PROTECT YOURSELF FROM CYBER ATTACKS:
-Set secure passwords and avoid common words, phrases or personal information and update regularly
-Keep computer operating system, browser, anti-virus and other critical software up to date
-Be suspicious of unknown links or requests sent via email or text message
-Turn off the option to automatically download attachments in email messages
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Suspected data breaches at two of the top five retailers in the nation over the last year have some hackers working to prevent future security leaks from happening to consumers in the Miami Valley.
“We’re teaching people how attackers attack networks and computer systems, so they can defend,” said Bryan Fite, a professional hacker who led Day-Con Eight’s Hacksec Invitational on Friday at the Dayton Marriott.
The Hacksec Invitational is part of the 2014 Dayton Security Summit and brought students, corporate workers and security firms together to perfect skills in the realm of digital hacking.
Teams from across the country assembled and tested to locate malware within a fictional cyber network.
“We create a safe environment to be able to test out the offensive computing techniques to understand how to defend,” Fite said.
Tony Wang, of Urbana, Ill., is a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and plans to work as a hacker for a private security consulting firm in an effort to prevent criminals from hacking into computer systems of corporations across the world.
“(We) help them secure their systems, so when a criminal comes along and tries to break in, they have a harder time,” Wang said.
Target and Home Depot, listed fourth and fifth on the National Retail Federation’s Top 100 retailers chart for 2014, have both dealt with reported data breaches.
Target Corp., based in Minneapolis, is still trying to recover from a massive breach that occurred last year and hurt sales, profits and its reputation with customers. It has been overhauling its security department and systems and is accelerating its $100 million plan to roll out chip-based credit card technology in all of its near 1,800 stores.
In Target’s data breach, 40 million credit and debit card accounts were compromised and cyber criminals stole personal information from as many as 70 million customers.
Home Depot executives are still working to determine if its breach is legitimate. The company announced Wednesday that it has hired security firms Symantec and FishNet Security to help it investigate the possible hacking.
Despite the recent data breaches, Fite said hacking is neither bad nor good, but instead is a technique. The participants at Hacksec were fine-tuning their hacking techniques in an effort to prevent future cyber attacks.
“It’s very scary how easy it is, but conversely there are some basic things you can do to protect yourself,” Fite said. “The home cable modem and your Xbox is the new front lines in a cyber war.”
About the Author