Offensive defence: thinking like a blackhat
Tim Watson · Computer Fraud & Security · 2009
If your company's got something worth stealing, someone's going to try to steal it, so you need to protect your assets – and that includes protecting your information from hackers. The best way to catch the hackers at their work is to learn to think like them, and that means making a full commitment to flexible, innovative IT that really gets the security job done. The trouble is, most managers in charge of IT procurement are reluctant to think outside the box – or even to buy a box without a well-known label on it and a service contract to match – so they continually short change their security staff when it comes to taking effective measures, says Tim Watson of De Montfort University. Thinking like a blackhat may be the best way to stop them from attacking your network. How can security staff take a blackhat-like view of their networks to seal off the holes before others exploit them?