Unlocking Cyber Education with John Hammond

August 25, 2022 Hacker Valley Studio

00:00:00

Show Notes

John Hammond, Senior Security Researcher at Huntress Labs and self-described cybersecurity education enthusiast, joins us as we continue our discussion of red team legends. With a focus on content creation this week, John discusses his success with his YouTube channel, his passion for showcasing authentic and accessible educational materials online, and his advice for creating content safely and spreading awareness with not only a red team or blue team mindset, but with a purple team perspective.

Timecode Guide:

[01:37] Understanding the impact of content creators in the cybersecurity community, especially when it comes to YouTube educational content

[06:58] Becoming a successful YouTube creator through consistently posting hacking content and ignoring the stereotype of “overnight success”

[13:28] Combining his role as a cybersecurity educator with his security research at Huntress to explore exploits and have real life experience with what he teaches

[16:47] Focusing on the blue side of the house as someone with red team experience, and understanding how to use a tool like PlexTrac to create a collaborative purple team

[21:13] Being mindful of the impact he has through sharing this knowledge and understanding the risk of cybersecurity educational materials falling into “the wrong hands”

Sponsor Links:

Thank you to our sponsors Axonius and PlexTrac for bringing this season of HVR to life!

The Axonius solution correlates asset data from existing solutions to provide an always up-to-date inventory, uncover gaps, and automate action — giving IT and security teams the confidence to control complexity. Learn more at axonius.com/hackervalley

PlexTrac is pleased to offer an exclusive Red Team Content Bundle for Hacker Valley listeners. This bundle contains both our "Writing a Killer Penetration Test Report" and "Effective Purple Teaming" white papers in ONE awesome package. Head to PlexTrac.com/HackerValley to learn more about the platform and get your copy today!

 

What is your origin story for wanting to educate other hackers?

Like many of us, John started his journey Googling how to become a hacker. As he gained more knowledge about the specific skills involved in hacking, John never left the internet behind, always seeking out videos and articles explaining new and emerging content. Inspired by those who created that content in the first place, he started his own YouTube channel, simply titled John Hammond, as has spent years cultivating a consistent hacker audience.

“Along the way, creating content and helping educate others through YouTube is really my main stage platform and has been just a passion project, a labor of love, and something fun along the way.”

 

What feelings do you get looking back on the YouTube content you’ve created so far?

John prioritizes clarity, transparency, and honesty in what he does, and he’s not afraid to show some humbleness, too. Overall, John is thankful for his YouTube success and the impact it had on the cybersecurity community. No matter what he’s showing in his videos, he prefers to keep things honest, to show where he’s made mistakes, and to accept criticism and advice from other hackers and offensive cybersecurity professionals that see his work.

“I'm showcasing just my computer screen, maybe you get a little face cam and a circle on the bottom right, but it's like you're looking over my shoulder. You're seeing me showcase something raw, live, genuine, and authentic…It’s not all sexy, there’s a lot of failure in hacking.”

 

Have you ever considered focusing on the blue team or the defensive side of cybersecurity?

The majority of John's YouTube content and the work he does in his role at Huntress Labs heavily involves the red team and offensive side of cyber. However, John is a huge advocate for the blue team and the red team collaborating and communicating better. Through making more concepts in cybersecurity accessible through educational content like John’s own videos, he hopes we can continue to bridge the gap and achieve that perfectly mixed purple team.

“We're all playing in concert. As one team sharpens their skills in the red team pen test, then it's up to the blue team to figure that out. What did they do? How can we better detect it? How can we stop and mitigate that security threat?”

 

What advice do you have for red team content creators that want to share content and spread awareness safely?

With the impact that he’s had and the content he’s put out onto the internet, John is no stranger to seeing the negative side of cybersecurity knowledge being more accessible than ever before.

 

Still, he wants to make sure content creators understand the value of transparency and honesty in what they do. Instead of fearing what could be, cultivate a community around making this level of knowledge and security available to everyone.

“Share, be transparent, be forthcoming. I know there are a lot of conversations about gatekeeping in cybersecurity, but there shouldn't be that. I understand there's grit and determination and hard work to do all the things that you're doing, but be friendly and be transparent and honest.”

----------

Links:

Check out our guest, John Hammond, on YouTube and LinkedIn.

Keep up with Hacker Valley on our website, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter.

Follow Ron Eddings on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Catch up with Chris Cochran on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Continue the conversation by joining our Discord.

Recent Episodes

March 26, 2024

How Threat Actors Are Accessing

Your SaaS Environments with Jaim...

Ron Eddings and Jaime Blasco, Co-Founder and CTO at Nudge Security, discuss how well-known adversaries are taking advantage of enterprises that don’t have visibility into their full SaaS footprint, and therefor...

March 26, 2024

From ‘Hand-to-Hand Combat’ To

Management in Cyber with Ofer Gayer

HVS Host Ron Eddings chats it up with guest Ofer Gayer, VP of Product at Hunters. While both of them reminisce about their first love in security research, Ofer clarifies how he diverted his path and reached th...

March 20, 2024

The Future of Endpoint Threats and

Why Zero Trust is the Only Optio...

Get ready for a SPECIAL episode! Ron Eddings will take you on an inside look at Threatlocker’s rapidly growing event, Zero Trust World, and will talk with Rob Allen, Chief Product Officer at Threatlocker, to di...

March 5, 2024

Slugging it Out in the SOC to Find

Your Niche in Cyber with Nate Ma...

Ron Eddings sits down in-person with Nate Malicoat, Threat Intel Engineer at ContraForce, for a down-to-earth interview about entering the cybersecurity workforce from the Marines. Impactful Moments: 00:00 - We...

February 27, 2024

Creating Value in the Cyber

Industry with Nick Lantuh

Nick Lantuh, CEO of Interpres Security, joins Ron Eddings on the mic at Hacker Valley’s “On the Big Screen” event to talk about how Nick’s previous career experience have given him unique insight into the cyber...

February 20, 2024

AI & Phishing: Fighting Fire with

Fire

In this episode, Host Ron Eddings is joined by Vishal Dixit, Co-founder & CTO at Graphus Inc., and Sven Bechmann, Senior Product Manager of Email Security at Kaseya to dig into how phishing attacks are evol...

February 14, 2024

Andrew Forgie's Path From Apache

Mechanic to Cybersecurity Sales ...

In this episode, Andrew Forgie takes us on his journey from his early days as an Apache helicopter mechanic in the military to his current role as a regional sales manager in cybersecurity.  Andrew shares his t...

February 6, 2024

Zinet Kemal's Journey From

Ethiopian Immigrant to TEDx Spea...

In this episode of Hacker Valley Studio, we dive into the inspiring journey of Zinet Kamal, an immigrant from Ethiopia who has carved a niche for herself in cybersecurity. Despite starting her journey with limi...

January 30, 2024

Paving the Path for CISOs of the

Future with Gary Hayslip

In this episode, Host Ron Eddings catches up with repeat guest, Gary Hayslip, CISO at SoftBank Investment Advisors and co-author of CISO Desk Reference guide. Gary explains that the varied nature of his current...

January 23, 2024

The Untold Story of Browser Risks:

Pioneering Enterprise Browser Se...

In this episode, Host Ron Eddings and guest Or Eshed, CEO of Layer X, discuss how changes in IT infrastructure, employee behavior and malicious tech have created an era where browser security is a must. Or deta...

WORK WITH US

PODCASTS + SPEAKING + EVENTS

Are you the best kept secret in cybersecurity? Let's change that by partnering together for podcast ads, social campaigns, and your next event or keynote. Send us your details to get started.