Cyber Defense eMagazine June 2020 Edition

Hackers Are the Future of Cybersecurity…
By Keren Elazari , ASIS International
Even before the age of the internet, you could always tell which young girls and boys were going to grow
up to be engineers. They were the ones disassembling all the clocks, radios, and other electrical gadgets
in their houses, vexing their parents. They were the ones building the earliest computers in their
basements, with no other goal than to see if they could make the thing work – and then see if they could
make it work faster.
In the current technology era, you can identify many future cybersecurity experts in much the same way.
They are the ones who are figuring out how to disrupt traditional systems, to slip unnoticed into networks
or to create new pathways for information. In other words, they are hackers.
Obviously not all hackers choose to use their craft for positive purposes. However, those who do provide
a set of cybersecurity skills that are unmatched for their ability to solve problems, eliminate vulnerabilities,
and prevent threats from becoming catastrophes.
Keren Elazari understands this perspective much better than most. From a young age she saw herself
as a hacker who uses her role to create better systems and improve outcomes. Throughout her career
she has brought her hacker point of view to bear on strengthening network security for dozens of
organizations, based on the premise that hackers can identify vulnerabilities and solve tech problems
better than anyone else.
Today, as a cyber security analyst, author, and researcher, Elazari has built an impressive roster of
accomplishments. In her 2014 TED talk, "Hackers are the Immune System of the Internet", she shares
her point of view about the vital necessity of working with hackers to build up the strongest possible cyber
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