De Facto Head of Anonymous to Speak on Campus

FREDERICK, Maryland—The de facto head of Anonymous will give a talk on his journey to the cybersecurity industry as part of the Cotton Cyber Series at Hood College on April 9 at 7 p.m. in Hodson Auditorium in Rosenstock Hall.

Hector Monsegur’s talk, “Perspectives of an Adversary: My Journey from the Streets to the Cybersecurity Industry,” will explain how he landed in the cybersecurity industry and the pieces that many major companies are missing in their cyber strategies. He is currently director of assessment services at Rhino Security Labs, with large corporations and governments as his clients, while developing a book and film on his life.

By himself, Monsegur has breached the cybersecurity systems of major corporations and governments around the globe, including the security firms that were responsible for protecting News Corp, PayPal, VISA, Mastercard, Nintendo, PBS and many government contractors.

How is it possible that a lone operator, living in the New York projects, who only completed six months of the 9th grade, could do this? He will share his insights that have been game changing to the Fortune 500 companies and the U.S. government contractors with which he has worked. He will share his secrets of how hackers choose their targets, why hacking appeals to people, how hacking tools work, and how you and your company can protect yourself from vulnerability.

After being caught by the FBI, Hector exchanged his “black hat” for a “white hat” and helped the FBI prevent more than 300 cyber attacks on systems controlled by the military and NASA. He teaches companies how to know their enemies. His ability to take a company’s cybersecurity team into the mindset of the hacker—in a way that’s accessible to everyone—empowers his clients to be proactive at protecting themselves.

For more information, contact April Boulton at boulton@hood.edu or 301-696-3600.

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