Posted by Virus Bulletin on Sep 28, 2013
We speak to VB2013 presenter Methusela Ferrer about her research interests and what she aims to bring to VB2013.
The VB2013 conference takes place next week (2-4 October) in Berlin, with an exciting programme that covers many of today's most pertinent security-related topics.
Today, we speak to Methusela Ferrer, who will speak at VB2013 about online waste.
Tell us a little bit about yourself - your job and your responsibilities.
"I am Methusela Cebrian Ferrer, and I joined the Microsoft Malware Protection team in Melbourne, Australia in 2011 as an anti-virus researcher."
Can you give us a brief outline of what you will be speaking about at VB2013 and why your presentation particularly relevant to the security community?
"The presentation is about malware distribution space and its influences. These influences may relate to malicious distribution infrastructure. The problem we face is when the content and action alone of a particular object are not enough to class it as malicious - therefore, it does not qualify for our detection, and it eludes threat research inquiry.
"'Online waste' is a subject matter that is governed by the diverse interaction of objects that are ill-defined and broken. Its existence, effects, and relationship with the growing complexity of online threats offers an externalist view which aims to expand our view and consciousness of the problem."
What can delegates learn from your presentation?
"The presentation offers an opportunity to explore the threat landscape from a new perspective. Delegates will have an understanding that, in the context of the malware distribution space and its influences, identifying an unknown object that is connected and relates to an unknown and ill-defined object and space, qualifies it as a risk to the environment and the space it exist in. It is a threat by itself, and does not require a justification for malicious use, such as the existence of malware as a payload."
What other presentations are you looking forward to?
"There are some very good topics lined up this year. I have wide interests, covering Mac OS X and mobile threats, and exploit analysis. However, I should say, the following topics are particularly interesting for me, and so I look forward to them:
Have you visited Berlin before? What are you looking forward to seeing/doing whilst in town?
"This will be my first time in Berlin, so I'm looking forward to visiting the famous historical landmarks such as the Brandenburg Gate and the Berlin Wall."
What else are you looking forward to at VB2013?
"I'm looking forward to catching up with colleagues, and hopefully meeting some new ones."
Methusela Ferrer will present 'Infection vector: cyberspace junk, waste, and zombies' at 10:00 on Friday 4 October.
The full programme for VB2013, including abstracts for each paper, can be viewed here.
Read more about why you should attend VB2013 - and download our letter templates as a guide for justifying to your budget holder why you should attend VB2013.
VB2013 takes place 2-4 October 2013 in Berlin, Germany - online registration is now open - we'd love to see you there!
Posted on 28 September 2013 by Helen Martin
