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In this episode of the Cybertraps podcast, host Jethro Jones interviews Dominic Booker at the Inch360 event. Dominic discusses his journey into the IT and cybersecurity fields, his motivations for attending the event, and the importance of both digital and physical security. The conversation provides insights into building community in tech, mentorship, and the significance of being aware of security from multiple aspects.
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Creators & Guests
What is Cybertraps Podcast?
We explore the risks arising from the use and misuse of digital devices and electronic communication tools. We interview experts in the fields of cybersafety, cybersecurity, privacy, parenting, and technology and share the wisdom of these experts with you!
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.