Nowadays anyone who uses a computer connected to the internet could be a target for hackers. During this CONNECT University session organised to celebrate the European Cybersecurity Month, Chema Alonso, world-renowned security expert and ethical hacker, shared some fascinating hacking insights together with the security risks that are coming with the new technologies such as AI, Cognitive Services, Tech Intensity, OAuth Tokens. In the same time, he explained what should we take into account in the short future as part of a cybersecurity protection strategy. 

Chema Alonso

Contact: https://mypublicinbox.com/ChemaAlonso

Chema Alonso is the Chief Digital Consumer Officer in Telefonica. Born in Madrid, he is a well-known hacker that have been given talks around the world the last 20 years. Hacking techniques such as Blind LDAP Injection, Connection String Parameter Pollution or Time-Based Blind SQL Injection using Heavy Queries are part of his research when he was working in his PhD, but also bugs like DirtyTooth that forced Apple to update iOS and harden Bluetooth preferences or the last WhatsApp FaceID ScreenLock ByPass in iOS versions, and a long life of security reports.

You can watch some of his talks in YouTube, like “Owning Bad Guys (and mafia) using JavaScript Botnets”, “The FOCA Strikes Back”, “Connection String Attacks” or “DirtyTooth: it´s only rock and roll but I like it”.

He joint Telefonica after his small startup “Informatica 64” was acquired to create a new cyberSecurity company worldwide called “ElevenPaths”. He was the CEO and right now act as Chairman in ElevenPaths. Then he was appointed as the Chief Data Officer and was responsible of projects like AURA, Data Centric Strategy and the launch of LUCA, a B2B company in the field of Big Data & AI.

Long hair, beany hat, and a crazy ideas team to create new tolls, projects and research in technology. He is easy to recognize when you see once. And one of his first ideas became a celebrity. FOCA, a tool for extracting metadata from public docs in websites and print-out the internal network map is part of the OSINT toolbox for every pentester.

Chema Alonso have been awarded by Microsoft as Most Valuable Professional in Security for 12 years, and the Civil Guard of Spain honoured him with the White Cross of Merit. He’s been recognized last year as one of the most creative in business by Forbes and one of the top influencers in Cybersecurity. Recently, he was honoured as Honoris Causa PhD by the University in which he did his PhD. 

He writes a blog about hacking & security since 2006 and won several prizes because of it. The title is a “Computer-Engineer in the evil side” and his nickname is Maligno (the evil one), but he has been always a white-hacker and is proud of it. Skateboarding, superheroes comics books or biking is what he loves the most.