The Hacks

In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga are talking about Tom's latest innovation called IDEM and how this powerful new software is designed to solve what many are calling an SRE (Site Reliability Engineer) crisis and several other fundamentally different problems.

The infrastructure that SRE's are being asked to deal with are getting much more complex and keeping up with all the requirements is extremely difficult, if not impossible in many cases. According to Tom, the amount of infrastructure SRE's have to maintain has become untenable. IDEM is going to change that! Tom and Chunga will talk about it and give you a rundown of how it all works. Listen now!!!

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For the first time ever, The Hacks are releasing a bonus episode!

Over the course of the past few episodes, Tom and Chunga have been talking about the history of technology in human conflict. They've also been discussing the role cyberattacks are playing in the current invasion of Ukraine.

In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga will explore the most effective ways to use a cyberattack. Tom says the best way to use an attack of this type is much different than what people may think! He says it's all about inspiring revolution from the inside out. Listen now to learn more!

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Check out the brand new IDEM Project!

As you all know, we are living in historic times. In the last episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga started talking about the current conflict in Ukraine and how cyberattacks are predicted to play a major role.

In this episode, They're talking about the blueprint of a cyberattack and which areas of infrastructure would most likely be targeted. Tom and Chunga also talk about what would need to be done for a nation-state to actually take these targets offline. Tom says although a large-scale cyberattack could be devastating, it's actually much harder than everyone thinks to accomplish. With that said, the smaller scale cyberattacks are bad enough and their impact will be felt for years, if not decades.

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Check out the brand new IDEM Project!

(Chunga's Note: This episode of The Hacks was recorded last week, on 2/23/22. From the time of this recording, as you are no doubt aware, there have been some significant changes with regard to world events. As a result, some commentary may seem slightly dated or inaccurate. Thank you for choosing to listen to The Hacks!)

So... anybody been watching the news lately? With the tragedy and humanitarian crisis that's taking place in Ukraine, one of the many threats that continues to be raised is the threat of a nation-state-sponsored cyberattack. There has been a multitude of news reports that say a Russian cyberattack on the U.S. and/or western Europe is imminent. Because of these claims, many in the west are suggesting a preemptive cyber attack of our own. 

In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga what could actually happen in the aftermath of a full-scale cyberattack and why a preemptive strike may not be such a good idea.

Take a look at the brand new IDEM Project!

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Chunga is jealous of Tom today. Last week, Tom was invited to give two lectures at Utah State University. Both of these lectures were centered around writing software that will actually get used. Seems like a pretty simple concept, right? Don't be so sure!

It may surprise you, but this is a huge problem within the tech space, particularly with engineers. Tom says they rarely have a full understanding of the people that will actually use their software and the problem they'll want it to solve. Tom was taken back a bit by how new this concept seemed to the students he was talking to! In this episode of The Hacks, Tom talks about how we're getting things so terribly wrong when it comes to writing software and what you can do to avoid becoming part of the problem.

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Tom Hatch has two, young daughters. While he does his best to control, and carefully monitor what they're doing on the internet, he knows that there's only so much he can do to keep his family, home, and infrastructure protected.

Sadly, there are a ton of similarities between digital parenting at home, and having robust cyber-hygiene at work. Tom says in both worlds digital parenting isn't going far enough, not far enough at all. In today's world, it's about as effective as when Tom's parents would lock up his Nintendo controllers. 

So, what can we all do to be more careful?  Tom has some ideas that may surprise you. Listen now!

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In part two of this two-part series, Tom and Chunga continue their discussion about cryptocurrency!

In their previous episode, The Hacks gave an overview of cryptocurrency and why they think crypto has become so popular. In this episode, Tom and Chunga talk about NFT's and some of the problems associated with all types of cryptocurrency like its extreme volatility, security issues, and more! Would the world of cryptocurrency be a good or bad thing for you?  Listen to this episode and decide for yourself!

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In case you didn't already know, in addition to the work that Chunga does with Tom on Salt Project, he also works as a voice-over artist.

A few days ago, Chunga was booked to do a commercial for a cryptocurrency that specializes in content management & NFT's. While reading the script, he realized that he doesn't know nearly as much as he should about crypto, how it operates, etc. Thankfully, Tom does! He says that crypto is dramatically changing the way we look at software infrastructure because it gives us an entirely new distribution and asset base that decentralizes most of our traditional platforms. In part one of our two-part episodes Tom talks about how cryptocurrency and mining crypto is going to change the way we all operate, whether we like it or not.  Listen now!

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Automation is a term that goes all the way back to the bronze age. Throughout human history, we have sought different types of automation in order to manipulate the world around us into making things easier. Simply put, automation makes the complex--simple.

At their core, computers are the very definition of automation. That's why they were created in the first place! Computing technology has been around for decades, you wouldn't think automation would continue to be as difficult as it is, right?  Wrong! Tom has the answer to why automation is so hard.  

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Chunga has had a bit of a scare recently. His sister-in-law has a serious case of Covid, which is causing several problems including issues with her brain. As he's been helping where he can and trying to be a supportive member of the family, he's been surprised to discover how much medical experts still don't understand about the human brain.

Tom says there are some staggering similarities when it comes to computers! He calls this issue "the acceptance of ignorance", which is an even bigger problem when it comes to the world of open source. So, when Tom says that phrase, what does he mean specifically? The answer may scare you.  Listen now to find out!

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