Ethical hackers and the legacy of the Hacker Manifesto

Thinking of The Hacker Manifesto solely as a rant against corporations, the government, and all authorities is reductive. The volume also appeals to curiosity and a constructive rebellious spirit, which form the basis of hacker culture.

Curiosity fuels hackers to break things down and figure out how they work so they can improve them. It also drives them to ask questions that are different, unexpected, and that lead to paths less traveled.

In today's episode, we go down one of those paths with experienced leader, team manager, and security professional, Tom Eston. In his over 20 years of cybersecurity work, Tom has successfully led ethical hacking teams and improved industry-standard testing methodologies. He has also been creating podcasts since long before they were cool, and now you can listen to him on the Shared Security Podcast, which he co-founded and co-hosts.

Throughout our conversation, Tom looks at the 1986 Hacker Manifesto from an unexpected angle, shares his thoughts on the potential of the massive amount of information available for aspiring ethical hackers, and shares examples of how to guide young white hat hackers and help them calibrate their moral compass. 

We also talk about the time Tom faced an ethical dilemma as a leader and his experiences being on the receiving end of empathy in cybersecurity.

In this episode, you will learn:

What drives people to invest their mental and emotional energy in cybersecurity (4:40)How to deal with burnout as a cybersecurity fiend (8:20)Why we live in the golden age of training and how to take advantage of it (14:10)A practical example of how to deal with ethical dilemmas in cybersecurity (21:40)How young hackers can learn to balance the power they have to manipulate systems with being on the right side of history (30:00)The importance of "knowing your audience" when reporting cybersecurity issues (39:50)How The Hacker Manifesto holds up today and what could make it even more useful for ethical hackers (45:43)

Resources:

Visit Tom’s blog SpylogicThe Shared Security podcastThe Shared Security podcast - Exploring the Role of Empathy in Cybersecurity with Andra ZahariaThe Shared Security podcast - Juice jacking debunked, photographer vs. AI dataset, Google authenticator risksThe Hacker Manifesto

Connect with Tom:

LinkedInTwitterInfosec Exchange

Let's connect!

WebsiteLinkedInTwitter