SDNCentral, in conjunction with Wiretap Ventures, InCNTRE, The Chasm Group and ACG Research, organized the SDN2012 Security Seminar and an evening event featuring Phil Porras of SRI International on the 28th and 29th of February in San Francisco.

SDN2012 Security Seminar Presenters

The seminars, titled “What Every Business Executive & Investor Needs to Know About SDN & OpenFlow” and “Real-World Security Implications of Software-Defined Networks and OpenFlow”, were focused on educating both business and technical professionals on software-defined networking and OpenFlow. In addition, in a nod to the ongoing RSA Conference nearby, topics around the security implications of SDN were covered. The seminars were presented by Matt Davy and Chris Small of Indiana University’s InCNTRE, Paul Wiefels of The Chasm Group, Alan Boehme of Coca-Cola, Sarah Sorensen of ACG Research and Matt Palmer and Roy Chua from Wiretap Ventures.

The presenters covered a wide variety of topics including real-world lessons from running one of the few large-scale production SDN networks in the world, the top 5 security considerations for SDNs, and included a survey of key SDN technologies, open-source projects and vendors. Attendees for the seminars ranged from CTOs and architects from networking and security startups, to CSOs and architects from service providers and Wall Street firms. Also in attendance were key players from some of the most prestigious VC firms on the West and East Coasts.

The Evening Event with Phil Porras

The evening event with Phil Porras had an outstanding turnout, filling the Vitrine meeting room at the St. Regis Hotel, and giving Phil an attentive and appreciative audience for his unveiling of SRI International’s FortNOX and FRESCO projects. Phil demonstrated how SDN and OpenFlow, if not properly secured, open up new forms of insidious attacks and vulnerabilities within the network layer. With a recorded screen-capture that showed a concrete example of one such attack, along with how FortNOX could put a stop to it, Phil’s impressive demonstration had the audience applauding loudly as he wrapped up.

A copy of Phil’s presentation is available here (courtesy of Phil Porras and SRI International). To learn more about FortNOX and FRESCO, visit http://www.openflowsec.org.