Cork|Sec

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About us

Simply put Cork|Sec is a monthly meetup (running since 2013) for anyone interested in Information Security in the Munster region (primarily Cork). Regardless of whether you identify yourself as an InfoSec Professional, a Hacker, a Researcher, a Student or just someone with an interest in breaking things to see how they work / stopping people breaking things to see how they work - all are welcome, and please invite your like-minded friends. Joining any meetup for the first time can off course be daunting, so have a look below at the "Joining for the first time section"

Cork|Sec is modeled on the idea of a DefCon Group - In fact its got an official Defcon Group code of DC35321. The ideas behind a Defcon Group embodied a lot of what we want to achieve with Cork|Sec:

Meetings are open to anyone, regardless of their skill, age, job, gender, etc
Meetings are designed to help you learn new things, meet new people, mentor others in areas you may be strong in, and provide some cohesion within the security/hacker culture and it's members
Each meeting will have 1-2 technical talks given by local members of the Cork security/hacker community with occasional guest speakers . You can see past talks on the Past talks section of this Meetup

In particular we'd like to draw attention to Defcon FAQs answer for "Is this a Hacker Meeting?":

No, this is something better. Anything with the "hacker" label on it tends attract only one kind of person. This meeting is designed to attract not only hackers but members of the InfoSec community and people who want to learn more about InfoSec but do not consider themselves hackers. The purpose here is to interact with people who may have different backgrounds but share the same passion for technology. Many security people feel that hackers are nothing but trouble and many hackers feel that security people are clueless. Those generalizations are often made in error and we'd like to bring all techno-dweebs back under a single umbrella.

Lastly - be sure to subscribe to emails from the group. There is maybe 1 a week max, but we also share out info of new Security roles or Events in the Munster region. You can also contact us on **defconcork@gmail.com**

So come on down and enjoy!

== Joining for the first time? =======================
We understand that joining any new social gathering of people you don't know can be daunting, and adding an unknown venue on top does not help. To help you settle in and feel welcome, and to encourage you to come in the first place - here is some useful information:

Thanks to the generous sponsorship from our Platinum Sponsors Trend Micro , Gold Sponsors CyberSkills , as well as our Silver Sponsors eSentire and CloudSmith Cork|Sec has a great venue - The Pav - near the center of town.
We have the entire large Upstairs space of the venue to ourselves on the night. The Upstairs area features a stage, bar, and plenty of sitting areas allowing people to either come together or keep to themselves.
Lighting is soft and not overly brightly lit. Sound is also not loud, there is no background music so it's only the presenters microphone or people chatting. You can see a pictures of the venue on https://thepav.ie/gallery/ and CorkSec 124. Some of the other pictures in our Photos section are from previous venues.
On a normal night we will have between 20-50 people, with numbers lower in the Summer months. It is always a mix of people who are regular attendees, some less frequent, and some coming for the first time (like yourself!)
If coming for the first time, why not come up to one of the 3 organisers - Bob, Maurice or Paul. We will normally be up at the front organising things and you can find our LinkedIn details below so you can recognise us. We are happy to chat and help you join in, or introduce you to people.
You are free to join any table, either on your own or we can introduce you to others. Remember everyone there has a similar interest, so do a simple introduction and you will fast be chatting to a new interesting person.
Don't worry if the talk subjects sound daunting and out of your technical level - thats perfectly fine. We have a very varied group, so it's perfectly normal to arrive and maybe only understand some of the topic. But the next time you come there will be a bit more you learn and so on. We also mix up talks so we have ones pitched at different levels
Doors open at 19:00 and we normally start about 19:10. They run about 30-40 mins each, with a 15 minute break in the middle. People can get up at any time if they want to get a drink, movement break, or if you wish to leave - so no pressure!

=========== Organisers: ===========

Bob McArdle (http://ie.linkedin.com/in/robertmcardle)
Maurice Cronin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/maurice-cronin-...)
Paul Horgan (https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-horgan-7460b830/)

Upcoming events

See all

Cork|Sec 155
Tue, May 12 · 7:00 PM IST
The Pavilion, Careys Lane, Cork City, IE
Running since June 2013, every month we have 1-2 talks focused on Security or Technology - followed by socialising with like minded people
- You can find out exactly what to expect about the night and the venue on the What We're About section of our Meetup page. Past talk details can be found the "Past Events" section.
- All people with any sort of an interest or level of knowledge in Security, Hacking and Emerging Technology are more than welcome to attend and feel free to bring like minded colleagues and friends.
CorkSec is made possible through generous sponsorship from our Platinum Sponsor Trend Micro, Gold Sponsor CyberSkills , as well as our Silver and Bronze Sponsors featured prominently on the night.

This time out we are running a special event, partnering with CyberIreland and Women4Cyber on night dedicated to Careers and networking.

Doors open at 19:00 with talks starting at 19:15. Talks below

TALK 1: Panel discussion amongst cybersecurity professionals talking about how they got into cybersecurity and their career progression - by CyberIreland
The event will provide attendees with practical insights, mentorship, and pathways into cybersecurity careers—whether they are early‑career professionals, students, career‑switchers, or established practitioners seeking to upskill.
Attendees will get real, practical advice from cybersecurity professionals about how they entered the field and what skills employers actually look for.

TALK 2: Overview of Women4Cyber and speed networking sessions - by Women4Cyber
Women4Cyber is a non-profit European private foundation with the objective to promote, encourage and support the participation of women in the field of cybersecurity.
Attendees will get the opportunity to build relationships that may lead to mentorship, internships, or job opportunities. Discover non-traditional pathways into Cybersecurity.
17 attendees
Cork|Sec 156
Tue, Jun 9 · 7:00 PM IST
The Pavilion, Careys Lane, Cork City, IE
Running since June 2013, every month we have 1-2 talks focused on Security or Technology - followed by socialising with like minded people
- You can find out exactly what to expect about the night and the venue on the What We're About section of our Meetup page. Past talk details can be found the "Past Events" section.
- All people with any sort of an interest or level of knowledge in Security, Hacking and Emerging Technology are more than welcome to attend and feel free to bring like minded colleagues and friends.
CorkSec is made possible through generous sponsorship from our Platinum Sponsor Trend Micro, Gold Sponsor CyberSkills , as well as our Silver and Bronze Sponsors featured prominently on the night.

Our talks come from our community so if you have an idea for a topic (anything for 10-60 minutes) please email us at DefconCork@gmail.com . Whether you are an experienced presenter, or presenting for your first time - CorkSec is a great venue for it - and we are happy to help you prepare and mentor you.

Doors open at 19:00 with talks starting at 19:15. Talks below

TALK 1: Understanding and mapping AI Security Risks through AI-HOCs by Ojasvi Gupta

We present AI-HOC, a formal extension of classical process Hazard Observation Cards to AI systems. By mapping guidewords to AI failure modes, we construct a systematic hazard taxonomy spanning cybersecurity, privacy, bias, and autonomy risks. The framework integrates severity through likelihood risk scoring and safeguard classification. We discuss how AI-HAZOP supports safety cases, assurance arguments, and regulatory compliance, and highlight open challenges in emergent agent behavior and reward misalignment. supports safety cases, assurance arguments, and regulatory complian

TALK 2: E2EE Key Storage Evolution & Passkey PRFs by Sean Byrne
Passkeys changed authentication. The WebAuthn PRF extension looks set to change how we handle end-to-end encryption key storage as well.
End-to-end encrypted systems like WhatsApp or Signal have had to grapple with an awkward question: where do the encryption keys actually live? Early approaches leaned on password-derived keys. Later designs moved toward device-bound keys with separate backup schemes bolted on. Signal protects backup keys using user-chosen PINs combined with hardware security modules and strict rate limiting. These are all carefully designed to reduce server trust while still allowing recovery.
Passkey PRFs point to a different way of doing things. Instead of keeping authentication and encryption roots separate, they allow encryption key material to be deterministically derived from the same hardware-protected credential used for login.
This talk walks through the evolution of E2EE key storage (Signal, WhatsApp, icloud) and makes the case that passkey PRFs join authentication credentials and encryption root material into a single primitive and explores what that shift could mean for the next generation of secure system design.
6 attendees
Cork|Sec 157
Tue, Jul 14 · 7:00 PM IST
The Pavilion, Careys Lane, Cork City, IE
(*** Annual Pub Quiz Edition ***)
Every 12 months we take a break from our normal talks to celebrate our anniversary with a free, friendly and geeky pub quiz. Expect a night with random security and tech trivia, random facts, lots of fun and prizes!

CorkSec is made possible through generous sponsorship from our Platinum Sponsor Trend Micro, Gold Sponsor CyberSkills , as well as our Silver and Bronze Sponsors featured prominently on the night. We also have special thanks to our Quiz Sponsors (TBD), thanks to whom we have some truly excellent prizes on offer
- PRIZES TBC
- And remember - it's free to enter. Just by showing up the top 5 teams are already getting something!
To help dispel your fear of horrible questions - we make every question very guessable, it's supposed to be a fun quiz - not an exam! Even if you get them wrong - you learn fun things along the way. The best pub quiz questions are those where you end up with a fun trivia fact to tell your friends!

Agenda for the Night
(18:15-19:30) OPENING TALK: OPTIONAL (TBD)
- Details to follow
19:30-19:45 Break + Free Pizzas served
19:45-21:15 Pub Quiz
- It will be 5 rounds of 8 questions. Starts at 19:45 SHARP (if you join later, there is no way to retake past rounds, so come along early for the SANS talk too). Teams of 4 Maximum
For those new to CorkSec you can find out exactly what to expect about the night and the venue on the What We're About section of our Meetup page.
4 attendees
Cork|Sec 158
Tue, Aug 11 · 7:00 PM IST
The Pavilion, Careys Lane, Cork City, IE
Running since June 2013, every month we have 1-2 talks focused on Security or Technology - followed by socialising with like minded people
- You can find out exactly what to expect about the night and the venue on the What We're About section of our Meetup page. Past talk details can be found the "Past Events" section.
- All people with any sort of an interest or level of knowledge in Security, Hacking and Emerging Technology are more than welcome to attend and feel free to bring like minded colleagues and friends.
CorkSec is made possible through generous sponsorship from our Platinum Sponsor Trend Micro, Gold Sponsor CyberSkills , as well as our Silver and Bronze Sponsors featured prominently on the night.

Our talks come from our community so if you have an idea for a topic (anything for 10-60 minutes) please email us at DefconCork@gmail.com . Whether you are an experienced presenter, or presenting for your first time - CorkSec is a great venue for it - and we are happy to help you prepare and mentor you.

Doors open at 19:00 with talks starting at 19:15. Talks below

TALK 1: Adopting AI for Threat Defense: What Actually Works (and What’s Still Hype) by Saurabh Khadtare
A lot of people in security are understandably skeptical of “AI” right now. Marketing slides promise fully autonomous SOC's, while real defenders are still drowning in huge alerts and brittle detection logic. At the same time, attackers are already using automation and AI‑adjacent tooling to scale phishing, brute forcing, credential abuse, and exploitation, so a purely manual defensive approach is becoming unrealistic.
In this talk, I’ll share practical lessons from working as a security engineer and Pentester on how AI is actually starting to help with threat defense, and where it absolutely should not be trusted on its own. I’ll break “AI for defense” into three buckets: classical ML/UEBA and anomaly detection, AI‑powered SOC automation for triage and noise reduction, and LLM‑based that help with summarizing incidents, writing queries/rules, and translating technical findings for non‑technical stakeholders. For each bucket, I’ll walk through concrete workflows and examples (using redacted or synthetic data) showing what sucked before, what AI does better, and what still needs a human in the loop.
I’ll also cover the major limitations and risks: hallucinations, weak multi‑step reasoning, prompt injection, and new attack surfaces introduced by LLMs and vendor tools. The goal is to give the audience a realistic blueprint for where AI can safely augment defenders today, and where “AI‑only” approaches are still pure hype.

TALK 2: TBC
4 attendees