DEF CON 33 - Building a Malware Museum - Mikko Hypponen

Mikko Hyppönen discusses the difficulty of preserving modern digital culture, such as always-online multiplayer games, and shares his journey of archiving malware history through both online and physical museums 1:45. He concludes by announcing his departure from cybersecurity after 34 years to join the drone defense industry 37:41.

Key Takeaways:
• Preserving digital culture is significantly harder than physical art because complex experiences like mobile games rely on servers and closed-source code that eventually go offline 6:05-7:12.
• Hyppönen collaborated with the Internet Archive to create the Malware Museum, allowing users to run vintage viruses from the 1980s and 90s safely in a browser emulator 7:55-10:30.
• His company built a physical art museum in Helsinki featuring modern art pieces inspired by malware, such as a sculpture made of computer mice representing the "ILOVEYOU" worm 12:00-20:34.
• Hyppönen's perspective on malware shifted over time from seeing it as vandalism to recognizing it as a form of digital culture or "graffiti" worth preserving 27:28-29:00.
• After 34 years with the same company, Hyppönen is leaving to join Sensor Fusion to build defense systems against military drones in the Ukraine war 37:41-38:26.

Hyppönen emphasizes the importance of archiving our digital heritage while he moves to a new industry to defend against physical threats 38:58.

Sources:

• 1:45-1:57 Introduction on the difficulty of saving digital culture.
• 6:05-7:12(https:/