Reflections on Cybersecurity from a Veteran in the Field

So here I am, tapping out this post at my desk, third coffee (or so) in hand and the ol’ brain still buzzing after the DefCon extravaganza. It’s funny — I’ll be almost 30 years into this game and I still get the adrenaline rush. It started when I get hired as a network admin in 1993 as we had to make the PSTN route voice and data through those monstrous mux devices. Yes, back in the good old days when you could watch every packet as it crawled along the copper. And then there was the Slammer worm. Man, that was a wake-up call — seeing a whole bank’s network go down in minutes. But more about that in a bit. Today, I run a cybersecurity firm of my own, P J Networks Pvt Ltd, and I recently completed updating zero-trust architecting for three separate banks. Talk about a challenge. Let me walk you through a few of these true tales, and the lessons I learned from fools in love.

The Startup and the Slammer Sting

When I began, the cybersecurity industry was not what it is today. Network admins like me wore many hats — configuring routers, patching phones, shepherding fax machines (yes, fax!). In those days, the threats were simpler, but so were the defenses. The Slammer worm in 2003 landed like a punch — it took advantage of a vulnerability in Microsoft SQL Server and just knocked out networks all over the place. I was ankle deep in assisting one of our bank clients to get their defenses up. It propagated so quickly because it took advantage of a buffer overflow — a deceptively easy idea that causes devastating problems. Here is what that episode taught me:

• Patching can’t wait. Ever.
• Knowledge of the network is key

Dont undervalue the value of the human—things get sloppy when you’re working in the middle of a crisis,” he said of the engineers.

I recall a junior engineer saying “oh it’s just a worm, how bad could it be?” — well, bad enough to bring down whole sections and set back work for hours. The worm was a classic example of why perimeter defenses are no longer sufficient. Fast forward to today and I don’t think many have internalized these lessons.

Zero Trust — More Than a Buzzword

Now if you operate a bank or any organization that handles important data, you’ve heard zero-trust bandied about like confetti at a party. But here’s the kicker — it carries a lot more weight than “trust no one.” It is a philosophy that mandates you to prove everything all the time. It’s a psychological shift from the old castle-and-moat model.

I recently had the privilege of assisting three banks, revamping their zero-trust environment. It wasn’t about using fancy gadgets at all. It was thinking again about how they:

• Verify users and devices
• Carefully segment their networks
• Use lesser privilege access controls

A quick overview of what worked (and what didn’t) in these upgrades:

• You can’t skip microsegmentation. It’s the backbone. Period.
• Legacy devices can kill your zero trust plans unless you isolate them or replace them.
• Do you have MFA (Multi Factor Authentication)? And if you’re not using it everywhere, for real, stop.
• And oh, continuous monitoring, because the moment you look away, threats are slipped under the door.

But here’s a hot take: -+: many of the so-called AI-powered security solutions are more hype than help. I don’t trust AI or security for 99% of applications because it’s a black box. I want tools I can understand, tweak and verify — not some magical black art. In other words, your security product can block whatever it wants, but if it doesn’t have the ability to explain why, I’m not buying it.

DefCon’s Hardware Hacking Village — Mind Blowing

For those interested in hardware hacking, DefCon’s Hardware Hacking Village is an eye opener.

If you haven’t tried your hand at hardware hacking, you’re doing something wrong. Strolling through the Hardware Hacking Village at DefCon was like opening up the hood of a race car. The ingenuity blew me away. Working embedded chips on everyday IoT devices, to the vulnerabilities that reside on there routers, firewalls, etc — level of detail and skill over there is insane.

It was a reminder that security wasn’t only about software or networks. It’s every chip on the board, every physical connection. Your device firmware can be compromised at the hardware level: the best firewall in the world does you no good there. I returned determined to double down on hardware security audits for our clients.

A few brief takeaways from that experience:

• Don’t take it as given that hardware vendors do security reviews. They often don’t.
• Firmware revisions must be as tightly managed as software patches.
• Side-channel attacks are not just theory — and they’re scary.

The Slightly Controversial Rant About Password Policies

Alright, I need to just spill a secret. Password policies—oh boy. Password complexity rules — “Use upper, lower, digits, special chars!” — are a favorite among the security industry. But here’s the truth: Complexity without context pisses users off and creates bad behaviors (sticky notes, reusing passwords, etc.). Here’s what works better:

• Promote passphrases: long, memorable strings.
• Password managers — not everyone, but most people are best served to do so.
• Let rate limiting and lockouts be applied over brute-force resets.

Here’s a metaphor: Requiring someone to select a complicated password is the equivalent of forcing a driver to use a stick shift, when all the car needs to do is go. It’s kludgy and not error-tolerant. Prioritize support and usability — otherwise you’re fighting human nature.

The Past Is Present: Why the News Tastes Like Old Tech

I will take trips down memory lane, visit the past — a lesson there, too. Those old PSTN mux devices or the early routers were simpler, more aesthetically transparent. Their quirks made admins fastidious. The tools people are using today are mighty, but they do come with layers of abstraction, at times hiding security vulnerabilities in opaque ways.

If you are a business owner or a CISO, don’t simply chase the next gimmick. It is to understand what the old networks did and how they worked and to apply that learning. Redundancy, trust but verify, and layered security — these are not new ideas.

Quick Take: What to Know Today

• Don’t pin your hopes on a perimeter defense alone
• Start moving toward zero-trust concepts in easy steps
• Patch every system ASAP — especially old devices
• Use MFA everywhere,” he added.
• Continue to educate your teams (humans are the thing taking the decisions to be your last line of defense)
• Don’t buy “AI-powered” tools without a clear explanation of how they work
• Integrate Hardware Security Reviews into your Audits

Wrap Up: A Consultant’s Confession

I’m anything but perfect — trust me. I remember forgetting to apply an important patch early in my career that let a worm into a network I was running — it cost us hours and many sleepless nights. That mistake still rankles, but it shaped my philosophy: relentless vigilance, practical solutions, and love for the fundamentals.

Cybersecurity is equal parts art, science and hustle. If the buzzwords and shiny tech are too much for you, get back to basics. Heck – know thy network like you new them analog mux lines back in ‘93. The better you know your own infrastructure, the better you’ll be at defending it.

And here’s the rub: technology is only going to continue to evolve. Threats will become nastier. But human intuition and good fundamentals? Still irreplaceable.

So the next time you see the new “next-gen firewall” or “AI-based defense system,” think twice. Ask yourself — Am I capable of comprehending this? Can I explain it to my team? If not, then your security posture may be weaker than you believe.

Time for another coffee. The cyber war never sleeps, and either do I (that much). Stay sharp out there.