Video Conferencing with a KBU Alumni

6 December 2011

It was a rare and privileged event.  A group of students from the BSc (Hons) Software Engineering had a good chat (through Skype) with Mr Chen Weng Kin, a KBU Alumni who is now based in Shanghai, China.  Weng Kin is currently the President of Jenkins Asia Limited.  He has an impressive resume which included experiences in independently managing cross-culture offshore manufacturing operations covering multiple areas including Quality Assurance, R&D (Mechanical, Electrical, Systems), Engineering and Manufacturing with a good eye for business, change management and risk management.  He has 6 years of experience in developing and engineering US award winning consumer products in China. (15 Best Buys for specialty retail cardiovascular fitness equipment from 2003 to 2008).  He is very passionate and enthusiastic about his work.

During the session with the students and Dr Steve Clark (from Nottingham Trent), Weng Kin shared about his experiences in setting up a company in China.  His sharing was inspirational and motivational.

(Weng Kin was a student at KBU in the HND Electrical and Electronics program from 1992 to 1994.  He completed his BEng (Hons) Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Nottingham Trent University, UK after his HND.)

BSE3J with Dr Steve Clark

( 1 December 2011)

In the recent visit by Dr Steve Clark, Franchise Coordinator from Nottingham Trent University, UK, he met up with the BSc (Hons) Software Engineering, Level 3 students individually.  The discussion focussed on the Final Year Project and their overall feedback on the programme.  During his visit, he also reviewed the Level 1 assessment and the Foundation in Engineering, Science and Technology programme.  Steve will be visiting the College again in the first quarter of 2012.

IBM Smart Cloud Training

 

On 19 November 2011, another group of lecturers and students from the BSc (Hons) Software Engineering attended the IBM Smart Cloud Training.  As part of the selection process for the IBM Smart Cloud Camp, both lecturers and students took an online cloud quiz. All four lecturers and almost all the students were in the top tier of 200, and were selected to receive the complimentary cloud certification (worth US$200), courtesy of IBM.  Most of them passed the certification and awarded the IBM Certified Solution Advisor - Cloud Computing Certification.  Well done!

Hacker Halted Asia Pacific Conference 2011 (Updates)

Dr Christine Lee and Ms Chan Jin Zen (from BSc (Hons) Software Engineering, Level 2) attended the Hacker Halted Asia Pacific Conference 2011 on 15 November 2011 at the InterContinental Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.

The Conference Agenda is listed below:

09.00am	Opening
09.15am	Welcome and Opening Keynote: Defending the Frontier 3.0 | Presenter: Jay Bavisi
10.00am	Morning Refreshment
10.30am	I built what? - Why The Bad Guys Do It Better | Presenter: Sean Bodmer Synopsis: For well over a decade cyber-crime has steadily risen at incredible rates across the world. How is this possible with so many law enforcement and security vendors out there trying to solve the problem? Over the past eleven years viruses and trojans have evolved into a never ending deluge of crimeware campaigns. How is this possible? Well let’s talk about that. In this talk you will see first-hand how easy it is for criminals to setup a cyber-crime campaigns including their infrastructure, infection vectors, and building better tools. The goal of any bad guy is to evade detection, remain persistent, and generate revenue. Well let’s talk about all of that and why these criminals become akin to the “The Six Million Dollar Man’ and are very successful @ getting away with their actions.
11.15am	Advanced Forensics Analysis - Why Reverse Engineer? | Presenter: Wayne Burke Synopsis: Understand the need to reverse engineer of the forensics process. Learn advanced methodologies being employed  in the current state of computer forensics. Find out what works and what not. Wayne will be showcasing the latest technologies and methods hackers are employing to cover up their traces, and help you understand why reverse engineering has become an important process in order to unearth hidden tracks.
12.00pm	And you will know us by the trail of our logs Malware research and analysis using logs | Presenter: Zachary Wolff Synopsis: In this talk we will take a proactive approach to malware research and analysis by looking at specific samples and the log trails they leave behind.  In certain cases the exploits that malware utilize will  generate an identifiable log trail, in others it will be the malware’s unique behavioral logs that clues us in .  We will examine some of the more relevant log sources to be looking at and also some ways to proactively capture relevant logs.
12.45pm	Lunch Break
01.45pm	Web Shellz: SQL Injection, and Cross-Site Scripting is Boring – Gimme a command prompt | Presenter: Joe McCray Synopsis: Web shellz are game changers. This presentation will show you how hackers can use vulnerabilities like SQL Injection, Cross-Site Scripting, and File Handling vulnerabilities to obtain command-line access to your critical servers and clients.
02.30pm	Transparent Botnet Command And Control for Smartphones Over Sms | Presenter: Georgia Weidman Synopsis: As smartphones become increasingly ubiquitous and powerful, they become appealing targets for botnet infections. Many of the top selling smartphone platforms are built on common PC operating systems. This makes the transition from developing PC based malware to smartphone based malware nearly trivial. Smartphone malware and specifically botnets have been seen both in security research and in the wild. The GSM modem can be viewed as a public IP address without filtering or firewall capabilities. The presentation shows an example of a smartphone botnet that is controlled over the GSM function SMS. The presented system works at the base operating system below the application layer, resulting in transparency to the user. Details of the system are discussed with particular interest on cryptography and security concerns. A live demonstration of bots with cryptography will be shown as well as a new code release.
03.15pm	Taking On Advanced Persistent Threats | Presenter: Kevin Cardwell Synopsis: One of the many definitions of Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) is the continuous wave of sophisticated and organized cyber attack to access and steal information from compromised computers. So how do we depend against APT? Attacks used by the APT intruders are not very different from any other intruder. Sometimes, attack is the best form of defense. This session will have Kevin teach the audience how to adopt an offensive mindset to provide a robust and solid defense. He will teach you how to develop a secure baseline and “harden” your enterprise architectures from the most advanced attacks.
04.00pm	Afternoon Refreshment
04.30pm	Panel Discussion
05.15pm	Secrets to Hacking: The Challenges, Risks and Rewards | Presenter: Haja Mohideen
06.00pm	Closing Keynote: 9/11: 10 Years Later (How Crisis Intervention and Planning Affect Secure Infrastructures) | Presenter: Drew Williams
06.30pm	Break (Dinner is not included)
07.30pm	Night Hack Live

10.00pm	End

Jin Zen and Dr Lee

Speakers at the Panel Discussion

IBM System z System Programmer Mastery Test

On 14 September 2011, twenty two (22) students from the BSc (Hons) Software Engineering, and BEng (Hons) Electrical and Electronic Engineering degree programme participated in the IBM System z System Programmer Mastery Test at Iverson Associates Sdn Bhd.  Eighteen (18) students passed with flying colours with one student scoring 100%.  Congratulations to all the students!

More information about the test can be found here: IBM System z System Programmer Mastery.