[Infowarrior] - Three Levels Beyond Kernel Rootkits

[Richard Forno]

Exclusive Interview: Going Three Levels Beyond Kernel Rootkits

Today we have the pleasure of chatting with Joanna Rutkowska, one of  
the top computing security innovators in the world. She is the founder  
and CEO of Invisible Things Lab (ITL), a boutique computer security  
consulting and research firm.
Alan: Joanna, thanks for taking the time to chat. Let's start with the  
basics for our readers. You've carved out a niche in the security  
world with your expertise on stealthy attacks, such as rootkits, and  
more recently by exposing vulnerabilities with virtual machines and  
low-level hardware. But before we go into all of this, why don't you  
tell us a little bit about yourself?

Joanna: I'm a researcher focusing on system-level security issues like  
the kernel, hypervisor, chipset, etc.  Researcher--not a bug hunter or  
a pen-tester. I'm more interested in fundamental problems rather then  
specific bugs affecting specific user software. For example, can the  
OS/platform provide any security to the user, despite its apps such as  
Adobe Reader or IE being potentially compromised? I believe in  
“Security by Isolation.”

Business-wise, I'm a founder and director of Invisible Things Lab  
(ITL), a boutique security research and consulting firm. I'm very  
proud of the team I managed to create at ITL, which includes Alexander  
Tereshkin and Rafal Wojtczuk, who are two of the most skilled  
researchers in the field of system-level security.

Recently, I've been becoming less and less of a "debugger-attached- 
researcher," gravitating towards a higher-level role, which is needed  
to supervise the work done by my team. I enjoy this new role of a  
director a lot, in fact.

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