Interview With Ed Skoudis
On the heels of my recent Product Review of The Hack-Counter Hack Training Course by Ed Skoudis, I have asked some questions of the author / lecturer.
Besides the CD video training course mentioned above, Ed Skoudis is also the author of the book Counter Hack: A Step-by-Step Guide to Computer Attacks and Effective Defenses as well as the upcoming release Malware: Fighting Malicious Code. Mr. Skoudis is one of the faculty of lecturers for the SANS Institute and teaches at seminars around the country.
Read the interview questions and answers below to find out more about this respected security expert- how he got started, what he thinks of information security today and where he sees things moving toward in the future.
TB: What was your first computer?
ES: My lovely Commodore Vic 20. It rocked with a whopping 5 k of RAM, and cool games, almost as good as the arcade version of Space Invaders. I miss that little box. And it booted in about 2 seconds! Solid state, baby? no moving parts!
TB: What made you decide to write your first book?
ES: I had been doing presentations for several years, but wanted to reach a larger number of people. I figured a book was a good way to help get the information security message propagated to a bigger audience.
TB: How long did it take you to write it?
ES: One year. One very long year of intense work. But it was fun! The folks at my publisher (Prentice Hall) were wonderful to work with.
TB: When did you start teaching with SANS?
ES: In May 1999, I did my first 90-minute talk for SANS. I had always wanted to present at SANS, but didn?t get an invite to do so until 1999. At the talk, there were about 300 people watching, standing room only. I was quite worried about how it would go, but I tried to really have fun with the audience. About half way into the talk, someone in the first row told me that my shoe was untied. After apologizing to the front few rows about any potential odors, I kicked my shoes off and just kept rolling. We all had a good time.
TB: Has teaching helped you learn more as well?
ES: I?ll say! It?s helped in two ways? first, I am motivated to keep up so I can present new materials in the class. Secondly, students constantly come up with new ideas or new takes on issues that help me to see things in a different way. I really enjoy it when a student points out some item I hadn?t seen before. That?s how we all grow. And, if I help that student out as well, we?ve got a great exchange going!
TB: Do you feel that your books or CD training might cause more harm than good by teaching the next generation of blackhats?
ES: I get that question a lot. Actually, a lot of the bad guys already know this stuff. If they are determined enough, they can learn to hack without my materials. I try to keep my materials focused on giving people the info they need to stop bad guys, without turning them into blackhats themselves. It?s a fine line, I admit. However, if you look at all of my work, I very carefully make sure to discuss the defensive strategies associated with each attack.
Besides the CD video training course mentioned above, Ed Skoudis is also the author of the book Counter Hack: A Step-by-Step Guide to Computer Attacks and Effective Defenses as well as the upcoming release Malware: Fighting Malicious Code. Mr. Skoudis is one of the faculty of lecturers for the SANS Institute and teaches at seminars around the country.
Read the interview questions and answers below to find out more about this respected security expert- how he got started, what he thinks of information security today and where he sees things moving toward in the future.
TB: What was your first computer?
ES: My lovely Commodore Vic 20. It rocked with a whopping 5 k of RAM, and cool games, almost as good as the arcade version of Space Invaders. I miss that little box. And it booted in about 2 seconds! Solid state, baby? no moving parts!
TB: What made you decide to write your first book?
ES: I had been doing presentations for several years, but wanted to reach a larger number of people. I figured a book was a good way to help get the information security message propagated to a bigger audience.
TB: How long did it take you to write it?
ES: One year. One very long year of intense work. But it was fun! The folks at my publisher (Prentice Hall) were wonderful to work with.
TB: When did you start teaching with SANS?
ES: In May 1999, I did my first 90-minute talk for SANS. I had always wanted to present at SANS, but didn?t get an invite to do so until 1999. At the talk, there were about 300 people watching, standing room only. I was quite worried about how it would go, but I tried to really have fun with the audience. About half way into the talk, someone in the first row told me that my shoe was untied. After apologizing to the front few rows about any potential odors, I kicked my shoes off and just kept rolling. We all had a good time.
TB: Has teaching helped you learn more as well?
ES: I?ll say! It?s helped in two ways? first, I am motivated to keep up so I can present new materials in the class. Secondly, students constantly come up with new ideas or new takes on issues that help me to see things in a different way. I really enjoy it when a student points out some item I hadn?t seen before. That?s how we all grow. And, if I help that student out as well, we?ve got a great exchange going!
TB: Do you feel that your books or CD training might cause more harm than good by teaching the next generation of blackhats?
ES: I get that question a lot. Actually, a lot of the bad guys already know this stuff. If they are determined enough, they can learn to hack without my materials. I try to keep my materials focused on giving people the info they need to stop bad guys, without turning them into blackhats themselves. It?s a fine line, I admit. However, if you look at all of my work, I very carefully make sure to discuss the defensive strategies associated with each attack.
Source...