Episode 24: Next stop: HackTown

We love stories about the Dark Web – and we're apparently not alone in that. This week, we're talking about HackTown, which seems to be Hogwarts for wannabe hackers (just without the...magic). HackTown promises to teach registrants how to become professional cyber criminals in 2020, which is both amusing and intriguing.

The HackTown/Dark Web chat brings us neatly onto REvil, who have deposited $1m in Bitcoin on a Russian-speaking hacker forum to attract new hacker talent to join their criminal activities.

Also featuring this week is HP. A researcher uncovered a severe vulnerability in HP Device Manager – yeah, not that exciting in itself. What is exciting, however, is all the tantrums and drama around the disclosure process that followed. Maybe next time HP will learn to lock the backdoor.

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Hacktown:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2020/09/28/this-hacker-university-offers-dark-web-cybercrime-degrees-for-125/#41c700c145f2

REvil are hiring:
https://www.cpomagazine.com/cyber-security/revil-ransomware-gang-deposits-1-million-for-recruitment-on-a-russian-speaking-hacker-forum/

HP forgot to lock the backdoor:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hp-device-manager-backdoor-lets-attackers-take-over-windows-systems/

About Cyber Humanity

The podcast taking cybersecurity personally

There's a lot of cool techy stuff going down in cybersecurity, and we love it. But you can't deny that a lot the time we humans get forgotten. Our podcast takes a not-so-serious look at issues in security from a human point of view. Covering social engineering to hacker motivations and everything in between, we chat through security stories and themes and what they mean to us: the oft-neglected humans behind the screen. Apart from Kev, Kev is a cyborg.

These weekly podcasts come in two main flavors. We’re either ranting about themes close to the heart of us security types, or we’re discussing threats and vulnerabilities that have hit headlines – or slipped under the radar – in recent weeks.

Join Chris Pace (tech advocate and keeper of the coloring pencils), Kev Breen (pro blue teamer, also known as 'Mr Nothing to CVE here...'), Max Vetter (former dark web detective and pretty cool guy), and Paul Bentham (ex-gov. type and Immersive Labs product guru) as they wend their way through the murky world of Cyber Humanity.