We start this week’s article with a big thank you.
Thank you to Danni Brooke for the donation of her book to the school library. Danni’s book “Undercover Copper” (which can be found on Amazon at https://amzn.to/3UmEWpQ) tells the story of her career working in the Metropolitan Police’s undercover unit infiltrating organised crime groups or disrupting drug supply lines. Danni went on to work in cybersecurity as well as appearing in television programmes such as Hunted, and Troll Hunters.
Mr Bradley, Head of Computer Science at the Senior School, met Danni on Wednesday when he was attending the UK Cyber Week Cybersecurity Conference in London as part of his professional development. Danni was giving a presentation entitled “Hackers don’t bother with people like me” with her partner and co-founder of their cybersecurity company, Ben Owen, an ex British Army and Intelligence Officer.
The presentation reinforced everything that we have been trying to put across with our series of articles in The Circuit. Ben started the presentation with the words – “Every single one of us is susceptible to hacking” later explaining that this is because “literally anyone can be tricked … especially if they get you at the right time”
They gave the case study where they “attacked” a CISO (Chief Information Security Officer) who had been trained extensively in protecting himself against such attacks by sending him an email just as he got back into his car after getting his regular morning coffee (which they knew from his social media accounts) offering a 50% discount to a restaurant he had visited two days previously (which they knew because he had written an online review of the service). Of course, he clicked the link and at that point they had him!
However, the important message that they tried to put across was that criminals take the “lane of least resistance”; they find the easy, quick way to financial reward. This might be getting to you through your children (a message at a time they know your child is abroad or at an event because they posted it on their social media) or getting to your company via you or your colleagues. They manage this through searching publicly available information posted online or on social media.
Short of dropping off the internet altogether, the best advice: always take a “tactical pause” (see The Circuit article on Social Engineering which can be found at The Circuit: Social Engineering | Gateway (theabbey.co.uk) for more information on fast and slow thinking) before clicking on any links or responding to any “urgent” messages.
And remember, keeping everyone in our community safe online is a joint effort!
If you do want more information on what is termed Open Source Intelligence(OSINT) do get in contact with Mr Bradley. Mr Bradley has previously volunteered with groups like Locate International and Trace Labs who use their OSINT skills to search for missing persons and unidentified bodies.
