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

Brian Johnson -

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!