Open Source Intelligence is Useful for Hackers

In May, the chapter heard from guest speaker, Dave Stevens, director, University of Hawaii IT program and cybersecurity instructor, as he discussed open source intelligence (OSINT). OSINT is cyber intelligence information that is publicly available and gathered from radio, television, newspapers, commercial databases, electronic mail or portable electronic media. OSINT is tremendously useful when hackers need to gather the names and biographical information of relevant employees, such as CEOs, chief financial officers and those working in accounts receivable and payable, to execute a successful spear phishing campaign and access a company's data. These personal details lend credibility to the requests for information.

Dave Stevens is the IT program director at the University of Hawaii Kapiolani Community College (KapCC) and the co-founder of Kapu Technologies LLC, a local cybersecurity company focusing on risk analysis and security governance. Dave is the faculty advisor of the KapCC Chapter of the Hawaii Advanced Technology Society and arranges for his students to perform penetration tests and vulnerability/risk assessments for local companies. He is a graduate of Hawaii Pacific University with a master's degree in information systems. He's also a Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP), a Project Management Professional (PMP), and the host of The Cyber Underground on ThinkTechHawaii.com.

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