DFRWS USA 2024: A Butterfly Dream

July 7th 2024

Nearly an hour before the 3 AM alarm I dreamt being asleep in my very bed and a demonic figure jumped upon my back and shrieked. I double awoke, frightened and shaking. The division between what we call “waking” and “dream” is rather insignificant; in-fact one way of conceiving Reality (Truth) is through initially considering both as dreams or mental projections.

Sometimes in early rise, a gloom runs over me in the form of questions that persist for hours like a fog. Why are you doing this? How much time is consumed flying hither and thither? Why can you not just commit your life to music as you’ve always wanted? Don’t you realize the deeper you get into this field, the harder it is to get out? Then the opposing arguments, as usual: but can’t you do both? Can’t you work in security and play in music? Haven’t you experienced tremendous growth through this field; why not keep going? Fundamentally I am concerned with reflecting in disappointment over the way my life has turned out.

A red Dodge Caravan took me to Departure location 10 at YUL. In the plane, I set next to a chubby bald and bearded fellow who, when I requested he get up to let me reach my seat, jokingly said “so you think… at least you’re not a crying baby” to which I responded “you don’t know that yet.” He had a good chuckle. Later a crying baby sat behind us; we glanced at each other and giggled.

This man and his two buddies joked lightly before the flight began. I heard they had a connecting flight and if this one was delayed, they would miss their next one. That’s when an old immigrant couple entered the scene, completely lost and disheveled, and had to sit beside one of them. He got up to let them reach their seat in his row and, in their old age took time to react to the situation. It made the friend impatient as he said “Sir please sit down”. So much unnecessary tension for nothing; our flight landed early and they made their stupid connection which they spent all their talking time fretting over.

I boarded a connecting flight to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which took place on a small plane whose engine could be heard as if in the cabin itself. The use of words is a fantastic trickery in the age of sale. Delta airlines offered us “granola bars” which I would propose calling “granola vapor”, as one can simply sit the piece on a counter and it would disappear like boiling water. This is similar to me gathering people for dinner and exclaiming “I will feed you all” and proceed to put a single cooked grain of rice on each plate.

Upon arrival at the Cook Hotel – nearly the only hotel nearby the LSU campus, I was greeted by a woman trying her best to care but also missing the last ingredient to form the illusion. I asked if the pool was open and she guaranteed it would be until 10 PM each night; however the pool was an unuseable cesspool; again we note the brilliance of well-used language.

I napped for 2 hours and struggled to gather the courage to go out on my own. Thoughts of different humans, ones who would mock me for being different, flashed in my mind. All illusory states of thought that I forced out. Eventually I went to “Chimes” on Chimes. I enjoyed a very regular meal of chicken and a salad. The view was what it was.

Later I went to Highland Coffees to have a call with Anis and do what we do best; reminisce and imagine. Always about things that no longer exist, or are yet to never happen. It is also difficult to speak of concrete things as they are so transient. Makes you wonder what “real” even is. I finished up the slides for the workshop that were a slight improvement over the ones I presented at DFRWS EU 2024 just a few months prior.

It was past sundown around 8 PM. I walked back to the Cook Hotel in subtle rain and silently flashing skies with the pervasive dampness layering my breath. Bought “smart water” (notice the tricky use of words here again); one must always have fresh water to drink. Prepared myself for bed, had a phone call, and spent an hour listening to Swami Sarvapriyananda speaking on the Mandukya just before sleep.

July 8th 2024

I was quite eager to rise today; a well-rested body with the day ahead is a joyous feeling. I drank some bottled water and put a towel on the floor as a makeshift mat for a 30 minute workout. The carpet is a despicable surface to contact with bare hands and feet, but what is worse is not activating the body before proceeding with the day. After this came a shower then onto breakfast.

I headed again for Highland Coffees and had a video call with Alireza to discuss our @Hack 2025 app. It was short and sweet. Now I begin planning my trip to Europe which starts in less than 10 days. Much planning and pontification went on; where should I stay in Switzerland for the week after DIMVA, how to reach it, so on and so forth.

I soon left the cafe and headed to University Lake in thick heat. I could not believe how many fraternities they have on campus, and just how large and well kept they are (at least from the outside). I later did some research on these fraternities and it turns out a few were suspended because, in one case as public information has revealed, a man was pushed down a staircase and died as a consequence.

Back at the Cook Hotel, I ordered some food and rehearsed again for the workshop.

July 9th 2024

I Uber’d to the Patrick F. Taylor building, which is named after the CEO of oil company Taylor Energy Company. He has donated countless millions to help support the tuition of LSU students and thus it seems the reason the building was renamed in his honour.

I was greeted by the lovely Daryl who is all over the world organizing and hosting the various variants of DFRWS. She left me a small thank-you letter which really warmed my heart. I did not attend any morning workshop as I did not want to ingest four hours of information and then perform a four hour workshop; creates mental entanglements. I opted to stay outside and soak up the scorching sun while reading the Mandukya.

At lunch I ate a minimal plate of rice and salad to prevent myself from being occupied with digestion, energy fluctuations, and toilet visits during the four hours. Being conscious of such things does make a difference in performance, adaptability and mood. Dominique surprised me by showing up to my workshop, and I didn’t even know she was coming, period! It brought me great joy to see her there again and we hugged immediately.

I brought 40 printed workshop pamphlets and 20 USBs with VMs on them. The performance went well, but being four hours we lose attention because of VM issues, fatigue, me being too fast, them being too slow, general dwindling of the will, and so on. But despite this, they hung in – even if towards the end it was merely through the senses. Reviews were decent and I have posted them for public viewing

I could now let my guard down and enjoy the rest of the conference. At 5:30 PM we boarded a tram to travel walking distance to Tiger Stadium. Here they house Mike the Tiger; an actual tiger in a limited zone protected by layers of fencing. To feel the need to house a Tiger here is beyond my comprehension. The US is wild.

The tour of the stadium started with a 5 minute indoctrination on the superiority of LSU, Tiger Stadium, and the general ambiance of fanaticism and enthusiasm generated by football in Baton Rouge. We then were taken through certain areas with walled statistics on who played and when and what scoring was achieved and so on. One of the locals who was part of DFRWS was clearly absorbed in this world and began to even speak in addition to the tour guide with his own anecdotes. Neither did I care for his embellishments nor for the tours’ itself – but that is my nature. I have never been one to enjoy sport-enthusiasm, I have never cared for particular athletes (though I am appreciative of their focus, persistence, and discipline), and have never shared in the camaraderie of a team winning anything. Anyway, why should I? It is not a prerequisite to being.

The tour guide suggested we jump and tap the “WIN” bar that the players run under and tap as they enter the field, and she even began to clap and shout that we should do so. I avoided this silliness. The stadium itself is impressive from the field level.

We were then whisked off to the Barnes Ogden Art & Design Complex where we ate, drank, and mingled. I did meet Adam from LSU (who I nicknamed Cheeks as he is a young buck with squeezable cheeks), as well as Bilal (a Turkish man whom I bonded with over back pain). I did meet a new slice of talent: Jona from University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. We spoke about the jitteriness of presenting in-front of crowds and he asked a few questions about NVRAM in IoT devices. Of course Dominique joined us as well and we had a few good laughs until Adam drove us home.

July 10th 2024

This morning began by an early wake at 7 AM, water drinking and towel workout. I walked to Patrick F. Taylor this time and enjoyed the heat. I arrived, changed into warmer clothing to combat the brutal cold of the building. I spoke with my friend back home who was going through a minor emotional crisis and calmed her down.

I met up with Dom and Adam, and we all sat together to watch the initial presentations roll on. Here I will outline positive advices (that I also take and often fail to adhere to) for presenters. When demonstrating your work, there are piles of knowledge from months of toiling that are being exposed in small momentary bits to the audience, like being given a single piece of a thousand piece puzzle and being asked “What is the total image?” The implicit knowledge you have as you speak is not explicitly apparent to listeners, and thus we should construct the presentation with this in mind. If not, most information will simply pass across our eyes and ears as blips of questions and confusions. Minimizing this is one of the goals of presentation preparation.

When displaying graphs, they are always much more complicated to comprehend than they are to display and see. When you try to understand a graph on paper, you look at each part and contemplate on it; the x-axis meaning, the y-axis meaning, the relevance of the combination of both, the data on the plot, the overall meaning of the plot, and its relevance to the problem. Thus when you present the graph it would be largely helpful if you provide all this information as you explain the graph, and use a pointer of some form to lead the eyes of the participants. In this way, through the explanation of the parts and the leading with the pointer, the presentation of the graph mimics how one would analyze it on their own on paper – generally speaking.

A brilliant young woman of 17 years of age took the stage and showed us all what cybersecurity is all about. What enthusiasm and greatness is stored in this person, ready to burst at the seams with her intellect. Her presentation as co-author was excellent and she really set the bar, in my view, for showing us what the feeling of internal enthusiasm looks like if represented in action and form.

I spent some time over zoom helping a loved one back home rehearse for an important interview at Oxford. After this I walked around outside to warm up and read the Mandukya. A poster session was started and Dominique explained to a great number of us her current works. This woman to me is quite incredible; she has the perseverance of a bullet.

Here I met the Congolese Akim, who is highly expressive and made us all smile with his friendly mockery of Adam. He and I bonded over the word “Tabarnak” as he has some comedic knowledge of Quebec French.

A group of us – Dominique, Adam, Lauren, Kaitlyn and I went to Rocca Pizza for some friendly bonding. I learnt about Garlic Knots (which I was mocked for not knowing; typical for Americans to be shocked when someone has a lack of knowledge regarding food). We enjoyed each other and here I made it clear to Kaitlyn that she is an extremely talented young woman in the field and she will undoubtedly do great things with her incredible mind. Here are some words from both Adam and Kaitlyn, a testament to the impact we can all have on the brilliant young minds to come;

Attending DFRWS was such a wonderful experience, I have never been to a conference before so I was a little nervous to be speaking to so many experts in my field. But after the first day it was so nice to see how welcoming people are and I found a wonderful community of people over the course of the week. Seeing all the papers and workshops were very exciting for a student like me having their first exposure to the field of digital forensics. This conference has been such a phenomenal experience and I will cherish the friends and knowledge learned for a lifetime.

Adam

This is some of my first proper articulation of my first experience at DFRWS USA. There will be LOTS more reflection to come on my part 😉 DFRWS was the most phenomenal week of my life, but also overstimulating in a way nobody could have ever prepared me for. I relished, cherished, and learned from every minute of it, and will for years to come. I did not realize that conferences are seriously a 24/7 thing!!!!!

I got to meet people from all over the world and learned like never before. Conferences are such a holistic experience. I gained SO much technical knowledge, but the connections with people are truly like none other. This week has gotten me so stoked about the future like never before!

Kaitlyn

Adam was gracious enough to drive me home and I soon switched into sleep.

July 11th 2024

This morning Jona and I decided to walk to PFT together. We met at 8:40 AM and stepped into the heat embrace. The glorious white-hot radiance of the Louisiana sun and its dense humidity brings together a beautiful meld of the blessed feeling of warmth and air infused with scents of grass, tree, flower, and bush. Some complain of the weather, but I hear complaints of all sort of arbitrary nature; it is too hot, it is too humid, it is too cold, the food is bland, I’ve eaten too much, I’ve drank too little, and the noise goes on.

Jona and I had a wonderful conversation regarding spirituality and religion. Generally speaking it is all I wish to speak about. Most other subjects are quite devoid of anything of real import. We touched lightly on the concept in Advaita Vedanta that this world of ours – our experience of consciousness in the waking state – is as false and unreal as that of the dream state. In particular, the comparison of the three states of consciousness – waking, dream, and deep sleep – can be found in the 12 verses of the Mandukya Upanishad; well known for being the shortest and most profound of the 108 Upanishads.

I bring this up now because Jona subtly referred to such a point made in the Mandukya without knowing it and I will reveal it in a few paragraphs from now. When refuting the Advaitan truth that the experience of the waking state is as much of a dream (False) as the experience of the dream state, one can try the “Uniqueness” argument by claiming “We consider waking state to be real because we see unique things in it, thus in dream we also see unique things (e.g., unicorns) and because of that we should also consider it to be real.” Shankara’s commentary on the Mandukya mentions:

It is like the case of a man, in the waking experience, who is well instructed regarding the route to be taken to reach another country (travelling), and who while going to that country sees on the way objects belonging to that locality (that the person has never seen before). 

Verse 2.8, Shankara Commentary (Bashya)

This means “Just as one goes into the dream experience and perceives novel objects, so does a person in the waking state, when instructed to travel to another part of the world, will experience novel objects that they have never seen before.” (think of the large spiders of Australia, or exaggeratedly large snakes in the Amazon). In the end, this is a simply a state of experience to the perceiver, in waking and in dream, and in neither case does perceiving novel things give proof of something as real (or True). Unique or not, in waking and dream, no matter how novel the appearance, they are all objects of experience, hence they are false. Consciousness itself which allows experience is the fundamental Truth, because without it, no object can be experienced and thus the existence of objects is reliant on consciousness, which is why the objects themselves are not fundamental Reality. In addition, these objects of perception in either world have a beginning and an end, and thus they are limited, finite – thus they cannot be real.

Here is where Jona comes in with a similar note, mentioning in passing “Where I am from I am only used to small butterflies, but I have never before seen butterflies of size as exist here in Baton Rouge.” To add to this oddly similar idea mentioned by Jona, the strangeness of the waking and dream states of consciousness is also described in terms of a butterfly in Zhuangzi, and it goes as follows:

Once upon a time, I, Zhuangzi, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was Zhuangzi. Soon I awakened, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man. Between a man and a butterfly there is necessarily a distinction. The transition is called the transformation of material things.

Zhuangzi

In only 4 days from now, I will be travelling to Switzerland to present a paper for DIMVA 2024 and will be taking some time to vacation there followed by a visit to Halle (Saale) in Germany, and finishing with Oxford, UK. I spent most of this day sorting out train and hotel tickets, as well working on @Hack 2025.

Soon we departed for the banquet which Adam drove us to. The frigid room greeted us with tables where we dined together. Here I met the wonderfully inquisitive Prakruthi who came to inquire on Italian cuisine, her noticing some of my more explicit Italian hand gestures from around the conference. I know nearly nothing of Italian cuisine. Interestingly, I immediately recalled the use of the word Prakrti in the Bhagavad Gita. Here is one place where it is mentioned, and defined as “material energy” seen in the verse below.

In the matter of creation, the material energy is responsible for cause and effect; in the matter of experiencing happiness and distress, the individual soul is declared responsible. 

Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 13, Verse 21

Here are some words from her:

I came to DFRWS knowing no one and feeling unsure if my research would be taken seriously. I left with a sense of community and a rejuvenated passion for both the field of Digital Forensics and my own work in Usable Security. My favorite part of the trip (besides the food and the swamps—I might be hatching a plan to relocate to the swamps and live amongst the gators) was a tie between the evening welcome remarks and the forensics rodeo night, mainly for the conversations I had with all the spectacularly incredible people I met. It felt like a week-long party in forensics, and I really hope to see everyone again!

Prakruthi

I may have overdone my spiritual talk and the enjoyable conversation soon ended. Soon after Dom and I went for a walk and had some deep personal conversations about life and love. Shortly after a local professor came out wearing a strange looking rock tie and that is when I realized that this is a “Bolo Tie” in the flesh. The night proceeded with various goings-on; the rodeo, prizes, and hilarity upon meeting the strangely comedic character of Greg Trahan (LSU Director of Economic Development). Adam drove us home and I went to sleep.

July 12th 2024

This day is likely the reason I had come to DFRWS USA. Each time I’ve attended a DFRWS, it has always been spiritually fruitful to me. Kaitlyn mentioned that the reason she selected to attend my workshop on the first day was because I mentioned my deep interest for spirituality in my Linkedin profile. Throughout the week she repeatedly hinted at wanting to talk spirituality at some point and today would be the final chance. It is rare for such an intelligent and youthful human to be interested in the spiritual life, but this was a chance for her to explore it and I certainly would oblige.

I arrived at PFT for the last time and said my final goodbyes to Adam as we took a group picture. Meeting and entertaining the youth has been the most profound aspect of this iteration of DFRWS. One can hang with the serious folk but they are already situated on the rails of their path; for the young, the path is still narrowly defined and it is good for them to be in the vicinity of those who are further down.

Akim drove Dom to a restaurant where she met with a friend, and I gave her a final hug and goodbye. I told her I loved her and then left. Here are some final words from Dom;

I didn’t know what to expect for this conference, other than seeing some cool presentations of papers given by some cool academics and practitioners. Truthfully, I was a bit nervous to attend in the USA given I have made a solid amount of friends at DFRWS EU over the last 2 years. To my surprise, some of my colleagues worldwide were able to attend, making the conference continue to feel like home. This time I had a bit of a ‘home court advantage’. Getting around, knowing Louisiana from past visits, and it has always been a dream to visit Lousiana State University. I hadn’t realized once I got there the university practically takes up the entire city. Baton Rouge is LSU land given its reputation (which did not disappoint).

Aside from amazing engineering, novel technology, and some of the greatest collegiate sports players in the country, the campus was nothing short of beautiful and incorporated so much of Louisiana at every turn. Not one meal delivered disappointment. I met a lot of young academics this go round which is different from the EU conference where practically everyone is at PhD level. It was nice to be able to talk with them and inspire them as they figure out the next steps in their journey. I also had many opportunities to chat with industry leaders and law enforcement. Ultimately we all work together for the advancement of digital investigations and it’s rare when we can come together in this way. I’m grateful I went in with no expectations. I got to mesh with people 15 years my junior and my senior and have memories to last a lifetime!

Dominique

It is then that Akim drove me to our first stop one hour away; Middendorfs for lunch prior to the swamp tour. In the car I asked about his story and he proceeded to tell me of his journey from the Congo, traveling from country to country in Africa, trying to find the right place to learn english. After some years of this he found his way to the US, held various jobs, embarked in schooling, eventually finding himself at LSU. He says “Man you know people ask me, Akim why are you so happy? Man what is there not to be happy about? When you know where I’ve come from, life is good here, everything is good.” Truly outstanding and inspiring man this Akim.

We arrived much before the shuttle bus and entered the restaurant to begin eating. I had a massive quarter wedge of lettuce with blue cheese. Good to keep light during travels.

At the swamp we were met with heat from the heavens and a boat lead by 40 year swamp veteran, Captain Tom. He spoke swamp english and delighted in it, quipping “I’m not like other guides who would pronounce clearly: ‘And to your left is a young alligator.’ I say, ‘there’s an alligata ova der, spelt D E R’.

We witnessed live alligator feeding, where the guide stands on a metal platform off the edge of the boat no wider than a meter and feeds meat skewered to a tool, to alligators. He began to notice the alligators tightly assemble a makeshift alligator platform, which would allow a smaller one to jump upon and reach him, and thus he hastily re-entered the boat.

Wildlife surrounds the swamp, with raccoons and wild pigs skirting death at each moment. Captain tried to instigate some alligator carnage by tossing marshmallows near the raccoons, saying “this ain’t no tv show, when one of them alligators grabs hold, ain’t no changing channels. This is how it goes out here in the real world.”

The dense air and sunlight reflecting off the swamp waters made for a forceful face blasting. Captain showed a makeshift crawfish net constructed of $2 worth of equipment that has kept his family fed for 10 years. Makes you wonder what the hell we’re doing here in the non-swamp world, wasting just about everything we own.

After the tour came to a close, we took some photos together and as is customary at the end of each DFRWS, we parted ways in a tumultuous manner. Since I was riding with Akim and Kaitlyn we did not take the shuttle bus back with everyone and thus all those who I had met were only to be seen again in some potential future DFRWS or never again. Farewell to you all.

On the ride back, Kaitlyn did want to finally have the conversation on spirituality, however I made it clear it is not appropriate for such talk during a car ride or while indulging in a meal. Thus we decided to first head to BLDG5 for a meal and then to Highland Coffees for the discussion.

BLDG5 has wickedly tasty food with beautiful floral decor and is found smack in the middle of the strangest area seemingly a mix between the beneath of an overpass and brittle scrap-yarding. The staff was pleasant and gay and frankly I did not expect to see such happy folk in this bizarre area.

Finally after a lengthy explanation of the cruelties of wartime Congo, Akim dropped us off at Kaitlyn’s car where her and I drove off to Highland Coffees for our long awaited discussion.

When it comes to such matters it is best for the inquirer to A) have an intrinsic interest, and B) ask the questions. This is to prevent me simply filling ears with information which is not of interest to the person at their particular stage of life. Just to the left of our table was an ad for a well known Swami that uses music for meditation, and just as we were about to talk Hinduism.

We sat for roughly 3 hours and I told her all I could regarding what I know to be the highest spiritual knowledge and left it to her to decide if she would like to inquire further in the future.

I admire Kaitlyn and ultimately I think I came to this iteration of DFRWS to meet her and have this discussion. Nothing else this week felt more important than pouring myself out into her inquisition. If youth would have the same inquisitive nature as she regarding the spiritual domain, we would generate a profoundly more powerful generation that would endlessly guide future ones along the guide-rails of love backed by the sweet nectar of the highest knowledge; the knowledge that clears the heart and mind and produces an unconditional love for the world and its inhabitants that no materialist or utilitarian philosophy could provide. Providing such love for humans allows them to optimally exert creativity in their field of choice.

Kaitlyn, even if only initiated via this natural curiosity, is making a far more important choice in her life than mere intellectual study of this-or-that, more life sustaining than the knowledge acquired through the rigours of academic research, innovation, and industrial work. I see people in this field and out constantly fretting to produce apps and erect vacuous startups that render us either more agitated, or attempt to solve major agitations by replacing them with lesser ones; one object to fix the fixation with another. In the end most of what is produced is riddled with the fumes of spiritual lack for if these studied for even a month the royal knowledge of Advaita Vedanta, a tremendous sorrow would befall them for the consequences of their endeavours. This is not to say there is no utility in technology so please do not misconstrue this idea. I have for the longest of time observed the smartest and most intellectually sharp slash their way through thicket of hearts for the sake of being right about their ideas. Such garbage treatment of other humans is a true sign of a head full of intellectual ideation but simultaneously empty of the spiritual. If we want to classify a human as truly ignorant, it is by the quality of their unspiritual nature. Let us punctuate this with a final quote from Kaitlyn;

I “met” (that is a stretch, more like encountered) Anthony during his GREAT workshop. When initially picking workshops, I went to do some reconnaissance on the workshop teachers 🙂 When it came to picking the second set of workshops, the first name I searched up was “Anthony Andreoli.” Clicked on his LinkedIn. Saw his bio: “Lifelong learner aimed towards cybersecurity and spirituality.” THAT IS MY GUY! HE WILL BE SO COOL! Knew immediately. Signed up for his workshop right then and there 😆

I more officially met Anthony on Day 3 – Wednesday, July 10. We went to Rocca’s pizzeria with Dom, Adam, and Lauren. Great food, amazing conversation. I spent more time with Anthony throughout the rest of the week. Especially at BLDG5 and Highland Coffee! Anthony opened my mind up to a sea and wealth of knowledge associated with spirituality. I miss everybody, and I am already so very excited for next year 🙂 Thank you to everybody who made this week life-changing ❤️

Thanks to the hardworking organizers at DFRWS yet again for providing grounds to spread my wings and fly across the bizarre slice of transient existence.