The Emergence (and Use) of Open Source Warfare

Architecture and Background

DEF CON 16 - Peter Berghammer: The emergence (and use) of Open Source Warfare The presentation will deal briefly (20 minutes) with the concepts surrounding Open Source Warfare (OSW) and broader adoption for use not only within the context of war fighting, but also its uses within the political arena in order to influence opinion. The presentation will only deal with publicly available data, couple with real world deployment examples. It WILL NOT contain any type of classified data or anything that can be construed as such.

Vulnerability Analysis

OSW has become a highly lucrative area that covers topics such as computer security, shaping of potential battlefields and populations, and actual in the field uses of mutated electronics devices such as microwave ovens, model rockets, remote controlled aircraft as well as computer based command and control protocols. What is so particularly interesting in this presentation (as well as the field itself) is how under funded and ill-equipped insurgency (and counter insurgency) groups can make use of off-the-shelf technology to fight against vastly better funded armies. It will also examine communications methods of these groups - and how they approach not only Internet style communication (and in some cases set up their own superior communications networks) but also how they approach communications security.

Exploitation and Demonstrations

Peter Berghammer CEO of Copernio (founded 2001), is an accomplished aerospace, semiconductor and optical disc industry professional. Though best known for his marketing acumen, he also possesses a thorough understanding and appreciation for strategic alliances, acquisitions, and mergers. He is noted for the rapid expansion of The Copernio Holding Company taking it from simply an IT solutions provider to an organization with divisions handling consulting, research, warehousing & logistics.

Remediation and Defensive Strategies

Under his tenure, Copernio has expanded from a single location to an international corporation with warehouses and offices in over eighteen countries. His goal however has always remained the same: to assist clients achieve their business objectives through the intelligent and efficient use of information technology and infrastructure. The Copernio Holding Company is headquartered in Huntington Beach, CA and Brussels, BE. For copies of the slides and additional materials please see the DEF CON 16 Archive here: