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Alumni Gazette

For the Hack of It

The information technology boom has spawned a new breed of criminals, and Ryan Breed ’97 makes a living out of thwarting them.

Breed, a computer security consultant who has been featured in Information Week for what the magazine describes as his skills as an “ethical hacker,” helps companies protect computer systems by discovering their weak points.

“If the company has customer data, patient data, student data, trade secrets—the primary concern is someone stealing that information, rather than doing harm to the system,” says Breed, who works for Unisys.

Breed became interested in computer security while taking a cryptography class at Rochester. Offered as a math class, he recalls, it included lessons on network security. He built a computer firewall for one assignment, and he taught himself how to test those firewalls. With that knowledge and “a lot of on-the-job training,” he segued into working with companies to protect their systems.

He balks at being called a hacker—white hat or not—because he does more than try to break into systems.

“I spend most of my time setting systems up correctly so they don’t get broken into in the first place,” he says.

Breed points out that the greatest threat to personal computers are unscrupulous people who attempt to obtain personal information one user at a time. He warns against two of the latest methods: spyware, software that surreptitiously installs itself on computers and mines information, and people who go “phishing,” sending out an official-looking e-mail asking for “verification of personal information.”

Viruses will always be a threat as well, Breed says. The way to protect your own computer is to educate yourself. “You need to know how to protect yourself,” he says. “Have a personal firewall if you have a broadband connection, update all the security patches from Microsoft, and install all software updates.

“The best way to fix a computer is to make sure it never gets infected by a virus or invaded in the first place.”