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CYBER

The Penetration Tester

CYBER

VICE

Tech News, News & Politics, Technology, News

4645 Ratings

🗓️ 28 January 2019

⏱️ 30 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, we talk to Jek, a physical penetration tester whose job is to infiltrate offices, data centers, store stockrooms, and other supposedly "secure" locations and either steal information or install a tool so that other hackers can exfiltrate data. She relies on the most reliable vulnerability of all: human weakness. Jek tells host Ben Makuch how she does it, some of her most memorable operations, and why other hackers think that what she does is "witchcraft."

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Tann, it's got the code it's going to launch.

0:11.0

It's a unit system.

0:13.0

I know this.

0:15.0

It's all the files of the whole park.

0:17.0

It tells her everything.

0:19.0

Sir, he's uploading the virus.

0:21.6

The eagle one. The package is being delivered.

0:24.6

When it comes to the cyber, everybody's concerned with either the 800-pound guy in his parents' basement or whatever the president called it,

0:31.6

or the scary hooded Mr. Robot figure messing with their smart home, or those pesky Russian hackers destroying democracy.

0:42.5

One thing the hacking scene doesn't always consider is the real-world pen-testing hackers.

0:46.0

It's kind of OG and involves social engineering.

0:50.6

Sometimes their stories and their human skills manipulating individuals are not only hilarious,

0:54.8

but expose the biggest flaw in the corporations or agencies they're hired to improve. People. Today, we're talking to someone who calls themselves Jack, and she's

1:01.0

a physical pen tester, and also brags about breaking into buildings. I'm Ben Maku, and this

1:07.2

is Cyber.

1:16.4

So, Jack, tell me, it's, it's Jack for like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, right?

1:17.4

Something to, like... That's, yeah, that's correct.

1:19.3

It was a name given to me towards the beginning of my infosec career.

1:24.6

It was a friend of mine, Tinkersack, was commenting on how adorable and sweet I appear in

1:32.2

normal everyday life and then how vicious and scary I can be when I turn on my bad guy face.

1:38.6

And so he said it's like your jekyll and hide. So that became my Twitter handle.

1:44.1

Okay. So I'm just to be clear, you call yourself a physical pen tester, correct?

...

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