Hot Sauce and Hot Takes: Only Malware in the Building Special

Hot Wings and Cyber Security Insights

• 🔥 The hosts, Dave Bittner and Selena Larson, participate in a special "Only Malware in the Building" episode featuring a hot wings challenge.
• 🌶️ The challenge combines digital forensics with spicy tactics, where questions become hotter as the sauces do, aiming to uncover unexpected truths.

Early Tech Memories and Passwords

• 💡 Selena's first password was likely her last name, used on AOL Instant Messenger, and her first AIM screen name was "PTA" followed by her name.
• 🔑 Dave's first username was "Ziggy Stardust" for BBS systems, and Keith's first Hotmail password was "28if" referencing The Beatles' Abbey Road album cover.
• 💻 Dave started with a TRS-80 in 1980 and later used dial-up modems for bulletin board systems.

Personal Tech Routines and Security Habits

• 📱 All hosts admit to immediately checking their phones upon waking, highlighting an unhealthy addiction to smartphones and computers.
• 🛡️ Selena emphasizes threat modeling and being cautious about public posts due to her online visibility, also stressing the security of friends and family.
• 💳 Dave routinely checks bank accounts and credit cards for fraudulent charges, especially when traveling, and advocates for two-factor authentication.

Near Misses with Malware and Scams

• 🎣 Dave recounts being tricked by a text message from a hacked friend, leading him to log into a fake Facebook login page.
• 📞 Selena describes mistyping an airline's phone number, leading her to a scammer's automated system that requested sensitive personal information.
• 🕵️ Keith shares an experience from his undercover FBI work where malware was backdoored into a control panel, compromising a flash drive with sensitive templates.

Digital Detox and Work-Life Balance

• 🧠 Selena stresses the impossibility of knowing everything in cybersecurity and the importance of focusing on what impacts her job, advocating for physical books and self-care like getting nails done for a brain break.
• 🎧 Dave describes his job as delivering "bad news" daily and relies on relationships with experts to understand complex topics, finding decompression in listening to David Bowie and taking days off for hikes.
• 🚢 Keith emphasizes pacing oneself to avoid burnout, not bringing phones or tablets into the bedroom, and using expensive cruise Wi-Fi as a natural digital detox.

First Computers and Sparking a Love for Tech

• 💻 Selena initially disliked technology, wanting to be a journalist, but became fascinated with cybersecurity and privacy in San Francisco, with her first computer being a teal bubble Mac.
• 💾 Dave's tech journey began with programming BASIC on TRS-80 computers at a summer camp, leading him to save up for his own TRS-80 color computer.
• 🌐 Keith's interest in tech grew from using Apple computers in college and playing games, eventually transferring to cyber division after realizing the internet was not a fad, mentored by Agent Tom Grasso.

Craziest FBI Encounters and Career Reflections

• 🐈 Keith recalls the case of Bogdanov, also known as "Gameover Zeus," who owned exotic cats like lynxes or bobcats.
• 📸 He also mentions "Wagant" (Wives and Girlfriends Intelligence), where spouses' social media posts often provided valuable intelligence on their partners' activities.
• 💡 The hosts reflect on the early internet era, where information was less accessible, and the transition from counter-intelligence to cyber division.