Who I am
You can call me Salt. I like to stay pseudonymous online for privacy, but if we do business together I’m happy to reveal my identity.
I live in the US with my wife and four wonderful children. I have a career in a field that has little to do with cybersecurity, and I really didn’t need to create this website.
Hacking has long been a fascination of mine, but I’ve never felt the need to write about it. Partly because many people can do it much better than me, partly because I already have a lot on my plate with a family and my career. But things have changed.
I use a broad definition of “hacking”: using a system in a way it was not intended to be used, to achieve an outcome it was not designed to achieve.
I grew up with computers as a young kid. They were quite basic at the time, but my father figured that this computer thing might become big in the future, so he might as well introduce me to it early. I started playing with command lines, then with Windows, and one day our household finally got connected to the Internet.
I remember not really understanding what the Internet was at the beginning. But I knew I wanted to explore it, and it quickly became clearer.
In my early teenage years I started to get interested in hacking. Like many kids at the time, I was mesmerized by the story of David in the movie War Games. I started looking for ways to make computers do things I wasn’t supposed to do. And the Internet made that all the more fun. The problem was that hacking was really easy at the time; security was an afterthought and there were holes everywhere that even a young teenage boy could exploit.
I eventually ended up at a police station, with two cops asking me questions about online activities they didn’t really understand. I got out easy, but it made me realize that my virtual games had real life consequences, and I decided to stop messing around.
Since then, I know better than to do anything illegal online, but my fascination with hacking has remained.
Things have changed
Over the years I’ve been following the “hacking scene” out of interest and curiosity, and unfortunately things have changed for the worst.
Nowadays, most people not only have devices connected to the Internet 24/7, they also rely on these devices for very sensitive aspects of their lives: financial, health, private communications, etc. Most of them have a very limited understanding of how it all works under the hood, let alone how to secure their online activity.
That’s the disconnect: a growing number of mostly cybersecurity-illiterate people are relying on their connected devices for more and more aspects of their lives. Seniors and kids obviously come to mind, but I’d say that’s true for most people around me.
At the same time, the hacking scene has changed A LOT. When I was younger it was mostly about fun and hacktivism. Today it’s primarily financially motivated, and you wouldn’t believe how well organized of an “industry” it has become. The scary part is that like any growing industry, we now see a well-oiled division of labor.
The hacking scene has become a highly efficient, high throughput industry aimed at robbing people who have no idea what’s going on. In short, it has matured and professionalized.
Some hackers specialize in stealing credit card information, some others in account credentials, other in stealing phone numbers, etc. One criminal can now subcontract most of the work and focus on what they do best. All of that is coordinated by a mostly anonymous market run on the dark web.
The hacking scene has become a highly efficient, high throughput industry aimed at robbing people who have no idea what’s going on. In short, it has matured and professionalized.
Why I created Don’t Be Hacked
Many people are victims or cybercriminals. But more importantly for my personal situation: two of my loved ones have been hacked in the past year and have been robbed from quite a bit of money. It made my blood boil, but maybe not as much as seeing how powerless they felt because they didn’t understand how it even happened.
I was also upset at myself because I knew they were at risk and I knew how they could have thwart the attack. But I didn’t do enough to warn them and educate them.
Staying safe online is a matter of habits. It’s not something that someone can do for you. Like locking your front door to avoid robberies, most about cybersecurity on a personal level is about simple —but important— habits.
“Don’t Be Hacked” aims at helping people overwhelmed by today’s cyber threats to protect themselves better with simple measures. It is focused on individuals and small businesses who usually cannot afford typical cybersecurity firms services.
However when it comes to online threats, most people don’t know what’s the online equivalent of leaving their door open. So they leave it open out of convenience: “that way I don’t have to keep locking and unlocking the door, right?” without knowing that hackers can easily use that door to get in.
There are many cybersecurity firms that will help companies secure their network and educate their employees. But individuals and small businesses usually cannot afford their services, so they stay vulnerable.
Don’t Be Hacked aims at filling some of that gap. I’m hoping to help “cybersecurity-illiterate” people gain a minimum level of awareness of the risks they face online, and the simple habits needed to avoid becoming a victim.
How I create content
I’m trying to write as much free content as I can, but it takes time and I have other things competing for my attention (if you have kids, you understand ;-).
If you don’t find the content you’re looking for, or if you prefer more hands on support, I’m also offering cybersecurity coaching. In fact, until I have published enough free content, it will be the main offering of Don’t Be Hacked.
The information I share is the product of both my experience and my research. I don’t claim to be a cybersecurity expert, but I have learned quite a bit throughout the years by researching on my own.
I fully acknowledge that I’m not the best person to help you if you’re trying to secure the complex network of a multi-million dollar company. But I am very confident that I have a lot to offer to individuals and small businesses for whom cybersecurity is a mostly foreign concept.
My free content may include affiliate links to products or services that I recommend. I generally earn a small commission on these links, which hopefully help me finance this website. That commission comes at no extra-cost to you, so it’s a great way to show your appreciation for what I do. I only recommend products that I would actually use myself or recommend to my loved ones.
With that being said, I hope you find Don’t Be Hacked useful. Stay safe out there.