InfowarCon 2007: How we Unknowingly Publish Secret Information

  • Aug 16, 2007

InfowarCon 2007 is set for 19-21 September in Bethesda, Md. Delegates will see first hand just how many secrets we are giving away. They will be able to bring their own files and have them dissected. They will see the national secrets we have given away because we are using the wrong programs to distribute and publish information.

Public and private sector organizations routinely publish confidential government, financial and sales information on public facing web sites, as well as give it away at conferences every day.

If this sounds downright careless, it is. If this sounds irresponsible, it is. If this sounds fixable, it is. The common problem is Microsoft Office.

Concern about weaknesses in Microsoft Office led the U.S. government to find a solution. “And we did,” says John Ivory, Director of Applied Research at Dolphin Technology. “But first, you need to appreciate the problem.”

He explains: “When you copy a portion of an Excel file into a PowerPoint, you actually copy the entire Excel spreadsheet, not just the bit you want. When you edit a Word document, all of the meta data, the edits, the comments and other identifying features are ripe for the picking.”

Winn Schwartau, international security expert and founder of the InfowarCon event in 1994, says, “I found John Ivory in a small corner of a huge trade show, no one interested. I knew about some of the problems, but their research into just how bad the Microsoft Office problem was astounded me.”

The InfowarCon international conference on information warfare and operations is your chance to learn more on these critical issues, network with public and private sector experts, and take a hands-on look at exhibitors’ technology. Schwartau, the founder, is the visionary author of Information Warfare.

InfowarCon Advisory Board: Dr. Dan Kuehl, National Defense University; Amit Yoran, NetWitness; Howard A. Schmidt, Former White House Cybersecurity Advisor; Mark Rasch, FTI; Dorothy Denning, DoD; Richard Forno, Infowarrior.org; Lars Nicander, CATS; Bruce Brody, CACI.

InfowarCon Sponsors & Partners Include: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Mandiant, Netwitness, Purifile, Secure Computing, Lincoln Group, Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3), (ISC)2; Homeland Defense Journal, Government Security News, Homeland Defense Week, Officer.com, Continuity Insights, InfraGard National Members Alliance, ISSA NOVA, Terrorism Research Center and National Defense University.

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