151: Chris Rock
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Episode Description
Chris Rock is known for being a security researcher. But he’s also a black hat incident responder. He tells us about a job he did in the middle east.
https://x.com/chrisrockhackerSponsorsSupport for this show comes from Varonis. Do you wonder what your company’s ransomware blast radius is? Varonis does a free cyber resilience assessment that tells you how many important files a compromised user could steal, whether anything would beep if they did, and a whole lot more. They actually do all the work – show you where your data is too open, if anyone is using it, and what you can lock down before attackers get inside. They also can detect behavior that looks like ransomware and stop it automatically. To learn more visit www.varonis.com/darknet.Support for this show comes from Axonius. The Axonius solution correlates asset data from your existing IT and security solutions to provide an always up-to-date inventory of all devices, users, cloud instances, and SaaS apps, so you can easily identify coverage gaps and automate response actions. Axonius gives IT and security teams the confidence to control complexity by mitigating threats, navigating risk, decreasing incidents, and informing business-level strategy — all while eliminating manual, repetitive tasks. Visit axonius.com/darknet to learn more and try it free.Support for this show comes from Flare. Flare automates monitoring across the dark & clear web to detect high-risk exposure, before threat actors have a chance to leverage it. Their unified solution makes it easy to rapidly identify risks across thousands of sources, including developers leaking secrets on public GitHub Repositories, threat actors selling infected devices on dark web markets, and targeted attacks being planned on illicit Telegram Channels. Visit http://try.flare.io/darknet-diaries to learn more.
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AI-Generated Summary
Introduction to Chris Rock
In this episode, the host introduces Chris Rock, an Australian security researcher with a unique perspective on cybersecurity. Unlike typical researchers, Chris has extensive black hat experience, providing insights into both ethical hacking and criminal activities.
Criminal Hacking: The Dark Side
Chris recounts his experiences with black hat operations, emphasizing that his actions shouldn’t always be seen through a moral lens. Discussing his history, he shares that he has engaged in significant hacking, including penetrating banks and government entities. His view is unapologetic; he considers hacking a skill and relays numerous stories about working in this morally gray area.
The Multi-Million Dollar Job
Chris describes a particularly intriguing job in the Middle East where he was hired to investigate financial discrepancies involving a wealthy family. Rather than procedural hacking, he was given broad leeway to do whatever was necessary, indicating often that previous engagements required more traditional rules.
Investigative Techniques and Hacking Strategies
Detailing his methodical approach, Chris explains how he gathers intelligence about the targets through social engineering and digital footprinting. His plans included leveraging compromised accounts and manipulating interpersonal relationships to gain trust and access, leading himself to successfully infiltrating a high-stakes investment firm.
The Role of the Bank Heist
Chris's task escalates from investigation to recovery of stolen funds after a suspect had been jailed. He discusses his methods for executing what effectively was a digital bank heist, exploiting weaknesses in the bank's security and using insider knowledge he acquired during his previous work in banking.
Conclusion: The Ethical Dilemma
The episode closes with Chris reflecting on the ethical ambiguity of hacking. His commentary leaves listeners questioning the lines between black hat and white hat hacking as well as discussing whether there are moral implications to focusing solely on financial recovery without regard for legality.
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