October 1, 2020

Privacy in Action: Robert Willis, Hacker & Author

Robert Willis, Hacker & Author

Robert Willis is a renowned hacker in the infosec industry, most recently featured in the popular “Tribe of Hackers” book series from Wiley Publishing. Robert is passionate about expanding education in cybersecurity through mentorship and community, as well as supporting cyberpunk culture. When he isn’t attempting to break into an organization’s systems, you can see him across the United States at a conference, or developing comic books through his cyberpunk company, Paraneon. You can follow him on Twitter: @rej_ex.

Interview with Robert Willis:

Startpage: Fill in the blank: Privacy is _____.

Robert: Privacy is almost non-existent in today’s world.

Startpage: What’s your origin story – why did you become a hacker?

Robert: I became interested in computers at a young age, and quickly started hanging out online with hacker groups in order to get access to things I wasn’t otherwise able to access. I also was inspired by many movies to get into hacking, movies like hackers and the matrix seemed very cool to me (and still do). I think a combination of curiosity and things I wanted to attain led me to the hacker community.

Startpage: One a scale of 1 to 10, how private are you? How private do you think the general public is?

Robert: When it comes to keeping information about myself I want private, I try to be as close to a 10 out of 10 as possible, although this takes much more effort than most can imagine; it’s hard to function in society without exposing data in many different ways.

The average person’s information is not nearly as private as they would think. I believe that most people would be shocked to find out the amount of information known about them. From their search history, to what they watch, click on, and even to their geographic movements — everything is creating data that’s being collected.

Startpage: Why are data privacy and private search important to you? In your line of work? In your personal life?

Robert: Data privacy is important to me because I believe people should have a right to privacy. It’s important in my line of work because privacy has become a legal compliance requirement for many companies who handle certain types of data, and in many cases, I’m hired to get them compliant with the law. More rights are slowly being given to individuals whose data is being handled by organizations, but there isn’t a global standard being followed so this is done either regionally (or people who do business in certain regions) or not at all. In most cases, the public isn’t fully aware of the extent of information on them that is being collected. Many companies make their money by collecting and selling personal data, and can get very creative (and intrusive) with what they track and how they categorize individuals as consumers.

Startpage: What measures do you take to protect your personal data online and offline?

Robert: The first measure I would tell people to take is to begin to understand exactly what data you are creating about yourself. When you understand what data you are creating, you can begin recognizing when you are creating it and take extra precautions during that process.

Startpage: How easy is it to hack someone? A company?

Robert: The ease of hacking varies greatly per target. It’s important to note that nothing is 100% secure, and many horrible attacks haven’t been all that technical.

Startpage: How can individuals and companies best protect themselves from getting hacked?

Robert: There are many basic things that can be done to become more secure. Don’t ignore the basics like best practices (that can easily be found online). It’s important to make sure a team has annual security training, their systems are patched, and that their accounts are set up using the principle of least privilege. The list is too long, but these couple examples are a good place to start.

Startpage: For anyone new to cybersecurity, what would you recommend as the first steps to protecting their personal data?

Robert: Understand that almost everything you do on the computer is logged somewhere.

Startpage: What are your favorite privacy tools?

Robert: My favorite privacy tools are always changing, but I hear Startpage is a good privacy search engine.

Startpage: How do you envision data privacy in the future? 1 year, 10 years, lifetime?

Robert: As the public becomes more aware of what is known about them I believe more legislation will continue to expand to protect individuals’ rights. In ten years we may be much more protected on the private sector side, but I think the government will resemble big brother much more, unfortunately. With new organizations, we are still in the ‘wild west’ as new technologies come out and many companies are able to exist without regulation. Technology is progressing faster than the law can keep up with. In my lifetime I believe that due to regulations placed on private companies — that aren’t required to be followed by government agencies, or just not followed by rogue agencies like we’ve already seen in the United States — nothing will be private and the government will still seek the same data they are currently able to get from private companies via backdoors. Because there will be a clash between what private companies can collect and what the government wants, I can see the government trying to expand itself to find new ways to harvest data on individuals. It sounds like a horror movie, but it’s definitely going in that direction unless there magically becomes high levels of transparency and accountability in government.

Startpage: What story are you telling through your comics?

Robert: I think more media should be created to excite and inspire the next generation of people going into STEM fields. By creating a highly technological future world, based around hackers, I hope to inspire the next generation of hackers and those who want to go into a STEM field. I also know tons of individuals in the field who are like me — and would like to see more cool hacker-based media regularly coming out. This is one of the main missions of Paraneon — to inspire by putting out awesome media based around hackers and tech regularly.

Startpage: What is unique about cyberpunk culture?

Robert: I love visuals of the future that are high tech and artistic; they give a sense of what the world could be like, and it makes you not want to wait. Nothing is more inspiring than seeing a glimpse of something beautiful that really resonates with you — that happens to not currently exist in reality. It makes you a willing participant in spending all your time trying to give it life.

Startpage: Would you rather: Share your search history or go a week without the internet?

Robert: I believe that the average person would rather go a week without the internet.

Privacy in Action is a series of interviews with privacy-minded Startpage users from diverse backgrounds. If you are interested in participating in the Privacy in Action or would like to nominate someone to be interviewed by us, reach out to us at privacyplease@startpage.com.

The views expressed in this Q&A are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect those of Startpage.