Laura LeHew writes:
Call for Papers
SANS 1999 Workshop On Securing Linux
December 15-16, 1999
San Francisco
Deadline June 28, 1999
Note: Best proposal will get a free trip to San Francisco to
present their paper at the conference
Conference Objective
Topics
Who Should Submit a Proposal
How to Submit a Proposal
Questions
Program Sponsors
LINUX is winning! Where other new operating systems failed,
LINUX is gaining converts among users and vendors at an increasing
rate, proving that the community of computer users can create
extraordinarily valuable tools. At the same time Linux systems are
the targets of a huge number of successful attacks.
There is debate over the causes of storm of Linux security
incidents, but whether it is the operating system’s immaturity or
the carelessness of its users, continued growth demands that Linux
users and the developer community meet the security challenges.
An important initiative was launched at SANS99 in Baltimore.
Linux experts from more than a dozen universities are jointly
creating a hardened version of Red Hat Linux, in a project named
Bastille Linux. They are fixing the default configurations and
adding security features so the university administrators will feel
safer distributing Linux to students. Information on the project
may be found at http://www.bastille-linux.org/.
Every person who attends the Securing Linux Workshop will be given
a copy for adaptation and/or redistribution.
There’s more that can and is being done to make Linux systems
less vulnerable. If you are one of the people who have developed
home-grown solutions or are one of the developers of a more secure
version of Linux, please submit a proposal for the Securing Linux
Workshop.
If you have solutions (even partial ones) we welcome your
input.
The 1999 SANS San Francisco Network Security Conference is being
held concurrently with the Intrusion Detection & Response
Training Conference, where the nation’s top network security and
intrusion detection experts, people like Stephen Northcutt, Gene
Schultz, Randy Marchany, Ed Skoudis, and many more will be teaching
in-depth, full-day, intense courses for security practitioners.
We hope that you will consider joining the Securing Linux
Workshop to extend this tradition of quality by submitting a
proposal for:
A paper focused on practical solutions (2-10 pages) along with a
presentation (25 or 50 minutes) other types of presentations
(panels, demonstrations, mini-tutorials, etc. – 15-90 minutes in
length)
Even if you choose not to submit a short paper and presentation,
we hope you will join us in San Francisco on December 11 – 16, 1999
for the workshops and courses that you feel will be helpful in
meeting your professional needs. Course titles and a preliminary
schedule will be posted to http://www.sans.org around July 15,
1999.
Topics
Any topic that you feel would provide immediate pragmatic
information on Linux security to an assortment of researchers,
practitioners, and observers coming to the workshop is invited.
Here are a few topic groups that might give you ideas, but
submissions are by no means confined to these:
- Hardening the Operating System
- Improving Practices and Procedures
- Risks Particular to Linux Systems
- Configuration Errors
- Silly Things Users Do
- Good New Tools
- Bad Tools New or Old
- Automating Installation to Reduce Risks
- Network-Based Intrusion Detection
- Host-Based Intrusion Detection
- Vulnerability Analysis
Who Should Submit A Proposal and Why Should You
Anyone who has done useful work in improving the security of
Linux systems is invited to submit a proposal.
The recognition afforded by being chosen to present some of your
work can be a marvelous avenue of professional growth and can yield
results throughout many aspects of your career. If you have a
solution that you would like to share, please consider taking the
time to write it up and submit a proposal to SANS. Being selected
to be a part of the SANS faculty gets you more than just the rare
ID&R-Securing Linux polo shirts. It also conveys an
appreciation of the value you are contributing to the field.
You don’t have to be solving the largest problems in order to
have your proposals accepted. We are looking for a wide variety of
proposals and encourage you to submit one even if you are not sure
of its worth. Besides the distinctive polo shirts, authors also
earn substantial discounts on conference and tutorial
attendance.
If you are a vendor, please consider joining the SANS evening
vendor presentation program. Contact daragh@sans.org for
opportunities to present technical aspects of your products to SANS
participants in a variety of venues.
How To Submit A Proposal
Send an email to laura@deer-run.com with the subject `Securing
Linux Proposal’.
Submissions will only be accepted in any of the following
formats: PDF, Word ’97, PowerPoint ’97, ASCII text, or HTML.
Deadline for submission is June 28, 1999.
Please include the following items:
Your Name
Preferred email
Phone
Fax
Employer
Surface mail address
The title of your proposed presentation The length (25 minute
presentation with 2-5 page paper or an alternative format).
At least three paragraphs containing:
The specific challenges or problems the presentation will help
the audience solve.
The approach you used including any specific tools you created
or used The evidence you have that proves that your approach works
well and can be used by other people.
SANS has made great strides in the past few years and is now
recognized as one of the two most useful learning opportunities in
the system administration, networking, and security field. This
year, SANS is introducing policies that will enable us to continue
to earn quality accolades:
All presentations focus on actual challenges faced by system
administrators, security professionals, and network managers.
All presentations provide practical solutions that can be
implemented immediately.
All daytime presentations are free of vendor bias (except the
panels in which multiple vendors are speaking together and will
`correct’ one another).
Vendors and their representatives are welcome to present in the
SANS evening program.
All presenters will be given opportunities to ensure their
presentation skills are the best they can be: through
pre-conference training Programs, coaching-on-request for content
and speaking, and/or audio tape exchange.
Questions
Please contact laura@deer-run.com with questions.
Program Committee Chairs
Alan Paller, The SANS Institute
Jon Lasser, University of Maryland Baltimore Campus