Cryptographic Signatures: To Sign or Not To Sign...That is the Question

This workshop supports content and knowledge from SEC401: Security Essentials - Network, Endpoint, and Cloud.

Digital signatures (based upon strong cryptographic fundamentals) often take on a very different meaning and use, depending on who one talks to. While there has been a general push toward an increased usage of digital signatures, the full breadth of their power and capability often remains unknown.

In this workshop we will begin with a presentation of the cryptographic systems that can be leveraged to create digital signatures and why we want to use these signatures (their importance). We will discuss the more common use cases for signatures (such as digitally signed email) and then move into more recent examples such as DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail), as well as their use for incident detection and response. The presentation concludes with a short discussion on how to better leverage the increasing power of digital signatures as a part of a robust information security program.

Following the presentation the workshop concludes with an hands-on exercise in which you will directly apply the concepts discussed - all as part of a simulated incident response scenario!

System Requirements:

• A properly configured system is required to fully participate in this workshop. A virtual machine (VM) will be made available for download prior to your attendance at the workshop. The download could take one to two hours depending on the speed of your internet connection. This VM MUST be downloaded prior to attending, so please plan accordingly.
• CPU: 64-bit Intel i5/i7 (8th generation or newer), or AMD equivalent. An x64 bit, 2.0+ GHz or newer processor is mandatory for this workshop.
• CRITICAL: Apple systems using Apple Silicon (M1,M2,M3, etc.) ARE NOT SUPPORTED. This is because they cannot support the virtualization functionality necessary to complete the hands-on exercise.
• BIOS settings must be set to enable virtualization technology, such as "Intel-VTx" or "AMD-V" extensions. Be absolutely certain you can access your BIOS if it is password protected, in case changes are necessary.
• 8GB of RAM or more is required.
• 75GB of free storage space or more is required.
• Your host operating system must be the latest version of Windows 10, Windows 11, or macOS 10.15.x or newer (macOS running on Intel CPU architecture only).
• Download and install VMware Workstation Pro 16.2.X+ or VMware Player 16.2.X+ (for Windows 10 hosts), VMware Workstation Pro 17.0.0+ or VMware Player 17.0.0+ (for Windows 11 hosts), or VMWare Fusion Pro 12.2+ or VMware Fusion Player 11.5+ (for macOS hosts) prior to attending the workshop.