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It’s a little after 10 in the morning, and I sit at my desk after what’s probably my third coffee of the day — that magic elixir that is the lifeblood of both deep thinking and rambling rants. I think I’ve been in the cybersecurity long enough to call BS on more than my fair share of snake oil pitches, but also learn a thing or two from some genuine erm, eye openers. So, I’m here to offer some real talk — extracted from my own path from network admin in 1993 through the rough-and-tumble era of PSTN voice-data mux’ing through running my own security company today. Plus, I just returned from DefCon (I’m still riding high on the Hardware Hacking Village—more on that later). We hope you’ll find something valuable here (or at least, you know, a chuckle that your cybersecurity consultant may be a little wired this morning).
I cut my teeth in networks when modems were duking it out to establish a pleasurable handshake and voice + data over PSTN meant a delicate recipe for getting analog and digital to coexist. Those early days molded my opinions deeply — in those days, you knew everything there was to know about your gear. Routers, switches, multiplexers — they were concrete problems to solve, not black boxes with shiny GUIs and frightening ‘AI-powered’ stickers.
One of the things I quickly learned is how fragile networks are — and remain. Case in point: the Slammer worm from 2003 — you may recall it if you’re old enough. Slammer spread through SQL servers like a flash flood, faster than any other worm. I saw how it had paralyzed and when the networks were overloaded, operations ground to a standstill. It was a harsh reminder that security wasn’t simply a matter of patching servers — it was about knowing how all these pieces work together and connect to each other, and how they move.
Fast-forward to today — I’ve worked with three separate banks in recent months to improve their security standing by moving to a Zero Trust model. You may have heard all the definitions: NEVER TRUST, ALWAYS VERIFY. But here’s the kicker — if done right, it works. But — and this is a big but — most organizations either half do it or expect a magic wand answer. Spoiler: there’s no magic wand.
The Zero Trust is like preparing a complicated dish: you’re not just throwing things into a pot. The perfect preparation, the layering of flavors, the mastery of heat. Likewise, you can’t just slap on software-defined perimeters and be done with it either. It requires:
The banks I could work with — take it from me, they were up against all the usual suspects: legacy systems that refuse to play ball with modern identity tools; user push-back (”So why again do I need a second factor every time I log in?” ); and yes, budgeting headaches.
And yet, because they had no choice — they’re targets, full of sensitive data — the effort paid off. Less anomalous login attempts, and more transparency out of their audit trails, and a true reduction in their risk exposure they faced. I’m not going to sugarcoat it: There were many late nights and some clumsy user training meetings, a few desperate calls to vendors who promised AI magic.
Just returned from DefCon, which is as close to a security geek playground as you’ll ever see. The hardware hacking village this year was amazing. I mean, the imagination and sheer nerve of some of these people is inspirational.
What struck me most is how ongoing hardware vulnerabilities will not go away. People spend plenty of time discussing software bugs or ransomware, but physical layer attacks? They’re like that carburetor on your vintage car — forgotten, but capable of stalling your entire system if it’s neglected. Here are my thoughts:
And yes, I remain skeptical about those “AI-powered hardware anomaly detection” systems. I’ll take a cranky ol’ logic analyzer and a little patience any day.
OK, I am sure I owe you some rant, so here it is:
Password policies continue to be my biggest pet peeve — primarily because, in almost every case, they’re implemented incorrectly. Companies enforce nonsensical and absurdly complex rules about passwords that just make people write them on sticky notes anyway (spoiler: insecure).
Here is what I’ve learned, steamed, from a million mistakes as a decades-long admin:
Thing is, your employees aren’t robots, they’re humans. Treat them that way. Oh and if you’re reading this, thinking password policies are the solution, I challenge you to work on the user experience hand in hand with the security!
Both Hu and Chen were overwhelmed with emotions as they pondered the journey and what comes next.
When I think back, from dial-up days of writing voice-data mux configs across multiple PSTN phone lines to architecting complicated secure infrastructure for bank environments, one overall theme still holds — security is comprised of people as much as technology. Gut feel, instinct — sometimes acquired the hard way — still count.
We don’t at P J Networks just push boxes or sell subscriptions. We form relationships that are based on trust, providing a mix of managed NOC services along with a roller up your sleeves when required firewall, server and router knowledge. Because moron-sanctioned solutions aren’t tough enough; you deserve tested in the wild.
Sipping my fourth cup of coffee (hey, I do what I must), I’m reminded of how fast this industry moves — and how our best armor to shield what’s important is knowledge, versatility, and our willingness, at times, to question the hype.
Here’s to closer networks and fewer sleepless nights. Please let me know if anything here resonated, or to rant about password policies with me.
