Protect Your Company: Applying the Hacker Mindset and Methodology

Police departments employ ex-criminals.  Former drug addicts are among the best drug rehabilitation counselors.  In some regards, ‘it takes one to know one.’  Therefore, it helps to think like a hacker when protecting a company from imminent threats.  The numbers of hackers and occurrences of security breaches continue to rise.  Get in the mind of a hacker, considering the following.

Network

What are the logistics of a given company?  Where are the possible points of entry?  Would a smaller company invest in solid, anti-threat resources?  Hackers consider the logistics of a given source, better allocating time and raising the percentage of successful efforts.

Affiliates

Mammoth brands own a trove of smaller enterprises.  Therefore, hackers target smaller entities, assuming a mother company wont’t allocate proper resources toward protecting smaller affiliates.  Smaller affiliates are susceptible, and furthermore, hackers gain information about mother companies from affiliate entryways.

Prey on Insiders

Once hackers gain entrance into a ‘system’ through technical or social means, it spells further disaster for associated companies.  Hackers use technical strings of data as well as directly ask employees for integral account information (posing as account managers or third party system operators).  Safe owners invest in security measures and alert key players of preying and plotting hackers.

Trojan the System

Once a hacker gains information, they cloak presence, wreaking further havoc as an ‘administrator’ of the system.  Simple strings of data (openly obtained on the web), allow the hacker to become an administrator, placing owners in a vulnerable situation.  In worst-case scenarios, owners ‘torch’ or reboot entire systems due to interference.

Forums

Target notorious forums, online platforms where hackers discuss efforts and exchange information.  It’s illegal to exact nefarious implementations upon others, yet an owner may familiarize oneself with the thought patterns of hackers, in some instances getting a ‘heads up,’ regarding popular and widespread hacker efforts.

Outsource

While some owners can’t afford an in-house tech person, especially paying them only for ‘insurance,’ partial relations are possible.  Owners benefit outsourcing to individuals with experience (Some may have experience as ‘hackers.’)  Small to midsize business efforts maintain security and remain protected from further threats by maintaining third-party contact with tech specialists.  Hackers have ‘buddies,’ helping them gain education on security and ways around it; owners may do the same.

Take Classes

Hackers aren’t born with the ability to gain illegal entrance into a brand’s system.  They learn.  Take a class on ‘ethical hacking’ (Seek online vendors such as http://www.trainace.com/courses/ceh/.) It’s a way to learn the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of systems and structures for one’s own good.  Like martial arts, teachers relay information for self-defense, not for bullying or the exploiting others.

Thinking like a hacker is not harmful in itself.  Actually, it’s helpful for those who gain intelligence of the ‘dark’ arts.  Owners learn how to protect businesses and gain better peace of mind thinking like a ‘hacker.’  Like self-defense, information and abilities can be used for good; seek more information regarding protecting personal and commercial information from hacker threat as incidents continue to rise.