All right, we are here at the Inch 360 event. Welcome to the Cybertraps podcast. I'm here with Dominic Booker. Dominic, welcome. Thanks for taking the time to chat with me today. Tell us a little bit about yourself and what brought you to this event. Oh, well, first of all, let me thank you for allowing me to attend. So to answer your question, I've been in the IT field for about Going on 15 years now.
Um, I initially got into it because I joke as a kid, I wanted to be a professional basketball player, but then when I wasn't six feet tall, I was like, okay, what else am I going to do? Um, growing up, I just noticed that computers were around. Um, my family wasn't like, like the richest family, but we have one. So I'm like, well, if we can afford a computer, everyone can afford a computer. Like a lot more people can. And then I start thinking, it's like, well, if this breaks.
Who's gonna fix it because we don't have the money to fix it. So I was like, well, I can learn how to fix it And I kind of just started messing around that's that's what started my kind of like my My love hate relationship with technology When I was about 10 years old What brought me to the convention here was the person that I'm with she's really she's just starting her Journey into cybersecurity. She's currently going to school for it.
It's like her first year into it So she wanted to go, and I feel that it's important to get younger people, especially women, like, into it, because, like, I've always wanted to, I've always tried to build, like, this, community of just, like, hey, if you want to do it, let's go do it, kind of a thing, it's like, oh, you want to get into some cyber security? Well, let's do it, like, I'm, I'm in the tech field, like, as well, like, is this what you want to do?
I'll take a, I'll take a Wednesday off, and let's go down and see what this is about, um, but, Security to me, cyber security has always been important, but that's what specifically brought me here today was, I want to support another individual who wants to get into this field. I don't want to sit there and say, I don't have time for you to, like, I don't have time to take you down here today.
Because, like, realistically, it's like, I have vacation time, let's take a day off, bring you down here, have you meet, like, other members of this community, pretty much, that we're trying to build here in Spokane, this industry and stuff like that, so. so far I think it's been highly, highly educational. The amount of knowledge that, from the people in the room is, to be frank, is insane. Yeah, no kidding.
Like the people here, their experience, their knowledge and stuff like that, and the one thing that I try to teach people, I try to teach my friends, my family, my kids and stuff like that is, one of the most important resources that we have in this world is time.
And if somebody's willing to take the time to talk to you, five minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, you should be grateful and listen to what they have to say, because they could have taken that 15 minutes and done anything with it, right? They could be sleeping, they could be drinking a cup of coffee in their house or something like that. They could choose not to share their wisdom and their knowledge with you. So take the time to appreciate somebody willing to give you advice. Listen. Inform.
To be frank, shut up. Yeah, yeah. Like, just shut up and listen to what they have to say. Because 9 out of 10 times, they're going to teach you something that you don't know. And even if they don't, the fact that they took that opportunity to spend 15 minutes with you, I think it's like overly important, and it's underly valued. If that makes sense. Yeah, for sure.
Man, I think that's so powerful, and that's, What a great example you are, bringing her with you and saying, I'll go to this with you, not just, yeah, you can go to that, but saying, I'll be there. I'll, I'll be right next to you and, and, and provide that support and make sure you feel like you're not alone at something like this. I'm sure it could be intimidating I mean, it's intimidating for me and I'm a nerd, right?
To, to be here with all these really smart people and feel like, man, do I have, do I have what it takes to show up? With all these people and with her just starting, I think it's real powerful that you're there to provide that support and, companionship through that. That's awesome. And, sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. That's alright. For those who are listening, she is currently in the middle of a panel. No, I didn't just abandon her.
Just in case I was like, well, what is he doing out here if he's supposed to be supporting her? She's in the panel. She's listening. I just wanted to come out here and talk with Jethro. It's all good. So you asked a really good question as part of the panel that I was just moderating. Why don't you bring up that question again? So it's a thought exercise for anybody who's listening because I think it was it was really valuable for you to share that.
Yeah, sure, so the question that I asked, um, was as we are delving more and more into cybersecurity, becomes more and more important, are we ignoring physical security? Um, because as we were kind of, talking about. It's a phrase that I've, always said my entire, uh, career. Is that, In this industry, you can get to almost any room with confidence in a clipboard. Like, if you look like you're supposed to be there, nobody's going to question you.
And that's another thing that I've always wanted to ask is like, is that part of your training? Because we have all these cyber security training, and I know it sounds rude and a lot of people don't want to have that awkward conversation, but sometimes you just have to ask, who are you? Like, are you supposed to be here?
And like, yes, it's awkward and it sounds rude the first time, But if they are supposed to be there, it was something you laugh about, you know, the next day while you're buying that person a cup of coffee, because, you know, you have to mend that bridge a little bit, but if you ask them, who are you, and they can't answer you, then you could have just saved yourself, your company, everyone in there from like a really awkward situation, because with, uh, kind of like what one of the other
presenters was mentioning, like those flipper devices and things like that. There are just like some really cool tech out there that you could just plug in, walk away, and it'll automate scraping everything on there. And then all it takes, it'll have a little built in like Wi Fi relay or something like that. You go sit down in your, in your car with your cup of coffee and you're just like, Oh, I'm just scraping all this data because nobody questioned me. And like I just sat down and sometimes.
Somebody doesn't have to be there. It could be just a random computer that that person just happens to not be there that day. You can power it on, plug it into the USB in the back and just walk away because To be honest, how often do you check the back of your tower? If you know, like, this is my workstation I'm the only one that works here. How often do you look behind to be like, I don't know what this is. Like, what USB stick is this? And then kind of go from there.
And the way they're making them smaller and smaller, you could just not see it. Like, they're out there, but you could get something about as what, as big as your, uh As your pinky nail.
As your pinky nail, and it's just like, in a whole 3264 terabyte worth of data, you could just take off and move on and just wait until the nighttime, or just wait until you know that Well, these people see me coming at this day, so I'll be back tomorrow at the same time, so they think that, Oh, I work here, he was here yesterday, let me in, grab my data, and then jet out, and never see me again.
Yeah, so I think that idea of physical security is as important as cyber security, and even if you, like, even if you just rent an office in a strip mall, or something, and that, or in a co working space, like, those are all things that you need to Pay attention to, and if you're working remotely, then it's a little bit easier to just take all your stuff with you.
But then, you know, as you mentioned in the question, like, how many people have put their coats up on the coat rack and haven't gone out to check it again? And maybe there's something put in there, you know, and maybe, maybe not. But, you know, those are things that you just need to at least be thinking about. Uh, sometimes that's uncomfortable to even think about. I mean, I got a little squirmy when you were asking that question.
Knowing that I had all my podcast gear out here, and I was like, there's a memory card on there, and when I plug that into my computer, you know, could there be something going on? You know, those are, those are the kinds of things that, that tend to keep, keep me awake sometimes. Yeah, and because then obviously you kind of have to ask yourself that too. It's like when you go to plug it in, it's not only, is there something on there, is that yours? Right.
Is that the original memory card that you put in there? Yeah. Like, if I'm walking around with a bunch of, like, SD flash cards and stuff, I gotta be honest, I'm not memorizing every single one.
I mean, like, granted, if it's a complete obvious, like, if I was on a Samsung, all of a sudden I look and it's a SanDisk, I'm like, okay, something's off here, but you're just going through your day, you're popping out SD cards, you're, like, you're editing and all this stuff, getting your stuff ready, and then And, it could be something on it you don't even notice, it could be less than a kilobyte executable on there, that's just, it's just designed to run. Gather, delete, and disappear.
You wouldn't even know that it's going, because by the time you plug in, turn around to do something, come back, it's already done its job, and it's gone, and you would have had no idea, so. But, like, my question wasn't to make people, like, super nervous, but it's just like, like, let's not forget that in this digital world, physical still matters.
Like, it's still present every day, and it's just like, are we taking the time to not only train people on , like the digital security side, but just to make sure that we're still being cognitive of the physical side. Mm-Hmm. . And that was kinda like the, the point of my question, it wasn't really like a, it wasn't trying to be like a gotcha or like a soundbite or something like that. It's just, just something for people to think in the back of their mind. It's like, oh, maybe we should, yeah.
Like make sure that like, maybe we should take the team that's usually stuffed in this one corner of the office. Yeah. And just go out and say hi to everyone every once in a while so they know our faces. Mm-Hmm. , um, and things like that, because.
Like, we didn't have time to explain it, or I didn't have time to explain it or tell that story, but the story I was telling you with, like, I'm a field tech, I get sent out to fix one issue, been working in this office for 30 minutes, like 15, like 15, 30 minutes. Get a phone call from my boss, ask me where I'm at, and I'm like, I'm on site, and they're like, no, you're not like my mistake.
I went to the wrong building, but I just told them I'm with I. T. I'm fixing your printer, and I need access to your network room, and they gave me full access 30 minutes alone in like, in like, yeah, like it was my fault for going to the wrong place in there. I didn't have any ill will. If I was a bad guy. Yeah, I would have got everything I needed. We've been out in five minutes, right? And then they wouldn't have no idea who I was, especially if I actually fixed the printer, right?
Which you could do. Then they'll just mark it off as like, Oh yeah, the printer guy came in, like he was in the network room for a little bit. Everything prints now. And then they'll just mark it off as a normal day. Yeah. And I can just walk out with the, you know, the kings of the kingdom and just be like, I'll be back in six months. Yeah. Like my program won't launch now. It'll launch in about six months and you'll have no idea why, that kind of a thing, so.
Yeah, well Dominic, this was great to get to know you. Thank you for sharing your question in there and then coming and chatting and appreciate you being here. Last question is, what's your takeaway from today? What's your, what's your key learning that you got out of this? my, my key word was actually from the one thing that I am going to take was actually from your segment, the, uh, the, the four P's as we'll say, right? preparation, partnership, predict, and ponder.
Yeah. And the last one, the P, like he said, like you said, ponder, but I was thinking when, as he was talking, I was like, oh, procedure. Oh, there you go. Like procedural, like afterwards. Right? Like, like you try to prepare for it. You partner up with like a good, you know, like MSP or a partner to help cover that. If something does happen, you try to predict what does, is going to happen. And afterwards you make sure your procedures are like up to date.
So those are going to be like the, the one things that I take away. And it was kind of like small vindication hearing people talk. Cause the things you guys were saying was just what I've been trying to explain to her. It's just things I just say in my daily, my daily life. It's like, you know, like it's not if it's when. Yeah. You know, trust, but verify like things like that.
Like I tell everyone I know it's like, so I guess I know you know me, but if I tell you something, verify what I'm saying. Like, don't just blindly trust me. Right. Like, okay. Like, like you're a trustworthy person and I'll take it with like, you know, a seven out of 10, but let me go and verify that last three out of 10 to make sure you're not, you know, just blowing smoke and things like that. So. Yep. Well, I was, I was glad to see the, the four P's happen. I thought that was pretty cool.
Glad it worked out that way. And when Aaron started talking, I was like, I don't care what he says. We're going to find a P we're going to find out. Okay. Well, thanks, Dominic. Appreciate you being here again. I appreciate you taking the time and letting me hop on here. Yeah, no problem.