ABU DHABI // Before becoming Europe’s No 1 ethical hacker, Jamie Woodruff took advantage of his autism to become a computer boffin and started hacking when he was nine.
In discussing with young people how challenges can be turned to opportunities, Mr Woodruff, 23, showed how he overcame autism, dyslexia and dyspraxia.
“I did not have access to education sectors that you would see. When I went to school it was socially awkward,” he said.
He lasted three months in college before he gave up to help people with special needs.
Then, one day, he was asked if he wanted to enter a hackathon, where the top hacker won an expenses-paid university degree.
He won the challenge and enrolled in the School of Computer Science at Bangor University.
“So I went back to uni, and started teaching (ethical hacking) while I was still a student.”
Today, he is paid by companies such as Bloomberg and Barclays to test their systems and tell them what is wrong with their security.
He demonstrated to the audience of the Global Summit for Women Speakers of Parliament how he could break into a company’s CCTV camera.
“We can actually control it, not only see it [but also] move it left, right, up and zoom.”
In fact, this could be his way to hack into a system, he said.
“So I would go to a CCTV camera in your company and find out when people are walking in and out, and when there is a conference I walk in.”
He also showed a device he built in a weekend’s time which he calls “the secret”. With that device he could monitor keywords and find out how many people were trying to hack Donald Trump for instance.
Hacking today has become as simple as downloading an app on an Android phone: “My advice is just look at what you’ve got to protect and how it could be protected.
“You should keep phones and everything up to date with the latest version. But anyway, if someone wants to hack you, they will.”
He demonstrated another device, which could unlock any modern car that does not require a key, and make it move.
He believes end-users are the weakest security links.
“Just by making a simple call I can reset someone’s password in five minutes. Hackers are taking advantage of this.”
An example is when he was invited to speak at a conference in Norway, and the organiser insisted that he perform a hacking trick.
“So [with his permission] I broke into his hotel room, stole his laptop ...”
The next day, with 800 people watching, Mr Woodruff asked the organiser to walk outside: “I said stop and look to your right, there was his car right in front of him, I turned it on with my laptop.”
“Him being an end user, he uses the same password for everything so I could recover everything,” Mr Woodruff said.
His most famous tricks include when he posed as a Domino’s delivery man – a job for which he applied and was accepted “very easily”, in order to break into the server room of a large financial institution. After monitoring the action at the institution he noticed that staff ordered from Domino’s every Friday, and once he had the uniform, that was his way in.
“So, every Friday, this guy from Domino’s would appear to deliver pizza and pass by security and I was in.”
He would observe everyone’s behaviour, until he made his move.
“I could have stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars, but I’m ethical, I don’t do that.
“Another thing about improvisation, I flew all the way to Australia to speak at a conference, and I hadn’t planned what to say.”
When he entered the hotel, he started searching for orange juice. “I had a thing to try orange juice everywhere I go.”
“I could’t find any, so I said I will go to the kitchen and help myself.”
He found the chef’s uniform there, changed into it and went to the conference and started serving biscuits. As he did that, he collected everyone’s pin, and then demonstrated his findings on stage.
hdajani@thenational.ae
Wicked
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Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
