Jack Cable (software developer)
{{Short description|American computer security researcher and software developer}}
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Jack Cable (born February 18, 2000) is an American computer security researcher and software developer who currently serves as a Senior Technical Advisor at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. He is best known for his participation in bug bounty programs, including placing first in the U.S. Department of Defense's Hack the Air Force challenge.{{cite web |title=This 17-year-old hacked the Air Force|url=https://www.marketplace.org/2017/08/10/17-year-old-hacked-air-force/|publisher=NPR Marketplace |accessdate=3 November 2019}} Cable began working for the Pentagon's Defense Digital Service in the summer of 2018.{{cite web |title=How a New Trier Student Became an Internationally Known Ethical Hacker|url=https://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/June-2018/How-a-New-Trier-Student-Became-an-Internationally-Known-Ethical-Hacker/|publisher=Chicago Magazine |accessdate=3 November 2019}}
After discovering and reporting severe vulnerabilities in several states' electoral infrastructure, Cable joined the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) in the summer of 2020.{{cite web | title=Putin Is Well on His Way to Stealing the Next Election |publisher=The Atlantic| url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/putin-american-democracy/610570/|accessdate=20 April 2021}} There, Cable served as a technical advisor to help protect state election systems against foreign hacking attempts.{{cite web | title=Meet the 20-year-old super-hacker who was the youngest member of the Pentagon's 'SWAT team of nerds' and is now fighting for election security with Homeland Security |publisher=Business Insider| url=https://www.businessinsider.com/election-hacking-jack-cable-hackerone-dhs-cisa-vote-2020-10|accessdate=20 April 2021}} Cable rejoined CISA in 2023 to help lead the agency's Secure by Design initiative.{{Cite tweet |user= CISAgov|number=1616090565921181697 |title=We’re delighted to welcome top cyber talent like senior technical advisor Jack Cable to the team!}}
For his work, Cable was named one of Time Magazine's 25 Most Influential Teens of 2018. Cable has spoken on vulnerability disclosure and election security at conferences including the DEF CON Voting Village,{{cite web |title=DEF CON 27 Voting Village Report|url=https://media.defcon.org/DEF%20CON%2027/voting-village-report-defcon27.pdf|publisher=DEF CON |accessdate=3 November 2019}} Black Hat Briefings,{{cite web |title=Black Hat CISO Summit|url=https://www.blackhat.com/us-19/ciso-summit.html|publisher=Black Hat |accessdate=3 November 2019}} and the Wall Street Journal's Future of Everything Festival.{{cite web |title=WSJ Future Of Everything Festival - Speakers|url=https://foefestival.wsj.com/speakers/|publisher=The Wall Street Journal |accessdate=3 November 2019}} In 2019, Cable helped launch Stanford's bug bounty program, one of the first in higher education.{{cite web |title=Stanford Bug Bounty Launch|url=https://uit.stanford.edu/news/stanford-bug-bounty-launch|publisher=Stanford University IT |accessdate=3 November 2019}}
Biography
Cable grew up in the Chicago suburbs and attended New Trier High School. He began programming in middle school and discovered bug bounty programs at the age of 15 after finding a vulnerability in a financial website.{{cite web | title=Meet the 17-Year-Old Who Hacked the U.S. Air Force|url=https://www.nextgov.com/cybersecurity/2017/09/meet-17-year-old-who-hacked-us-air-force/141187/|publisher=Nextgov|accessdate=14 November 2019}} Cable has founded a cybersecurity consulting firm, Lightning Security. Cable studied computer science at Stanford, where he received a B.S. in computer science.
Cable joined cybersecurity consulting firm Krebs Stamos Group in 2021 as a Security Architect.{{cite web | title=Ransomware attack struck between 800 and 1,500 businesses, says company at center of hack|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/07/06/kaseya-ransomware-attack-victims/|publisher=The Washington Post|date=July 6, 2021|accessdate=26 March 2022}}
=Ransomware research=
In 2021, Cable identified a workaround in a ransomware payment system to save victims $27,000,{{cite web | title=Stanford student finds glitch in ransomware payment system to save victims $27,000|url=https://www.cyberscoop.com/jack-cable-qlocker-ransomware-recovery/|publisher=CyberScoop|date=April 22, 2021|accessdate=26 March 2022}} for which he was acknowledged by U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas.{{Cite tweet |user=secmayorkas |number=1385677817430618113 |title=Great work by @jackhcable! From disrupting #ransomware schemes to working with @CISAgov to #Protect2020, you are a tremendous example of how even a single person can make a difference.}}
Cable also launched Ransomwhere, a crowdsourced ransomware payment tracker that aims to address the ransomware visibility problem.{{cite web | title=This crowdsourced payments tracker wants to solve the ransomware visibility problem|url=https://techcrunch.com/2021/07/09/this-crowdsourced-payments-tracker-wants-to-solve-the-ransomware-visibility-problem/|publisher=TechCrunch|date=July 9, 2021|accessdate=26 March 2022}}{{cite web | title=Jack Cable, Stanford student and cyber whiz, aims to crowdsource ransomware details|url=https://cyberscoop.com/jack-cable-ransomwhere-ransomware/|publisher=CyberScoop|date=July 9, 2021|accessdate=11 May 2024}}
Publications and articles
- "Every Computer Science Degree Should Require a Course in Cybersecurity". Harvard Business Review. Published August 27, 2019.{{cite web|last1=Cable|first1=Jack|title=Every Computer Science Degree Should Require a Course in Cybersecurity|url=https://hbr.org/2019/08/every-computer-science-degree-should-require-a-course-in-cybersecurity|publisher=Harvard Business Review|accessdate=3 November 2019}}
- "Why the U.S. government needs you to hack it". Fast Company. Published December 17, 2019.{{cite web|last1=Cable|first1=Jack|title=Why the U.S. government needs you to hack it|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/90443829/why-the-u-s-government-needs-you-to-hack-it|publisher=Fast Company|accessdate=20 April 2021}}
- "Preventing Ransomware Attacks at Scale". Harvard Business Review. Published April 23, 2024.{{cite web|last1=Cable|first1=Jack|title=Preventing Ransomware Attacks at Scale
|url=https://hbr.org/2024/04/preventing-ransomware-attacks-at-scale|publisher=Harvard Business Review|accessdate=11 May 2024}}
References
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