuff”, “services aren’t scalable”, “corporate customers won’t take us seriously if our product is free”. However, in the modern world of Uber+AirBNB and DevOps-style BizDev, these assumptions no longer apply. This talk will explain why open-source is the best way for your company to achieve disruptive success in your industry.

Password Cracking Demo

Public Good, Cybersecurity, Privacy, Risk Management

Having a strong password is part of securing your data. In this demo Melanie will explain the theory behind passwords, explain what a strong password or -sentence means and she will show how she can crack actual passwords given by participants of the demo.

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Pentesting ChatOps

Public Good , Cybersecurity, Risk Management, Lifelong Learning

In this talk Melanie Rieback introduces the basics of Pentesting ChatOps, and will discuss the processes and open-source tools needed to enable Pentesting ChatOps within your own organization.

ChatOps, a concept originating from Github, is chatroom-driven DevOps for distributed teams, using chatbots (like Hubot) to execute custom scripts and plugins. We have applied the concept of ChatOps to the penetration testing workflow, and found that it fits outstandingly – for everything from routine scanning to spearphishing to pentest gamification. This talk discusses the tools that we use (RocketChat, Hubot, Gitlab, pentesting tools), and provides battle stories of using Pentesting ChatOps in practice.

Post-Growth Entrepreneurship: Social Impact, Questioning Exponentials, and the Future

Public Good, Information Technology, Social Entrepreneurship, Philanthropy

In the Information Age, new technologies and data-gathering power growth and change. Companies are addicted to exponential growth. But is this good for our planet and our society? In recent years social entrepreneurship claims to offer an alternative - but something still doesn't feel right. As the founder of the world's first not-for-profit computer security consultancy company, Melanie Rieback’s talk will combine her practical experience building "nonprofit businesses" with the macroeconomic theory of "post-growth" economists like Tim Jackson and Kate Raworth. These talks will question everything that you know about entrepreneurship, provide practical tools to build something different, and then offer you a blue pill and a red pill. Can you go back to "business as usual" again?

Red and Blue Team Pentesting

Public Good, Cybersecurity, Risk Management, Lifelong Learning

In this custom built demo. Melanie will set up a simulation with a war like pentesting challenge. The red team will try and attack while the blue team has to monitor and defend. This interactive demo is a great way to learn more about the attacker mindset and how to defend yourself against attackers.

Retrieve Passwords From Computer Memory

Public Good, Cybersecurity, Privacy, Risk Management

Nowadays we spend a lot of time behind our computer ,which means our computer stores a lot of data and even data we have forgotten about. Melanie will show how she can retrieve all kinds of unencrypted data, for instance passwords, from a (Windows) computer.

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Social Enterprises as a Tool for Activism

Public Good, Information Technology, Social Entrepreneurship, Philanthropy

We have entered the era of President Trump. Activists, NGOs, and charities thus need to reexamine the stability of (and motives behind) their funding sources. Surprisingly, business is an excellent tool that one can leverage to change the system. While business is not perceived as sexy by most activist-types, this talk will explain why social enterprises are tactical, lightweight, independent, effective, and why they are now more important than ever.

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Why Cybersecurity Belongs to the Commons

Public Good, Cybersecurity, Privacy, Law and Policy

When it comes to IT assets: Is there a tension between security and openness? The prevailing wisdom is that there is. As Melanie Rieback explains, there needn't be. Melanie discusses how open source methods and transparency help to improve security. Those who want to defend against cyberattacks should cooperate with each other, because the truth is attackers do too.

Wi-fi and Pineapple Demo

Public Good, Cybersecurity , Privacy, Risk Management

Public wi-fi access points are everywhere nowadays. In this demo Melanie Rieback will show how dangerous these widely available public wi-fi networks are. Using a ‘pineapple’ device, Melanie will show how she can collect data and interfere with how you surf the internet. During the demo you can connect your own device with the pineapple and see for yourself what others can see and do while you’re using public wi-fi.

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Hacking and the Cybercrime Ecosystem

Cybersecurity, Law and Policy, Decision Making, Risk Management, Mental Health

This session will highlight hacking techniques and attacker models. It will also describe the cybercrime ecosystem, common security threats, and interactively demonstrate: password cracking, memory based password retrieval, web exploitation, and Wi-Fi hacking. We will then explore countermeasures and mitigations, that are actionable on both a personal and organizational level. The combination of theory and demos will give attendees a deeper understanding of the range of security measures, and enable them to make more conscious decisions and tradeoffs in their leadership roles.

Security Awareness

Cybersecurity, Decision Making, Risk Management, Mental Health, Law and Policy

Web Hacking and Phishing

Cybersecurity, Decision Making, Risk Management, Mental Health, Law and Policy

We have all received an e-mail with a suspicious link or attachment. During this demo Dr. Melanie Rieback will show what the consequences are if you click on a malicious link in an e-mail. She will demonstrate the concepts using cross-site scripting and the tool Browser Exploitation Framework (BeEF). She will show how hackers can sniff your passwords and make webpages dance on your screen, and then discuss countermeasures that can stop it.

Wi-Fi Hacking

History of Innovation and Technology, Philosophy of Technology, Disruption, Economics, Identity

Public Wi-Fi access points are everywhere nowadays. In this demo Melanie will show how dangerous these widely available public Wi-Fi networks are. Using a ‘pineapple’ device, Melanie will show how hackers collect data and interfere with how you surf the Internet. She will then discuss some countermeasures.

Questioning Exponentials

History of Innovation and Technology, Philosophy of Technology, Disruption, Economics, Identity

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Melanie Rieback

Sessions

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