The Hacks

This episode of The Hacks may seem a little bit different. Are Tom and Chunga talking about some new, groundbreaking, innovation in the world of tech? Are they talking about cybercrime and ransomware attacks? Nope...

Tom has a "fire in his belly" over a fight/rivalry that's been simmering for a long time between Intel and AMD. He picked sides a long time ago and now he wants all of you to join him! 

For some context, Tom and Chunga go all the way back to the beginning of this issue and chat about processor history and how this bitter rivalry began in the first place. They also explore whether or not Intel is really superior to AMD. The Hacks would love your opinion! Are you loyal to one brand over the other? Is the Intel hype deserved? Send us an email or let us know on Twitter!

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The Dark Web. It doesn't have the best reputation. In truth, most people don't even know it exists but for those who do, it's largely considered to be the seedy underbelly of the internet. It's a rotten, dirty place full of thieves, hackers, and predators of all types; or is it? Does the Dark Web deserve the reputation that it has?

In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga start at the very beginning. They talk about the origins of the Dark Web and why it was created in the first place. You may be surprised to find out that the Dark Web isn't so dark after all. 

Sure, all of the bad things do indeed exist but there's much more to it that you should understand when it comes to the Dark Web. Why would someone choose to use the Dark Web over other more conventional platforms?  Listen now to find out!

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Chunga came across an article ZD Net a few days ago. It was about cybercrime and contained a list of ten disturbing facts that they claim will keep you up at night.

While Chunga was glued to this article, he thought it'd be a great idea to share these disturbing facts with Tom and see if any of them would indeed cause him to lose sleep.

In this episode of The Hacks, we'll see (according to Tom) just how accurate this journalist is when it comes to the growing and increasingly active underworld of cybercrime.  What's the most common type of brute force attack now that the world has shifted to a largely remote workforce and how much have they increased? Are cybercriminals exploiting Zoom to spy on your everyday activities? How many unsecured remote desk-top machines are jeopardizing organizations around the world? 

Tom and Chunga answer these questions and address many more security-related concerns. How many of these statistics would keep Tom awake at night? Listen now to find out!

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ZD Nets article "10 disturbing Stats"

ZD Net "10 Disturbing Stats"

During this year’s VMworld question and answer, VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger announced the company’s intention to acquire SaltStack!

In this unique episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga take a personal look back to the very beginning. Back to a time when Tom sat by himself, in his basement, developing a computer program that would end up changing his life and ultimately be used by millions of people around the world. How did Salt and eventually Saltstack shape the person that Tom is today? Did it change the way he looks at himself? Is he satisfied with the work he’s done?

They also take a look at what the future holds for both SaltStack and VMware and discuss how they plan to grow and champion the Salt open source community that has been so vital to SaltStack’s success story!

To learn more about this episode:

Tom's VMware Acquisition Statement

Come prepared to connect with Tom's Zen in this episode of The Hacks.

Recently, Tom did a webinar about something he's been really focused on and he wants to discuss it with Chunga. He has a theory called "Top Down, Bottom Up Change".

What does that mean? Well, from one end of the spectrum bottom up change means that you have an entire eco-system that is already established; it's evolving and growing almost as if it has a life of its own. This eco-system could be everything from a corporate digital infrastructure, to something macro, like the corporation itself. 

An example of top down change would be to enter into an existing eco-system and then attempt to exact your will upon it. Tom's theory is when a project or company is failing, more often than not, it's happening during a top down phase of maturity. After all, change is going to happen regardless and if you try to impose your will in the wrong places or the wrong time, failure is inevitable. 

This is even more true when it comes to the tech industry, where these changes typically come faster and are far more volatile. So...which is better, top-down or bottom-up? Where should you position yourself? The answer may change throughout the evolution of a project or specific eco-system. 

Tom and Chunga break all of this down by using IOT and the video game industry as examples of the right and wrong ways to affect bottom up, top down change. Listen now!

Tom Hatch is many things, to many people. He's the creator of Salt, He co-founded SaltStack and he's also the company's CTO. Once, while teaching his new students at some college somewhere, he even pretended to be Canadian for a full week, just because he loves the movie "Strange Brew"!

Although he's been given many titles, nobody (much to his dismay) has ever given him Royal status--until now. Chunga has proudly crowned Tom Hatch as "The King of SaltConf"! Every year, SaltStack hosts a special gathering of IT Operations and SecOps professionals that are focused on building and maintaining a more secure and reliable digital infrastructure. 

SaltConf20 will be the 7th annual SaltStack user conference and this year, for obvious reasons, it will be virtual. FREE registration is open now and the first 100 people to sign up get a free SaltConf20 T-Shirt! 

Every year, one of the most common things people say is "We want more Tom"! This year, that's exactly what we're going to give you. Janae Andrus is our special guest for this episode of The Hacks. She'll give you a rundown of what to expect at SaltConf20, how to reserve your space and how you can get your hands on some brand new SaltConf20 SWAG!  Be sure to listen for the secret code as well. 

Also, in this episode of The Hacks, Chunga reads some listener and feedback. Listen now!

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Chunga has been complaining for years that the U.S. Power Grid is extremely vulnerable and could easily be hacked or destroyed. He says every time he tries to talk about it, everyone looks at him like he's crazy... Everyone that is, except Tom.

The vulnerabilities that surround the Power Grid are something that has worried Tom for a long time as well and he says Chunga is right to be so concerned. In fact, the U.S. Power Grid is more vulnerable right now, in 2020, than at any other time in our nation's history.

It's not something that people really think about. Our electricity is something that's always just--there!  We flip a switch and it works; we don't imagine that it couldn't. However, if someone crashes it, much of the compromised infrastructure couldn't just be repaired. It would have to be rebuilt entirely.

Why is the U.S. Power Grid so vulnerable in 2020? Is it because of how divided the American people are currently? Is due to a lack of funding? Actually, no! The real reason it's so vulnerable is something quite different.  Listen now to find out!

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The North Koreans are stealing lots of money. They're very good at it. The truth is if you don't have SecOps (Security Operations) dialed in, and buttoned up from top to bottom, you could be their next target!

The world got their first taste of what the North Koreans are capable of back in 2016 when they attacked the Bangladesh Central Bank and nearly stole just under a billion dollars.

Because the Central Banks SecOps and IT Operations teams weren't properly aligned, a group of North Korean hackers known as the "Beagle Boyz", were able to breach the bank's infrastructure by sending one email... That's all it took, one email.

Although there were fail safe's in place (in NYC) that prevented several of the fraudulent transactions from taking place, the Beagle Boyz were still able to get away with an enormous sum of money.

The North Koreans have continued these kinds of attacks ever since and there are several new reports claiming they're going to become more frequent due to increased infrastructure vulnerabilities created by remote or work from home situations. They're robbing banks and corporations around the globe by draining ATM's and initiating fraudulent financial transactions by using spear phishing attacks with infected emails.

In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga talk about SecOps and discuss different strategies that can be used to protect your digital infrastructure. Implementing many of these defenses is much easier than you may think.  Listen now to learn more!

To learn more about this episode:

U.S. Warns of Global Bank Heist Campaign by North Korean Hackers.

https://www.saltstack.com/products/secops/

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Tom and Chunga are talking about IOT (Internet of Things) in this episode of The Hacks!

Recently, Chunga read an article which featured industry experts claiming that regardless of size, virtually all IOT development projects will take at least twice as long as originally planned.

Tom isn't surprised by this assessment at all. He says people are notoriously bad at understanding the scope and conditions of IOT projects. They're also really bad at understanding how their product will actually be used in everyday life.

A big reason for this is simply because IOT designers have to imagine what the world will look like when the project is completed rather than what it looks like in present day. Oftentimes, the technology required to finish a specific product doesn't even exist at the time the project is started.

Why would anyone in their right mind choose to get into the business of creating IOT devices?  Tom says "it's because of fame and fortune man!!" For many people, IOT is the modern-day gold rush. 

While this pursuit may be irresistible for hordes of businesses, Tom says the issue and complexities surrounding IOT are only going to get worse. Chunga on the other had is skeptical and feels that most of the IOT devices that are currently being pushed to market are gimmicks, nothing more.  Is Chunga right?  Listen now!

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In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga are talking about cyber hygiene.

Recently, at Black Hat Virtual, Tom gave a speech about how most companies are focused on dealing with infrastructure vulnerabilities in a way that doesn't actually protect their organization as much as it should.

Unfortunately, Tom says when most people look at their digital infrastructure, they build a defense strategy from the outside in; which is the exact opposite of how it should be done. When an organization scans for vulnerabilities, oftentimes they do so without any actual method to fix them.

What percentage of companies are practicing a legitimate level of cyber hygiene? Tom says it's very low. That said, he has some ideas and steps that can be taken right away that can help. Listen now!

For more about this episode:

Tom Hatch speaking about cybersecurity at Black Hat Virtual

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