Questions Asked During Nerd Night
Where do the exploits come from?
The exploits were input into the tool by the original owner. It was really interesting to learn about exactly how, why, and by whom the software was made. The Podcast “Darknet Diaries” was the first place that I even learned about Metasploit.
Did a class at the college teach you how to hack?
No. Not at all. All of my progress in this realm has been made in my personal time through researching and YouTube honestly. There is still a lot that I desire to learn, but honestly there are just time constraints due to having courses full time. That’s another reason why I started the Cybersecurity club – to bridge the gap of academia’s focus and actual hacker culture.
Oh, so you’re the hacker?
I giggled 🤭 No, I just tinker around with things from time to time and try to find unusual approaches to problems. Maybe one day I will have enough success and genuine knowledge to be able to call myself that.
What are the two servers being ran?
1. Kali Linux [Server Thats Hacking]
Kali Linux is a specific flavor of Linux that comes preloaded with software that is helpful for pentesting. It has Metasploit (the tool with the vulnerabilities) built in also and that was the main thing I was using in the terminal.
2. Metasploitable 2 [Server Being Hacked]
A test environment provides a secure place to perform penetration testing and security research.
I Honestly this was a great experience for me. It was the first time that I was able to share a thing that I tinker with with a larger audience – one that actually has some genuine desire to learn more about hacking and cybersecurity.
My intention at the beginning of the school year was to put myself in more situations that require me to grow. Specifically, I want to do more public speaking to not only communicate and present better, but to break down technical concepts to possible non-technical people. That is the true metric of a good public speaker in my opinion. Conviction, articulation, and the ability to connect with the audience.
Watching the presentation after I did it was interesting. I needed to see how I was coming across in order to improve (shout out to buildspace for having such great camera equipment!). The main thing that I took note of in terms of how to improve is as follows:
The repetition of the word “um” and “like”. I got a little anxious up there and sometimes I couldn’t remember exactly what I wanted to say. Hearing it back though, made me want to focus on getting to a place where I can convey my thoughts smoothly even when I may be anxious.
When I was in grade school, my principal Mr. Kuck explained to me that if I was presenting and I couldn’t recall what to say next, it’s better to take a pause.
“Ms. Buckner, it’s better to pause for a moment and collect your thoughts than to stand up there and say ‘um, um, um.’ It is a pain for the listener to hear. Even if you are very intelligent, using placeholders like ‘like’ and ‘um’ make you sound less intelligent,” was something to the effect of what he said.