TRUST NO ONE! Is this your battle cry?

Hang on, let me just kick this box over there!

Yep, that’s about right, OK let me get up on it!

OK, well that’s just a little bit wobbly! Never mind. 

 "What the f..k are we actually doing in cyberspace?"

If I said "look over there at that ransomware bundle", how many people will download it and install it.

Probably none! Self-preservation is still important!

If I hide it behind a website, a link or an email then the number of people who are stupid enough to click on it and download it is astounding.  

In addition, if my software tells me that I shouldn't go there, our attitude is "no stinking software is going to stop me".  What the hell would the software know anyway?

Why have we lost our way?

We TRUST anyone!  

In a number of place we TRUST everyone.  

If I met a shadow figure in the real world, my first reaction is "I don't trust him'. That lack of trust comes from 10,000 years of conditioning, of using our senses, our ability to read body language.  

Cyber space is our kryptonite when it comes to normality. The only sense that works is sight and that only works because we TRUST everyone.  

Anyone can hide behind a picture of a pretty women / hansom man and no one would know!

I recently did a presentation, used Kali and took a photo from a compromised windows computer. It had people in the audience oohing and ahhing. The questions I got were relevant and fascinating. The most noticeable question was "isn't that illegal".

Yes of course its illegal but what can we do about it?  

There are no cops on the corner.  

In fact there are very limited repercussions from law enforcement!  

I can commit a digital crime in London, route my attack through Vladivostok and be sitting in my basement in Bondi. The chances of me having something done to me by law enforcement is practically zero.  

The only thing stopping me from doing that is my ethical focus. My understanding that it is illegal!

I can make millions without leaving said basement.  The only thing stopping me - ME!

Easy money + billions of targets + TRUSTing users / minimal law enforcement = the perfect storm.

Lucky for us Darwinism IS rampant.  

There are millions of "Hackers" out there. The stupid ones get caught, the clever ones find more inventive, destructive and clever ways of breaching our defences and once again the stupid ones get caught.  

The problem!  TRUST is an important commodity that they target!

When will we learn, there are real issues with the digital world?  

These issues are compounded by:

• Our race to make money! 
• Our humanness to be popular!
• Our thoughts that cybersecurity is someone else’s problem! 
• Our unbridled attitude that everything is OK. And
• Our optimistic understanding to TRUST everyone.

These are all building to make cyber space a very dangerous place.  

To most people, the digital world is full of wonder with rainbows and unicorns on every corner. In reality it is full of ogres and nasties that want to kill our knight in shining armor, destroy your digital persona, knock down our castles and steal all our gold.

My response to all of this. TRUST NO ONE

Oh look, no one is listening!  

OK, getting down from my soap box now.  

Thanks.