The dark tangent

Ethical hacker Jeff Moss says that cybersecurity is at an inflection point, and governments, policymakers, companies need to come up with new ideas on how to safeguard networks.

Published Fri, Dec 11, 2020 · 09:50 PM

Computers

BY SOME estimates, there's an online hacking attempt every 48 seconds somewhere in the world. Put another way, every time you go online there is a good chance that someone may be trying to gain access to your device, unauthorised. It is with this nugget of info in mind that this writer is speaking with Jeff Moss, one of the world's most famous hackers and founder of two top annual cybersecurity-cum-hacking conferences, DEF CON and Black Hat.

He is based in Seattle in the US but has been in Singapore for most of this year - he has family here and has been stuck in the Republic since his visit for Chinese New Year thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. We are talking over video conference.

Mr Moss has had a chequered career in Internet security and has held several high-profile posts in both security and governance. He is a member of the high-powered US Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) which is part of the executive office of the President of the United…