Wrapping up Black Hat 2011

The plane home has landed, the bags are unpacked and it's time to look back on another year of Black Hat.

The 2011 conference kicked off with much anticipation. Researchers such as Charlie Miller had been promising for weeks to detail some very exciting discoveries and disclosures, and speakers had been scheduled to discuss issues ranging from mobile platforms to embedded devices.

Ambassador Cofer Black delivered the opening keynote. The former US counter-terrorism director said that, in many ways, attitudes towards cyber warfare are similar to those regarding international terrorism in the years leading up to the 11 September attacks in the US.

Later in the day, researchers from iSec Partners presented the results of a study on network security in Apple's OS X. The operating system was found to contain major weaknesses that prompted iSec's Alex Stamos to warn companies not to use OS X Server.

Later in the day, celebrated researcher Dan Kaminsky made headlines yet again, but not for his usual vulnerability discoveries. Instead, Kaminsky lifted the lid on n00ter, a network analysis tool which can tell when an internet service provider is deliberately slowing traffic for a certain platform or service.

Later, a panel consisting of securitry researchers, vendors and energy officials fielded questions on a controversial new report into vulnerabilities in the PLC modules used at power plants and other industrial facilities.

Perhaps the biggest news at Black Hat, however, was made by McAfee. The company released an extensive report on Operation Shady RAT, a targeted attack that had infiltrated more than 70 businesses and government organisations worldwide.

The second day of the conference saw iconic hacker Mudge reach out to the Black hat community on behalf of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which is sponsoring a series of small-scale security research operations.

Many vendors also used the conference to announce new products and initiatives. Microsoft unveiled a $200,000 research prize, while Zettaset unveiled its Security Data Warehouse platform.