Cyber Security Awareness and Threat Prevention

Speaker's Background

• 77 IT certifications, 36 in cybersecurity, 5 in pentesting (penetration testing)
• Experienced in breaking into buildings and networks
• Worked alongside special forces on physical security
• Former locksmith
• Presented at multiple cybersecurity conferences

Purpose of Lecture

• Educate on preventing hacking rather than teaching hacking
• Hacking has become mainstream due to accessible resources

Open Source Intelligence Gathering

• First phase of an attack: collecting information about the target
• Sources: Facebook, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, websites listing employees
• Tools: TruePeopleSearch, FastPeopleSearch, DeHashed, ZoomInfo
• Importance of understanding that no barrier exists for attackers to access such information

Breach Data and Password Security

• Breach data: compromised email accounts and information
• Reusing passwords is dangerous; attackers use breached passwords to try multiple services
• Tools exist to crack passwords quickly using advanced hardware (e.g., gaming or Bitcoin mining GPUs)
• Best practices for passwords:
  • Minimum of 12 characters
  • Use multiple special characters, numbers, and capitals
  • Avoid predictable patterns

Network Reconnaissance

• Identifying services, MX records (mail exchange), and hosted services
• Tools: ShowDan (scans and fingerprints internet-connected devices)
• Physical attacks utilizing collected network data
• Digital reconnaissance includes scanning the company’s public-facing services

Physical Security and Reconnaissance

• Websites like Wigle.net track Wi-Fi networks globally
• Importance of VPNs on public networks to protect from man-in-the-middle attacks
• Techniques like drones for Wi-Fi reconnaissance

Physical Penetration Techniques

• Lockpicking tutorials available online from sources like the Lockpicking Lawyer
• Tools and techniques to bypass physical security

Organizational Security

• Cybersecurity isn’t just IT’s responsibility; requires professional involvement
• Training employees on best practices, continuous monitoring, and risk assessment
• Importance of having comprehensive cybersecurity measures and monitoring in place

Q&A Insights

• Use complex, memorable passwords based on personal memories
• Use a password manager like 1Password (avoid LastPass due to breaches)
• Secure multi-factor authentication (physical tokens like YubiKey)
• Organizational measures against insider threats
• Awareness of public Wi-Fi risks and VPN usage
• Monitoring and firewall logs to detect unusual activities
• Passwords should not be handwritten or stored insecurely

Final Recommendations

• Continual training and updates on cybersecurity practices
• Keeping networks and devices secure with appropriate configurations and monitoring
• Implementing advanced authentication and monitoring systems for robust security