Black Hat Day 1: Threats Big and Small

By Luke Penn-Hall

Luke Penn-Hall covers topics related to technology, cyber-security, space, and aviation. Luke is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies. His research interests are focused primarily on military technology, military innovation, emerging technologies, and cybersecurity. He is originally from Grand Terrace, California, and received a BA in International Relations and Religious Studies from Claremont McKenna College.

The Cipher Brief’s Luke Penn-Hall is currently attending Black Hat, a premiere information security conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Here’s his update from Day 1:

What is a USB Drop Attack?  That’s what I learned about today at a brief focused on assessing how often people actually plug strange USB drives into their computer. Just to be clear, you should never do that – but this study found that 45% of the 297 drives they left lying around a university were both plugged in and accessed by the people who found them.  Discussions raised many interesting questions – but fewer answers – about cyber-hygiene and social engineering.

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