Call for Papers 2014

Do you feel like Las Vegas is too hot, Berlin too bohème, Miami too humid, Singapore too clean and Pattaya just totally confusing ? No worries! Helsinki will be the perfect match for you – guaranteed low temperature, high tech and just enough regulation to make everything appear to be under control. This is the country where indestructible mobile phone and Linux kernel were invented.

Helsinki, the capital of Finland, known for the Finnish design and casual-yet-almost-sophisticated drinking culture offers you the chance to familiarize yourself with the birth place of many popular PC, console and mobile games. The murder rate of only 2.2 per 100 000 people makes Finland one of the safest countries for delivering a presentation. Do polar bears roam free in Helsinki? How do you go from being silent in three languages to having incoherent discussions in all of them? What does 176% mobile penetration look like? Come and see for yourself!

t2’14 is looking for technical infosec presentations with original content. Whether it’s your complicated relationship with the APT, embedded device exploitation, tactics and operational procedures in high stress / high risk operations, implementing or avoiding global surveillance, latest advances in offensive/defensive applications of computer science, the gospel of weird machine, breaking the Internet, reverse engineering milware or something totally different, we’d like to hear about it.

The advisory board will be reviewing submissions until 2014-07-04. First come, first served. No returns, no refunds.

Quick facts for speakers
+ presentation length 60-120 minutes, in English
+ complimentary travel and accommodation
+ decent speaker hospitality benefits
+ no marketing or product propaganda

A blast from the past:
https://www.google.com/search?q=site:t2.fi%20intitle:%22schedule%20for%22

How to submit
Please include the following with your submission (incomplete submissions will not be accepted):

  1. Contact information (email and cell phone)
  2. Country and city of origin for your travel to the conference
  3. Brief biography (including employer and/or affiliations)
  4. Title of the presentation
  5. Presentation abstract
  6. Explanation why your submission is significant
  7. If your presentation references a paper or piece of software that you have published, please provide us with either a copy of the said paper or software, or an URL where we can obtain it
  8. List any other publications or conferences where this material has been or will be published/submitted

Please send the above information to cfp-2014 (at) lists.t2.fi

Call for Advisory Board members

Background

With the t2’s 10th anniversary at hand it is time to invigorate the Advisory Board and its working methods to ensure a solid foundation for the next ten years. The new Advisory Board will consist of two permanent (Tomi Tuominen and Mikko Hyppönen) and 1-2 temporary members.

The temporary members will be chosen to serve for a limited term. In addition to rotating the members, the intention is to lower the average age of the Advisory Board. While being a grumpy old man certainly has its advantages, the board also welcomes fresh blood and new ideas. The board membership is an active position requiring participation all year round.

Duties

Example tasks entrusted to Advisory Board members:

  • participating in the CFP process
  • taking care of the speakers’ needs
  • VIP transfers and welcome ceremonies
  • organizing and ensuring the timely arrival of deliveries
  • social media and communication
  • dealing with conference partners and service providers
  • venue scouting
  • designing catering arrangements and menus
  • downplaying and preventing escalation of incidents during the conference (e.g. dispersing crowds gathered around popped web kiosks)
  • pulling a Kansas City Shuffle

Qualifications and skills

The ideal candidate will have some or all of the following traits and attributes:

  • passionate for infosec. you live and breath technical information security
  • limited exposure to infosec industry and the eventual cynicism, or unnecessarily high amount of enthusiasm despite that
  • sharp eye and no-nonsense attitude for separating the wheat from the chaff during “Call for Papers”
  • willing to put in work (organizing a conference and making t2 succeed year after year consists of hard, and sometimes tedious work)
  • impervious to bribery consisting of, but not limited to, money, controlled and uncontrolled substances, sexual favours, Dogecoins, ops on major irc channels, botnet access, political influence, depleted uranium, horse masks or discount coupons to Windows Marketplace
  • ability to keep calm and carry on while APT is pwning all the cellphones in the building or hotel has double-booked the conference floor (2010 and 2013, respectively)
  • a considerable stash of private 0day (weaponized) or single malt whisky (Highlands and Islay preferred) to share with the Advisory Board during the selection process
  • fluent in English
  • working knowledge of the Finnish language (while the conference is international, all internal and most service provider communication is in Finnish)

The following skills are preferred but not mandatory:

  • leaving your submission to the webroot
  • not actively wanted by the Interpol, or great disguise skills
  • reverse sleeping pattern
  • dynamic team-player who leverages the synergy of a vertically integrated marketplace, capable of hard real-time multitasking in adverse and emotionally hostile work environments
  • one or more of the following certifications/achievements: Master Sommelier, AVN Award winner, Master of Wine, Certified TEMPEST Technical Authority, Certified Massage Therapist, BUD/S, Meilleur Ouvrier de France
  • Olympic medal in biathlon

Benefits

  • the warm feeling, which comes from organizing a conference
  • street cred for organizing a hardcore conference
  • free entry to the conference and a chance to miss some of the talks
  • your name on the t2.fi website (note – htmlencoding will be applied)
  • unspecified opportunities not available to laymen
  • possibility to gain an infinite amount of experience or a nervous breakdown, whichever comes first
  • annual performance bonus: t-shirt and a handshake

Additional information

The conference is organized for hackers, by hackers. Advisory Board membership is a non-paid volunteer position. Information wants to be free. The deadline for applications is March 31. Nominations will be announced in the beginning of April. The choice for application format and transmission medium is free.