User:Wubbenhorst

Background

I was born on in Boston, but have lived in Durham for most of my life. My father has a background in theology, and my mother is in the medical profession. My family generally loves animals, and over the years has owned a South American red-footed tortoise (rescued), 9 cats (not all at once), a dog, frogs and toads, about two dozen ducks, and (for a blessedly short time) an albino ferret. We make a conscious effort as a family to be urban homesteaders, and to this end have several rain barrels and multiple gardens (both decorative and vegetative). We are interested in sustainability, and hope to integrate solar or wind power into our home grid.

Education

Much of my education was self-taught; my parents chose homeschooling as my educational path, which allowed me to pursue a variety of interests in both personal and academic contexts. I graduated in 2014 from Excelsior Academy and NCSSM (online program).

Interests

Over the years, my interests have included rowing, sailing, running, cycling, Legos, robotics, amateur photography, Parkour (amateur), Linux, programming (languages include BASH, C, Java, Python, Mathematica, and R), Making, various kinds of homesteading, and hacking. (For more information on hacking, please read the essay 'Hackers and Painters.) I am interested in the InfoSec world, and can often be found listening to podcasts and research talks.

Grand Challenges

One of the Grand Challenges of our time is securing cyberspace. Today, many of the Internet's exploits occur via humans to machines. The field of human exploitation (within the information security industry) is broadly referred to as social engineering. For HR departments, system administrators, and anyone else interested in securing documents of any value, a knowledge of social engineering tactics is crucial.

The Social Engineering Framework, Social Engineer Inc., 2015, Last accessed 9/13/2015 (Grand Challenge)

An easily accessible article on social engineering is below:

Social Engineering Scammers Exploit People's Inborn Desire To Help Others, Bob Covello, 9/9/2015 (Grand Challenge)

A decent introduction to social engineering may be found below:

Defcon 21 - Social Engineering: The Gentleman Thief, DEFCON, 2013, Last accessed 9/13/2015 (Grand Challenge)

One of the most cited works on social engineering is The Art of Deception by Kevin Mitnick. This book outlines some of the most common methods of social engineering. (Grand Challenge)

The Art of Deception, Kevin Mitnick, 2002 (Grand Challenge)