Lessons From The Trenches: Actual Cybersecurity Stories (and Why Your Zero-Trust Sucks)

Hey, Sanjay Seth here, from my desk at P J Networks Pvt Ltd after downing my third cup of coffee and trying to override the caffeine high as soon as I stepped off the flight from DefCon! In case you’re wondering why I’m so wired, well — hardware hacking village was an eye opener. But more on that later.

I’ve been in and about the block since ’93, when I was a NetAdmin treading all over some muxes for voice and data transmissions over that fabulous ol’ PSTN. But that was a simpler time, yes? Then the Slammer worm came along — and suddenly you were hunkered down in the middle of a digital firefight with nothing more than a groggy firewall to protect you.

These days I’m operating my own cybersecurity shop here in India and am currently helping three banks in upgrading their zero-trust architecture(s) (because if you believe anyone should be trusted by default, welcome to the wrong century). This blog is a kind of mash-up of hard-earned experience, tech wisdom, and, well, some of my. …shall we say, uncensored thoughts on the state of cybersecurity today.

Why My Early Network Admin Days Still Mean Something

I remember those early days as if it were yesterday — the network admin was a fancy plumber/maintenance man, ensuring that pipes were open and traffic flowed, but security? It was barely a checkbox.

Back then:

Voice was sharing the same lines as data (on the PSTN).
Detection involved sifting logs manually — or whack-a-mole with worms, as Slammer was.
Firewalls were brick walls with holes in them large enough to drive a truck through.

Slammer was a rude awakening. It took advantage of a routine buffer overflowing in SQL Server and spread quickly. So fast it would crash networks in minutes. We were patching and quarantining like crazy, fighting a thing we didn’t yet understand.

Here’s the thing — it wasn’t the tech that dropped the ball, but the consciousness. People believed perimeter fortifications were sufficient. But Slammer taught us: if your back doors aren’t bolted, the whole house is toast.

Zero Trust is More Than a Buzzword, But Still Falls Short

After aiding three banks with the technology shift to zero-trust in the past year, I’ve seen both the potential and the pitfalls.

Zero-trust is easy to say, hard to do, and easy to get wrong.

This is what I always tell clients:

Trust nothing, always validate. Each access request must be questioned — even if it comes from an IP address on the inside of your network.
Segment aggressively. Wall off separate data and systems in partitions.
Enable multi-factor authentication — no excuses.
Realtime Monitoring and Analytics. You can’t protect what you don’t monitor.

But here’s my hot take:

Cookie-cutter or checkbox compliance If your implementation is a cookie-cutter implementation or that’s going to be checkbox compliance, zero-trust architectures give you a false sense of security.

I’ve encountered organizations that apply zero-trust products as if they were some kind of security talisman and from then on seem to imagine they can sleep through the night.

Nope.

Security is the combination of people, process and technology. To skip any one of these is to be at least half-exposed. You’re making a fancy dinner for yourself and a date, then realize at the last minute you forgot to turn on the stove.

Quick Take The Zero-Trust Must-Haves That Helped Our Bank Customers

Eliminate legacy systems and devices that are difficult to segment or monitor.
Create Identity Hygiene Habits: Bad habits like weak passwords, gone!
Automate the compliance checking – people will always be amnesic.
Continuous risk assessment — not only every year or every quarter.
Implement least-privileged controls at the granular level.

DefCon and Hardware Hacking – The Real Deal

Fresh off of DefCon, which — for those not in the know — is the Mecca for hackers and security nerds around the globe.

The hardware hacking village was a children’s playbox for some of the wildest stunts I’ve ever seen. Imagine:

Attacks on old network switches
Firmware backdoors that you would dream about existing
Misuse of IoT devices that have no right being connected to your core systems

Here’s the magic: a lot of businesses ignore locking down their hardware for the simple reason that it feels “too low level” or “too nerdy.” But that’s exactly the gaps that sophisticated attackers are exploiting today.

Password policies? Pfft, I’ve ranted about that before, and seriously—no amount of software can help you if somebody switches out your network card with a malicious one or injects super-low level malware.

Some Personal Confessions Because You Know, I’m Human Too

I’ve made my mistakes too — perhaps some more than my ego is comfortable admitting.

I learned the hard way early in my career that social engineering is real. Spoof calls, phishing emails — they found me.
I suggested this AI-enabled security tool one time (don’t ask which, for the love of all that is holy; suffice it to say, lesson learned). The tool was all hype, it turned out, and no help.
There was a release where our firewall rules were so strict that they were dropping legitimate traffic. Took me weeks to debug.

But mistakes are growth.

If I’ve discovered anything, it’s that security is not a destination, it’s a journey. Is this all technology and attention to detail?

Why I Am Leery of AI-Driven Security And You Should Be Too

Sure, AI is cool — and it certainly has a role in processing enormous quantities of data much faster than a human being could.

But AI-powered has turned into a marketing buzzword.

Here’s the thing:

Common sense is not replaced by AI.
It is not a substitute for good architecture or hygiene.
It will not save you from basic mistakes like weak passwords, outdated patches or weak segmentation.

All too often, companies buy AI solutions as if they’re magic potions — and get burned when the tool doesn’t catch an obvious exploit or insider threat.

My advice?

Investigate thoroughly.
Test solutions yourself.
Do not outsource your brain to a black-box AI.

Your security crew needs to be human and accountable.

Firewalls, Servers, Routers The ‘Old Guard’ Defending Your Network Is Important

Upgrades to the core technology can make a big difference, but it’s easy to get carried away.

All this zero-trust and A.I.-mingling, I don’t want you to forget your bread and butter.

Firewalls, servers, routers — and, yes, legacy equipment at times — serve as your first-line defenders.

(I’ve deployed various models over the years running P J Networks:)

Tight firewall rules = Easiest and most effective guardrail.
Servers need to be hardened, patched and watched.
Routers should not be “set and forget.” They need config reviews and audits on a regular basis.

And no, your firewall isn’t “set it and forget it,” no matter how many vendor webinars you’ve been told that in.

Final Thoughts — Cuz You’ve Got to Give a Damn

Cybersecurity, you see, is not a box to check for compliance purposes or a pretty item on your IT budget.

It’s about gaining for your interest in and protection of the things that matter to you. — your data, your customers, your reputation.

That ordeal of those crazy days reaching with Slammer and fine-tuning zero-trust for banks, I’ve learned that:

Complacency never beats vigilance.
Tech needs to be combined with clever processes.
Security culture is not optional — it is everything.
The best solutions are often the least sexy, such as a robust set of firewall policies or segmenting a user network.

And btw—never forget that your users (employees, clients) are your greatest asset as well as your largest source of risk.

Keep on learning, keep iterating, and never stop asking about your security posture.

My Cybersecurity Parting Shot

4. Treat cybersecurity like tuning an old car You want to keep the bolts boiled tight — you’re looking for rattles in the chassis, you make sure the engine is tuned and the carburetor isn’t gummed up, but you also do a quick check of the tires before any long drive. Skip even the smallest squeak and you could end up on the side of the road with a blown gasket.

Stay sharp. Stay skeptical. Oh, and be safe out there.

— Sanjay Seth, P J Networks Pvt Ltd

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