This lecture took place on 18 August.
Join us for a conversation with Hector Monsegur, one of the most controversial hackers of this generation. Alongside his friend, Rajat Rajbhandari, MOBI Working Groups Lead, the duo will discuss the topic of cybersecurity. Hector will share his experience as a black hat, transition to white hat, and assisting large enterprises against cyber-attacks. Listen to his insight on recent ransomware hacks, potential attack vectors in supply chain, IoT, connected and automated vehicles, and how enterprises can become better prepared.
About the Speakers
Hector “Sabu” Monsegur is the former de-facto head of Anonymous/LulzSec and lastly a high-profile federal asset. Monsegur’s story is more tangled and complicated than many know. He grew up in the projects on the Lower East Side of New York in a family trapped in a world of poverty and drugs. His mother left him when he was young which led to a close relationship with the rest of his family and the eventual adoption of his two nieces whom he raised from when they were little girls. Trying to find a better life for himself and his nieces, Monsegur found that his computer skills could empower him far above his socioeconomic barriers and his 9th grade education, but also led him into the dark world of hacking. Monsegur ruled the “hacktivist” scene breaching targets almost daily, from Nintendo, to News Corp, to PayPal/VISA/Mastercard, to Middle Eastern governments, and to the very security firms supposedly protecting against hackers like him. That is until the FBI closed in on him. Hector exchanged his “black hat” for a “white hat” and helped the FBI prevent more than 300 cyber-attacks on systems controlled by the US military and NASA.
Monsegur is an internationally recognized expert on global cyber security issues and a leading voice on the prevention of cyber-attacks and cyber warfare. He continues to work with clients in technology, healthcare, finance, government, and other industries. Hector also lectures for Fortune 500 companies such as AT&T, Humana, RSA Security, JP Morgan, Realogy as well as universities. He has appeared in Charlie Rose show, Fox News, PBS, and more.
Rajat Rajbhandari, PhD is a working group lead for MOBI. In this role, he leads the standards development for Vehicle Identity and Supply Chain working groups. He is also a co-founder of dexFreight, a startup building a decentralized logistics platform for shippers and carriers to collaborate using blockchain and smart contracts. He is also leading a project at Port of Veracruz to build Latin America’s first blockchain powered port community system. Prior to dexFreight, he spent 13+ years as a research engineer at Texas A&M Transportation Institute. He has been interviewed and covered by Wall Street Journal, Dallas Innovates, Port Technology, USA Today, FreightWaves, Journal of Commerce, Internal Business Times, etc. He is also a recent author of A Book about Blockchain: How companies can Leap into the future by adopting blockchain. He has a doctorate degree in transportation system and lives in Dallas, Texas.