a16z Podcast: How Hacks Happen (Let’s Just Say Mistakes Have Been Made)

a16z Podcast

• Episode: a16z Podcast: How Hacks Happen (Let’s Just Say Mistakes Have Been Made)
• Website: a16z Podcast
• Feed URL: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:62921190/sounds.rss
• Duration: 00:28:59
• Published: 2015-04-18 23:29

It seems like we hear about corporate (not to mention consumer) hacks in the news every week. Is this something new, or just a continuation of old patterns and we just happen to be hearing about it more now? In this segment of the a16z Podcast, longtime security investigative reporter Kim Zetter of Wired -- who also wrote Countdown to Zero Day, the definitive account of Stuxnet, the first digital virus that wrought physical destruction (on a nuclear facility) -- breaks down how hacks happen. What's old (like phishing), what's new (like spear-phishing and ransomware)? How are players around the world -- whether for government or economic espionage -- becoming ever more sophisticated, coordinated, and organized? And what can companies do? Zetter shares her observations on how security models have changed -- for example, from defensive to offensive -- to how she susses out the truth when different players communicate about or claim hacks. (Which is one of the reasons that Zetter questions North Korea's role in the Sony hack...)