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Welcome to the new 67 cyber warriors who joined us last week. 🥳 Each week, we'll be sharing insights from the Black Hat MEA community. Read exclusive interviews with industry experts and key findings from the #BHMEA23 keynote stage.

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⭐Our ten top-performing blog posts in 2023

Last week, we shared five of our ten top-performing blog posts this year. So this week we’re finishing the year with the rest of that list – five more of the blog posts our readers have loved.

Just like last week, we’ll say it again: if you haven’t read these yet, it’s not too late. Take advantage of the holiday season and immerse yourself in the expertise of the BHMEA community. 

Let’s go. 

1️⃣ A 3-point philosophy for cybersecurity 

Drawing on his keynote live at Black Hat MEA, this blog post details a three-point philosophy for cybersecurity by Frank Abagnale (Cybercrime and Fraud Prevention Expert), of Catch Me If You Can fame. 

It’s a beautifully simple philosophy: 

1. Prevention
2. Verification
3. Education

And Abagnale’s advice is honest and jargon-free: “If you make it easy for someone to steal from you – it’s unfortunate – but someone will.” 

🔗Read it

2️⃣ How AI is changing cybersecurity

The burning question across all industries and all aspects of human life this year has been: 

How will AI change this? 

And cybersecurity is no exception. In this article early in 2023, we looked at the concrete ways that AI was already shifting practices in the industry, and speculations about what the future might hold. 

We know more now than we did then – so we’re looking forward to diving into the impact of AI on cybersecurity again in the new year. 

🔗Read it

3️⃣ Bringing Zen into cybersecurity

We loved talking to Lance James (Founder and CEO at Unit 221b) for this interview – and it turned out that you loved reading it just as much as we loved writing it. 

Lance leans into principles from Zen philosophy to guide his approach to cybersecurity leadership: 

“The core principle of approaching everything as if it’s our first time, even if we’ve done it a thousand times before, resonates deeply with me. It reminds us to always be fully present, open to new opportunities, and eager to learn.”

And this is a powerful counter-approach to an industry that often fosters imposter syndrome and self-doubt. Instead of comparing yourself to others and measuring your knowledge against hierarchical tech environments, you can immerse yourself in the experience of working, hacking, and exploring networks and systems, whether they’re technological or social. You can actually really enjoy it. 

“I firmly believe that Zen and leadership are inseparable, just like Zen and living.”

🔗Read it

4️⃣ How one moment can change your trajectory

In this interview with Matthias Muhlert (ECSO CISO Ambassador, and CISO at Haribo), he told us how a single thought-provoking question transformed his approach to cybersecurity. 

That question was:

“Do you believe an administrator should remember their password if the platform was on fire?”

It may not sound like a question that could change someone’s career trajectory – but it made Muhlert realise that information security isn’t just about tech. It’s about people, and how people, processes, and technology intersect. 

🔗Read it

5️⃣ How to build a cybersecurity startup from scratch

We listened again to Mazin Ahmed (Founder and CTO at FullHunt.io) speaking at Black Hat MEA – and pulled the key advice from his keynote that could help you build your own cybersecurity startup. 

From finding the right CTO to gathering the courage you need to build a startup in an uncertain landscape, and how to fund your startup: Ahmed’s wisdom is invaluable.

• Find the business use case.
• Make the user experience as smooth as possible. 
• Develop your strategy for building out the product. 

And if in doubt?

“Start, start, and start. If it doesn’t work, iterate and build it and reach a place where it’s working.” 

🔗Read it

💡 We can’t wait to deliver more inspiration to your inbox in 2024

Thank you for reading our articles and interviews this year. It’s been a pleasure to create and curate them for you – and we can’t wait to bring you more high-value content next year. 

If there’s something you’d like us to write about, get in touch. We’re always keen to hear from you. 

And of course – see you in-person at Black Hat MEA 2024. 

Pre-register now. 

us a message and share your thoughts. Our next newsletter is scheduled for 27 December 2023.

Catch you next week,
Steve Durning
Exhibition Director

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