7MS #334: IT Security Horrors That Keep You Up at Night

This week I got to celebrate Halloween with my friends at Netwrix by co-hosting a Webinar called IT Security Horrors That Keep You Up at Night. The content was a modified version of the Blue Team on a Budget talk I've been doing the past year or so, and essentially focuses on things organizations can do to better defend their networks without draining their budgets.

The presentation had a Child's Play theme and showed Chucky trying to hack Andy's company via:

Phishing Abusing bad domain passwords Abusing bad local admin passwords Responder attack Lack of SMB signing

Each attack was also followed up my some advice for how to stop it (or at least slow down its effectiveness).

The presentation itself was a blast and I learned some good public speaking lessons as a result:

Get your slides done early! - when co-presenting, it makes sense that they want to see your slides sooner than the day of! :-)

Don't freak out about an audience of "none" - I always think Webinars are weird because you can't see people's faces or interpret their body language to get a feel for whether they appreciate your humor or understand the points you're trying to make. I learned you just gotta keep pushing forward "blind" whether you like it or not.

Setup a redundant presentation system - ok so file this one with the irrational fears dept, but I actually had a second laptop ready with my presentation loaded, and the laptop was connected to a cell hotspot I setup on a tablet. That way if my machine BSOD'd or Internet went out in my house, I could quickly rejoin the presentation and pick up where I left off. Safe or psycho? You decide!

Happy belated Halloween!