CypherCon 2023
Our Cyberpunk Future is Here (Just Not Evenly Distributed)
Beau Woods
Abstract:
We are at the dawn of concurrent technical revolutions that will transform society through advances in human health and longevity, space travel, cryptocurrency, satellites, artificial/augmented intelligence, and nanorobotics! Yet we are also on the verge of a crisis of confidence from undependable dependencies that threaten to set back our adoption by a decade or more. “Move fast and break things” is at odds with society’s need to preserve trust and trustworthiness in the world around us, so we need to work smarter (not just harder) to secure the future.
This talk will explore our near future: What do we lose if we get it wrong? What do we gain if we get it right? How have hackers already shaped it and how can we continue making our future the one we want it to be?
Beau Woods
Biohacker, Aviation, and Hack the Sea Hacker
Beau Woods is a leader with the I Am The Cavalry grassroots initiative, Founder/CEO of Stratigos Security, and Cyber Safety Innovation Fellow with the Atlantic Council. His work bridges the gap between the security research and public policy communities, to ensure connected technology that can impact life and safety is worthy of our trust. Over the past several years in this capacity, he has consulted with the healthcare, automotive, aviation, rail, and IoT industries, as well as cyber security researchers, US and international policy makers, and the White House.
Beau was Deputy Director of the Cyber Statecraft Initiative and is now a Cyber Safety Innovation Fellow with the Atlantic Council, a non-partisan, non-profit public policy think tank focused on issues of international security and strategy. Beau founded the security consultancy, Stratigos Security, in 2012 to advise large enterprises, small business, and NGOs on information security strategy and development. Prior to that, Beau spent five years with Dell SecureWorks, where he advised commercial clients on information security and built up the security consulting services practice. Beau also served as a Senior Advisor with the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and an Entrepreneur in Residence with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), advising on cyber policy issues.
Beau supports several non-profit initiatives from and by the security research community. He is a leader with the global, grassroots I Am The Cavalry initiative, to ensure technology that can impact human life and public safety is worthy of our trust. Beau is a Founding Member of the ICS Village, which equips industry and policy makers to better defend industrial equipment through experimental awareness, education, and training. He is on staff and leads the I Am The Cavalry and Public Ground tracks at BSides Las Vegas, and in 2019 helped launch the Aviation and Hack the Sea Villages at DEF CON. Beau founded the Biohacking Village: Device Lab, a high-trust, high-collaboration environment for medical device security research. He also sits on the board of the Cybermed Summit non-profit and helped organize the first ever clinical hacking simulations.
Beau is a frequent presenter, media contributor, and author, and graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a BS in Psychology.