Cisco Subnet’s Jamey Heary was featured in an online interview published today by former Cisco Subnet founder Linda Leung. Heary has a theory on why and how hackers succeed. They are masters of psychology, not just technology.
“If you had a badge on, nobody would know [you were an attacker]. You’d say you were an electrician, and people would let you in the data center,” Heary says. “We have a local hacker group, and one of the guys said, I need to develop an application that would allow me to print badges wherever I am.” He had 2,200 different badges from different companies. Any badge you want, and he could print it out.
“I happen to have a psychology degree—I have a degree in computer science and a degree in psychology. I love psychology, as it teaches you how the human brain thinks, and that has helped tremendously [in my work]. If you can solve the social engineering aspect of hacking—boy, would you be way more secure.”
Read the whole article: Online Security: A Quest to Be One Step Ahead of the Bad Guys
If you like this, check out Cisco Subnet’s Jeff Doyle’s interview, too. Around the Globe in the Race Against IPv4 Address Depletion
Here’s a tidbit:
You travel the world extensively to countries such as China and India to consult with national service providers. China has embarked on China’s Next Generation Internet, a five-year plan for early adoption of IPv6. Should the U.S. view China as a threat?
Sometimes China can be viewed as a threat, when you look at China as a commercial competitor. But for China, the issue is that it’s going through enormous growth, and now more and more people are moving to the middle class and they’re buying services and entertainment that’s provided by IP. The other thing is that China is looking to IPv6 as an opportunity to show some leadership. It has seen the U.S. (until recent years) asleep at wheel on IPv6. And it has seen Japan make competitive moves, so China sees an opportunity to position itself as technologically advanced by deploying IPv6. That’s why you see China showcasing IPv6 in places like the 2008 Olympics.
– Posted by Cisco Subnet editor Julie Bort.
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