The Passwords Are the Problem with Thierry Gagnon and Philippe Desmarais
Release Date: 10/18/2023
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AI has brought incredible new capabilities into everyday technology, but it’s also creating security challenges that most people haven’t fully wrapped their heads around yet. As these systems become more capable and more deeply connected to the tools and data we rely on, the risks become harder to predict and much more complicated to manage. My guest today is Rich Smith, who leads offensive research at MindGard and has spent more than twenty years working on the front lines of cybersecurity. Rich has held leadership roles at organizations like Crash Override, Gemini, Duo Security, Cisco,...
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Fraud usually gets talked about in numbers like how much money was stolen, how many people were affected, how many cases got filed. But behind every one of those numbers is a person who’s been blindsided, manipulated, or left trying to rebuild trust in others and in themselves. This episode shifts the focus back to those human stories and the fight to protect them. My guest, Freddie Massimi, has spent more than a decade helping scam victims find both financial and emotional recovery, bringing empathy and understanding to a field that too often feels cold and procedural. As a certified...
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info_outlineWith the use of passwords, we’re hoping to ensure privacy and security, but sometimes it is at the expense of convenience. As technology changes and biometric databases become more utilized, we need to remember that they may also be hacked.
Today’s guests are Philippe Desmarais and Thierry Gagnon. Philippe is a tech entrepreneur who co-founded Kelvin Zero and currently serves as its CEO, overseeing the company’s strategic direction. He is also a member of the Next Generation Advisory Council at Rockefeller Capital Management. Before creating Kelvin Zero, Philippe played a significant role in various start-ups, focusing on data analytics for political campaigns, remote hardware device management, and cybersecurity.
Thierry Gagnon is co-founder and Chief Technology at Kelvin Zero. He is an expert in software development, malware analysis, cryptography, and reverse engineering. He has been actively involved in the cybersecurity community, participating in renowned competitions and projects such as Malware Information Sharing Platform.
Show Notes:
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[1:18] - Philippe and Thierry share their backgrounds and their roles in the company they co-founded together, Kelvin Zero.
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[2:34] - Thierry’s expertise is in cybersecurity but Philippe’s interest was more in crime. They combined their strengths and passions to create Kelvin Zero.
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[6:18] - Passwords have been around for millennia.
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[7:24] - We often confuse being smarter with being faster.
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[9:45] - Passwords are not often attached to an individual. We have so many passwords and can’t actually know them all.
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[11:53] - We can compromise passwords at scale.
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[13:20] - The attackers only need to be right once. The defenders need to be right 100% of the time. How can we flip this?
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[15:47] - The average person is tasked with trying to keep up with cybersecurity and, in most cases, they are not qualified to do this.
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[17:11] - What does it look like to take a password-less approach?
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[19:20] - If cybersecurity is done successfully, the opportunities are massive. But regulation holds us back.
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[21:51] - Once a tech company can serve protection, then companies can focus on their services and products.
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[24:46] - There are differences between the physical world and the logical world.
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[28:41] - How do you convince people to share medical data for research when there are constant breaches?
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[31:33] - Is privacy the same as anonymity?
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[33:52] - Technology should be able to do what we want it to do, but that’s not the case.
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[36:36] - In a password-less environment, how can we validate a user?
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[39:40] - Thierry believes we should get away from the server authenticating because then it is the responsibility of the organization.
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[43:18] - Sci-fi movies sound far-fetched, but a lot of them predict technology.
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[46:35] - Thierry and Philippe share their thoughts on what we should be putting our focus on now.
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[49:40] - Stay away from single-factor authorization.
Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review.