Jack Recider

Cut your wireless bill to $15 a month at mintmobile.com slash darknet. $45 upfront payment required, equivalent to $15 a month. New customers on first three-month plan only. Speed slower above 40 gigabytes on unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees, and restrictions apply. See Mint Mobile for details. Gather around. In this episode, we're going to hear stories from Rachel Toback.

Cut your wireless bill to $15 a month at mintmobile.com slash darknet. $45 upfront payment required, equivalent to $15 a month. New customers on first three-month plan only. Speed slower above 40 gigabytes on unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees, and restrictions apply. See Mint Mobile for details. Gather around. In this episode, we're going to hear stories from Rachel Toback.

And she's one of the best social engineers I've ever met. Let's start with your origin story. As a kid, how did you get interested in this type of work?

And she's one of the best social engineers I've ever met. Let's start with your origin story. As a kid, how did you get interested in this type of work?

Did you get into computers when you were older or still in middle school, I suppose?

Did you get into computers when you were older or still in middle school, I suppose?

Neuroscience?

Neuroscience?

Okay, so DEF CON is the annual hacker conference in Las Vegas. It's wild there. You'll see people walking around with antennas sticking out of their backpacks, talks about how to bypass just about anything on a computer, and tons of villages that focus on specific areas of hacking. The Social Engineering Village is one of the more popular ones.

Okay, so DEF CON is the annual hacker conference in Las Vegas. It's wild there. You'll see people walking around with antennas sticking out of their backpacks, talks about how to bypass just about anything on a computer, and tons of villages that focus on specific areas of hacking. The Social Engineering Village is one of the more popular ones.

And when Rachel's husband went into this village and saw what they were doing, he immediately called her up to tell her what he was seeing.

And when Rachel's husband went into this village and saw what they were doing, he immediately called her up to tell her what he was seeing.

And she's still like, no, I'll pass. Thanks.

And she's still like, no, I'll pass. Thanks.

What she's watching was the social engineering contest. There's 14 contestants and they're given the task to basically get enough information to hack into a company all through phone calls. So you have to prepare and figure out who would be an easy target to get information from and what's their phone number.

What she's watching was the social engineering contest. There's 14 contestants and they're given the task to basically get enough information to hack into a company all through phone calls. So you have to prepare and figure out who would be an easy target to get information from and what's their phone number.

And you better have backup numbers in case the person you call doesn't answer or hangs up on you. Once you do get someone on the phone, you get points for every bit of security data you can get off them. So if you can get them to tell you what operating system they use, you get a point or a flag.

And you better have backup numbers in case the person you call doesn't answer or hangs up on you. Once you do get someone on the phone, you get points for every bit of security data you can get off them. So if you can get them to tell you what operating system they use, you get a point or a flag.

And maybe from there, you try to figure out what browser they use, information about their security guards, what janitor service they use. You can't just ask these questions directly. It raises suspicion. So you've got to provide a pretext or pretend to be someone else.

And maybe from there, you try to figure out what browser they use, information about their security guards, what janitor service they use. You can't just ask these questions directly. It raises suspicion. So you've got to provide a pretext or pretend to be someone else.