Most Active Speaker

Rory McCune

Rory McCune

Senior Security Researcher & Advocate - Datadog

Glasgow, United Kingdom

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Rory is a senior advocate for Datadog who has extensive experience with Cyber security and Cloud native computing. In addition to his work as a security reviewer and architect on containerization technologies like Kubernetes and Docker he has presented at Kubecon EU and NA, as well as a number of other cloud native and security conferences. He is one of the main authors of the CIS benchmarks for Docker and Kubernetes, a published author on the topic of Cloud Native Security and member of Kubernetes SIG-Security. When he's not working, Rory can generally be found out walking and enjoying the scenery of the Scottish highlands.

Awards

  • Most Active Speaker 2024

Area of Expertise

  • Information & Communications Technology
  • Media & Information

Topics

  • Containerization
  • Container Security
  • Kubernetes Security
  • Kubernetes

You can only secure what you can observe

Central to effective cybersecurity is a fundamental yet often overlooked task: knowing exactly what needs to be secured. This foundational aspect, is increasingly challenging in today's fast-paced and dynamic technological landscapes. Organizations grappling with this issue find it especially pronounced in modern, fluid environments where assets can rapidly change or scale.

This talk will dive into this area, give you ideas of what you need to consider, look at some common problem areas and also show where it's possible to leverage emerging technologies like Open Telemetry to improve your companies security.

The Myriad Paths to Improving Open Source Security

If you're looking to contribute to open source security, it can sometimes be tricky to think of where and how you can contribute, especially if you're not a developer. In this talk we'll examine some of the ways where you can help improve open source security regardless of your technical background, talk about their pros and cons and also talk about how your ideas for security can have a global impact.

Observability for pentesters

Observability, or o11y, is more than just a trending term in the tech world; it's a pivotal element in comprehending and managing complex modern systems. For pentesters, understanding and exploiting this domain is crucial. This talk demystifies observability and open telemetry, offering insights into how it works.

We'll examine popular tools in open-source observability stacks, like Prometheus, Jaeger and FluentD, revealing their attack surfaces. Moreover, we'll delve into practical strategies, demonstrating how observability tools can significantly enhance white box pentesting.

Fortifying Kubernetes - Strategies for Secure Cluster Management

One of the great things about Kubernetes is the variety of choices it provides and the flexibility it gives us in creating different configurations. However, with that flexibility it can be difficult to understand what's needed to create secure Kubernetes clusters.

This talk will go through some of the key areas of Kubernetes security, look at where the provided defaults are not necessarily the best choice for your production systems and provide practical advice for cluster operators and developers deploying applications to those clusters on how to make usable and secure environments.

Charting the Course: The History and Evolution of Kubernetes Security

From the early days of Kubernetes, security has been a topic of interest and an area with plenty of challenges. In this talk we'll take a look at some of the choices that Kubernetes has made, look at some vulnerabilities and exploits, and explore what's changed (and what hasn't!) over the last ten years all the way from the days of the "Kubelet exploit" and Tiller, through the ever evolving path of pod admission controls, to more recent security wins -- like the fact that service account tokens actually expire now!

Beyond the Surface: Exploring Attacker Persistence Strategies in Kubernetes

Kubernetes has been put to great use by a wide variety of organizations to manage their workloads, as it hides away a lot of the complexity of managing and scheduling containers. But with each added layer of abstraction, there can be new places for attackers to hide in darkened corners.

This talk will examine how attackers can (ab)use little known features of Kubernetes and the components that are commonly deployed as part of cloud-native containerized workloads to persist in compromised systems, sometimes for years at a time. We'll also pinpoint places where, if you don't detect the initial attack, it might be very difficult to spot the attacker lurking in your cluster.

KCD UK London - 2024 Sessionize Event

October 2024 London, United Kingdom

KCD Austria Sessionize Event

October 2024 Vienna, Austria

Security BSides Dublin 2024 Sessionize Event

May 2024 Dublin, Ireland

State of Open Con 24 Sessionize Event

February 2024 London, United Kingdom

State of Open Con 23 Sessionize Event

February 2023 London, United Kingdom

Rory McCune

Senior Security Researcher & Advocate - Datadog

Glasgow, United Kingdom

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