In this DEF CON 32 special episode of the Be Fearless Podcast, Shourya and Vivek from SquareX meet Nikhil Mittal, Founder and Director of Altered Security. In this conversation, Nikhil shares how he started Altered Security out of a desire to provide affordable, enterprise-grade security labs, the challenges of Azure security and advice for aspiring cybersecurity professionals.
0:00 Introduction and the motivation behind founding Altered Security
1:56 On Altered Security's Red Team Labs
4:54 The importance of multi-factor authentication (MFA) in protecting enterprises
9:39 Nikhil’s take on browser security
13:03 Advice for newcomers to cybersecurity
15:01 The Altered Security journey
17:17 How AD (Active Directory) security has evolved
18:02 Nikhil’s thoughts on SquareX as an angel investor
19:21 The roadmap for Nikhil and his DEF CON experience
🔔 Follow Nihkil and Vivek on:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mittalnikhil/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vivekramachandran/
📖 Episode Summary:
In this podcast episode, Nikhil Mittal, the founder of Altered Security, shares his journey into cybersecurity, starting from his early college days to founding his company. Nikhil highlights how his initial curiosity about security led him to a professional career in 2008 and explains how the motivation behind Altered Security was to provide affordable, enterprise-grade security labs focused on Microsoft technologies, particularly Active Directory and Azure, enabling professionals to practice in realistic environments without breaking the bank.
Nikhil also notes that while traditional defenses focus on endpoint security, the browser itself has become a primary target for initial access by attackers. He emphasizes the critical role of the browser in modern cybersecurity, pointing out that many attacks eventually involve the victim accessing the browser. Lastly, Nikhil also advises newcomers to cybersecurity to build their own labs for hands-on experience, and underscores the importance of networking and soft skills, which are often overlooked but crucial for long-term success in the field.
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Deployed as a lightweight extension, SquareX turns any browser, on any device, into a secure enterprise browser. Find out more about SquareX at https://hubs.la/Q03rPcbf0
Be Fearless Podcast by SquareX