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Introduction


I have been employed in the Information and Communication Technology - ICT - industry since 1982, involved in a wide range of projects, until I commenced formal study at 2001.

I have focused my research interest on the art and science of hiding information and its implementation in the real world. I have been working on this from an historical perspective, from ancient ages to the present, and considering a wide range of disciplines, techniques and technologies.


Education


  • 2005-2010 University of St Andrews, St Andrews (Scotland, UK)
    PhD at the School of Computer Science


    To visit my website at the University of St Andrews, click here.

    The PhD project is called Kruptos and is about "Covert Channels in Internet Protocols".

    Director of studies: Dr Colin Allison
    Second supervisor: Dr Alan Miller

    I am also member of the Distributed Systems and Networks Research Group and the Centre for Privacy, Security and Trust at the University of St Andrews.

    This advanced security research project is sponsored by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory DSTL a part of the Ministry of Defence of the United Kingdom MoD.

  • 2001-2004 Napier University, Edinburgh (Scotland, UK)
    Bachelor of Science with Honours in Software Technology, Class 2.1


    To visit my website at Napier University, click here.

    The Honours Project was about "Covert Channel Analysis and Data Hiding in TCP/IP", First Class.

    Supervisor: Professor William Buchanan
    Second marker: Professor Peter Ross

    Modules studied: Computer Networks and Distributed Systems, Evolutionary Computing, Real-Time Software Engineering, Software Architecture, Software Project Management, Computer Games Software Engineering and others.

Papers Published in Proceedings


  • Llamas, David, Colin Allison, and Alan Miller. 2006. Using IPv4 ID field for passive OS fingerprinting. In Proceedings of the 7th Annual Postgraduate Symposium about the Convergence of Telecommunications, Networking and Broadcasting (PGNET 2006: School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK, 26-27 June). Liverpool, UK: Liverpool John Moores University. http://www.cms.livjm.ac.uk/pgnet2006
  • Llamas, David, Alan Miller, and Colin Allison. 2005. An evaluation framework for the analysis of covert channels in the TCP/IP protocol suite. In Proceedings of the 4th European Conference on Information Warfare and Security (ECIW 2005: University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd, UK, 11-15 July), 205-214. Reading, UK: Academic Conferences Limited. http://aci.cashin.ca/eciw/eciw2005/2-proceedings-eciw2005.htm
  • Llamas, David, Colin Allison, and Alan Miller. 2005. Covert channels in Internet protocols: A survey. In Proceedings of the 6th Annual Postgraduate Symposium about the Convergence of Telecommunications, Networking and Broadcasting (PGNET 2005: School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK, 27-28 June). Liverpool, UK: Liverpool John Moores University. http://www.cms.livjm.ac.uk/pgnet2005
  • Buchanan, William J., and David Llamas. 2004. Covert channel analysis and detection with reverse proxy servers using Microsoft Windows. In Proceedings of the 3rd European Conference on Information Warfare and Security (ECIW 2004: Royal Holloway, University of London, London, UK, 28-29 June), 31. Reading, UK: Academic Conferences Limited. http://www.academic-conferences.org/eciw/eciw2004/2-proceedings-eciw2004.htm

Articles Published in Journals


  • Llamas, David, Colin Allison, and Alan Miller. 2006. Network forensics and covert channels analysis in Internet protocols. In Selected papers from 2006 Symposium on Intelligence in Security and Forensic Computing (BCS SGAI 2006: Centre for Mobile Computing and Security, School of Computing, Napier University, Edinburgh, UK, 3 April), special issue, Expert Update. London, UK: British Computer Society, The Specialist Group on Artificial Intelligence. http://www.comp.rgu.ac.uk/staff/nw/expertUpdate.htm

Presentations, Posters and Occasional Lectures


  • Llamas, David. 2008. Network forensics and covert channels analysis in Internet protocols. Presentation slides: 2008 IT Professionals' Summer Conference (Edinburgh, UK, 24 June). University of Edinburgh. http://www.ucs.ed.ac.uk/bits/2008/june_2008
  • Llamas, David. 2007. Information hiding: Covert channels & steganography. Presentation slides: Lecture to the Computer Security module class (School of Computing Science, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland, UK, 19 March). University of St Andrews. St Andrews, Scotland, UK. http://www.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk
  • Llamas, David. 2006. A distributed-system approach to the analysis of covert channels in IP protocol implementations at planetary scale. Poster presented at the Poster Session (School of Computer Science, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland, UK, 13 December). http://www.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk
  • Llamas, David. 2006. Covert channels & steganography in distributed systems communication and networks. Presentation slides: Research talk (University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland, UK, 07 June). University of St Andrews. http://www.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk
  • Llamas, David. 2005. The silent threat of covert channels. Presentation slides: Postgraduate Reading Party (Kingussie, UK, 22-24 November). http://www.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk
  • Llamas, David. 2005. Covert channels & steganography analysis in the Internet protocols. Presentation slides: 7th Information Hiding Workshop (IH 05: Barcelona, Spain, 6-8 June). http://www.uoc.edu/symposia/ih05
  • Llamas, David. 2005. Covert channels & steganography in public communication networks. Poster presented at the National Science Week, Research Talks (University of St Andrews, St Andrews, UK, 11-20 March). http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/web/nsew/ NSEW_archive/NationalScienceWeek2005/index.htm
  • Llamas, David. 2005. Information hiding systems: Covert channels & steganography. Presentation slides: Research Talks at Distributed Systems & Networks Research Group (School of Computing Science, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland, UK, 20 January 2005). School of Computing Science, University of St Andrews. http://www.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk
  • Llamas, David. 2004. An evolutionary intelligent agent approach to the prevention of covert channels in the TCP/IP protocol suite. Presentation slides: BCS SGAI Symposium/Colloquium on Mobile and Complex Agent Systems (Merchiston Campus, Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, 3 September). BCS SGAI: The Specialist Group on Artificial Intelligence. Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. http://www.bcs-sgai.org

Publications Review


  • Wiley Handbook of Science and Technology for Homeland Security (Wiley Press). Aug 2008

Awards


  • Scotland Software Engineer of the Year 2004, Second Prize Winner. Sponsored by Vision Consulting and Scottish Enterprise. Organised by ScotlandIS. More details here.
  • Steering committee of the ECIW European Conference on Information Warfare and Security.
  • Steering committee of the IWNS International Workshop on Network Steganography.
  • Session Chair (Information Hiding) at the 6th European Conference Information Warfare and Security (ECIW 2007: Defence College of Management and Technology, Shrivenham, UK, 01-03 Mar). http://www.academic-conferences.org/eciw/eciw2007/eciw07-home.htm

Research areas of interest


  • Information hiding systems: covert channels steganography.
    • Detection and prevention of detection.
    • Disruption in high performance environments.
  • Communication architectures for collaborative swarm systems.
  • Architectures and protocols for communication networks.
  • Evolutionary computing: learning classifier systems.

Work experience


Some of my former roles and employment are given below:

  • 1999 - 2001 KPNQwest - KPN, Madrid/Amsterdam
    Sector: Internet services provider. Position: Web solutions manager.
  • 1997 - 1999 SIEMENS Spain, Barcelona
    Sector: Automation division. Position: Project architect.
  • 1988 - 1996 ABAFORUM, Barcelona
    Sector: Internet services provider. Position: Founder & Managing directror.

Computing skills


These skills are the result of previous experiences working in technology along years, in a wide range of projects:

  • Operating systems: MS Windows, Linux, PalmOS, ...
  • Programming languages: C/C++, VBasic, C#, Java, Python, ...
  • Databases: SQLServer, Oracle, MySQL, MS Access, ...
  • Communications: Routers, Firewalls, TCP/IP, ...
  • Internet: Web design, HTML, XHTML, XML, CSS, JavaScript, ...
  • Development environments: MS Visual Studio, GNU tools, Borland JBuilder & C++Builder, Netbeans, ARTiSAN Real-time Studio, ...
  • Projects management: CMMi, PRINCE 2, MS Project, ...
  • Software design & management: OOA/OOD, Borland Together, Rational Rose, UML, Visual SourceSafe, CVS, ...
  • Distributed systems: COM/DCOM, CORBA, EJB/J2EE, RMI, SOAP, ...
  • Embedded systems: Micro-controllers and DSPs, I/O Interfaces, Maxims TINI and Imsys SNAP boards, ...
  • Other: MS Office, StarOffice, MS Visio, ...

Languages


  • Catalan: Native
  • Spanish: Native
  • English: Fluent

Hobbies


I spend most of the time reading books, magazines and watching documentaries from time to time, but these are also things I enjoy doing in my spare time:


References


From Academia

  • University of St Andrews
    North Haugh
    St Andrews KY16 9SX
    Scotland
    UK

    Dr Colin Allison
    Dr Alan Miller
    Professor Saleem Bhatti
  • Napier University
    10 Colinton Road
    Edinburgh EH10 5DT
    Scotland
    UK

    Professor William Buchanan
    Dr Jose Munoz
    Dr Shaun Lawson

From Industry

  • KPNQwest Spain
    Telémaco 5
    28027 Madrid
    Madrid
    Spain

    Mr Juan Antonio Esteban

Resources

Postal:
PO Box 23737
Edinburgh
EH1 2UX
Scotland
United Kingdom

Email:
david@inchcolm.org

Personal web page:
http://david.inchcolm.org

Facebook:
facebook.com/davidllamas

MySpace:
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MSN Messenger:
david@inchcolm.org

Twitter:
twitter.com/david_llamas

Edinburgh Mobile/SMS/MMS:
+44(0)7740984199

Barcelona Landline:
+34 936751577

Standard VoIP:
david@inchcolm.org

Skype:
david-llamas

Fax:
+44(0)1312285532


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