Hiring Hackers To Secure The Internet Of Things

By Kelly Jackson Higgins
 
How some white hat hackers are changing career paths to help fix security weaknesses in consumer devices and business systems.
 The first security vulnerability Michael Murray ever reported to Bugtraq was memorable in the way he found it. Back in 2000, the former security researcher discovered a flaw in a function in the Linux kernel after banging his hand on the keyboard in frustration when he couldn't get his telnet session to disconnect: Striking random keys ultimately crashed the session and exposed the bug. "That one was silly," he says of his unorthodox and inadvertent discovery method.
Murray now hacks GE medical devices and equipment for a living, and the bugs he and his team find could have serious consequences for patients and healthcare professionals. As director of GE Healthcare's cyber security consulting and assessment, the 15-year veteran of the security field is overseeing the product lifecycle development of the company's medical devices and equipment -- from the design phase and on. "Source code analysis, integrating security testing into the normal test cycle, and penetration testing at the end." It's all about building these sensitive medical systems and devices with cyber security in mind, rather than as an afterthought.
 
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