Free (as in beer) wireless pentesting class

As a contribution to the incredibly awesome Security B-Sides unconference in Atlanta, the gang at Errata Security has put together a free training class based on our techniques for completing a professional wireless penetration test. We'll be going over the 5 basic areas of the "gold standard" wireless security assessment, as we do from time to time for a living.

To see what prerequisite knowledge is required to participate, and to register for the class (only a few spots left!), please

The First Steps to a Career in Information Security

Last week I talked to the students of Georgia State University's CIS/InfoSec program about things they should be doing now to prepare for an exciting career in information security. Most of the steps they already knew, so I tried to think of the things that nobody told me in school that really helped me.

Here's my 15 minute presentation to the class. Below that is a summary of the talk and the links that I mentioned.

Hack

In 2002, there was a television show released by CBS called Hack. I had never heard of it before, and when I saw on the guide that a show dramatizing hacking was playing, I got excited. Unfortunately, the show has nothing to do with infosec. After watching it for a while, waiting patiently to see some media portrayed hacking, I couldn't figure out what it was about at all. Wikipedia finally clued me in. The show is about a hack, meaning a taxi driver.

I had never heard anyone call a taxi driver a "hack." It turns out that "hack" or "hacking" has quite a few different meanings. In dictionary.com the definition I was hoping to see, "To alter a computer program," was indeed there, but it seems to be missing something. It also means "To mutilate," "To train a falcon," and "To rent a horse by the hour." And surely we hope that the word doesn't just mean "an artist who exploits his or her talents to produce mediocre work for money."

If hacking is the cornerstone of our industry, shouldn't there be a better word for it? Or maybe just better tv shows.