Ep 99: Safeguarding Systems: The Power of In-House "Hackers" with Sinan Eraydin

On today's episode of The Executive Appeal Podcast host Alex D. Tremble interviews SiberZincir CEO and founder & President of CyberMagus, LLC, Sinan Eraydin.

Sinan Eraydin is a Turkish American entrepreneur based in Washington DC. He holds BSc Software Engineering and MA International Relations degrees from the Istanbul Bahcesehir University, as well as an MPS Strategic Cyber Operations & Information Management degree from the George Washington University.

Mr. Eraydin runs cybersecurity and software development startups in Istanbul and Washington DC, developing infrastructure to train cyber operators in cyber intelligence, offensive and defensive cyber operations. He also serves at the NATO Center of Excellence Defense Against Terrorism as an Academic Advisor and an Instructor and continues his 2 nd track diplomacy efforts as a Senior Fellow at the Cyber Security Forum Initiative in United States.

Main Takeaways:

• Eraydin said privacy and security and what is acceptable are often dependent on circumstances and culture. People often make decisions based on their own experiences and precautions. It often changes with time and circumstances. 
• The show Black Mirror had an episode about rating citizens based on behavior. Eraydin said in Asia this is happening with citizens getting grades. The info must be safe and secure and used correctly. When a person feels like their country will use that info against them it becomes problematic. 
• There’s a huge expectation of truth when collecting information for the economy or safety, but even when doing the right thing, there’s a risk of cyber hacks, cyber terrorism, and breach of consumer information. With AI and advancements in technology, there’s always a risk of using helpful information against you (ie identifiable information) 
• Eryadin said all of our information is in digital files and some of it is valuable, accurate, and designed to be used to process for the customer and service providers to have better processes. Limiting the information may lead to mediocre services. However, the more identifiable the info is, the more likely it is to be valuable. How much accuracy and efficiency do you give up to protect against possible cyber threats?
• There are a lot of difficult questions about the balance of providing personal information and how it impacts your privacy and security. Eryadin said there are social norms about giving personal information ie social media. There are things people don’t mind everyone knowing, but also we are all liable for our decisions in what we share. 
• How do you train cyber security? Well first, the word “hacker” may be offensive to some, but it’s a phrase everyone understands. It will be a profession for some in the near future, like if someone was a doctor. Some will become what they call “ethical hackers” Hacking became the dark side when people began making financial gains, but before that, it was anarchists who wanted freedom of information. It was when people pirated so people would get free things. It was more “noble” in the past vs. hackers today who use their skills for nefarious illegal reasons.
• You have to learn to hack to know how hackers think. It’s called offensive cyber which is only legal through government authorities. You also have defensive cyber. 
• AI is misused a lot by non-technical people who may think it’s a magic wand. But AI is more technical and involves multiple techniques and plans to incorporate AI modules into cyber security and have multiple languages readily available for consumers. 
• People’s fear of AI becoming “self-aware” and making decisions for humans sounds scary. Eraydin is doing academic research about AI Ethics and said currently AI isn’t at the point of “agency”