Debunking Hacklore

Feb 2, 2026

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We're all busy people with busy lives. We only have so much time and energy. So when security people dole out to-do lists, we really need to focus on the tips with the most bang for the buck. Conversely, we need to avoid wasting people's precious resources on advice that is no longer valid or worth the effort. Today, we'll debunk several of these "Hacklore" tips with security guru Bob Lord.

Interview Notes

Hacklore: https://www.hacklore.org/letter

Hacklore resources: https://www.hacklore.org/resources

Elevator (un)safety analogy: https://medium.com/@boblord/psa-elevator-un-safety-7ac69a9498de

DNC Security Checklist: https://democrats.org/security/

CISA Secure by Design: https://www.cisa.gov/securebydesign

MITRE’s 2007 Unforgivable Vulnerabilities (PDF): https://cwe.mitre.org/documents/unforgivable_vulns/unforgivable.pdf

Take 9: https://pausetake9.org/

Consumer Reports Security Planner tool: https://securityplanner.consumerreports.org/

EFF security planning: https://ssd.eff.org/module/your-security-plan

Removing online data: https://firewallsdontstopdragons.com/data-diet-introduction/

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