The Business of Hacking

Tue, Apr 14

Guest Speaker: Katie Moussouris (Luta Security)

In 1998, a group of hackers from the L0pht hackerspace testified before the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs. Their testimony revealed the woeful state of security on the Internet to the public, and was intended to be a call to action: if the government, private industry, and computer hackers could stop being adversaries and begin to cooperate, security would be drastically improved for everyone. It was a landmark moment in the creation of what we now know as the computer security industry. But the L0pht wasn't the only group professionalizing --- hackers from around the globe were joining newly-established security teams at large technology companies, forming their own start-up companies, and making quite a bit of money as freelance consultants. This era can be seen as the close of the underground subculture that centered around breaking into computers. 

We will be joined today by somebody who was there to witness it all: famed hacker Katie Moussouris, founder and CEO of Luta Security. Katie is a pioneer of responsible vulnerability disclosure, specifically in promoting the idea of bug bounties, where hackers receive compensation for disclosing bugs to the entity responsible for maintaining the software so that they can be fixed before they become public. She created the first bug bounty programs at Microsoft and the US Department of Defense. She will share with us her experience working in the nascent computer security industry in the early 2000s and her journey from there to become one of the most influential figures in the industry today. 

We have three learning goals for today. By the end of our lecture class, you will: 

1. Learn how computer hackers brought major insecurities in operating systems and computer networks to the attention of the highest level of the United States Government, which in turn put pressure on the technology industry to take security seriously. 
2. Understand how the technology industry pivoted to embrace computer hackers, who began to leave the underground scene behind as they found new success (and big paychecks) in business. 
3. See how the computer security industry continues to evolve through a dynamic ecosystem encompassing everything from start-up companies to the largest Silicon Valley players. 

The digital artifact for today is the Nessus Proprietary Security Scanner.