Phineas Silverman, a junior at Northwest Academy, has always been interested in technology. He recently took a cybersecurity course with the Global Online Academy that interested him in the security failures of our modern technology, and he has been testing different cyberweapons ever since.
“I did a lot of reports on cybersecurity topics [and] vulnerabilities on computers,” said Silverman. “I did a report towards the end of the year about this new vulnerability on these motherboards made by Dell. The chip can be infected and rewritten by a bad actor, and they can completely take over your computer.”
Silverman has not only explored the vulnerabilities in certain computer systems. He has also run systematic cyberattacks on his own hardware to test the capabilities of the attacks.
“In practice, on my own personal hardware I have tested some malware such as keyloggers and spyware,” said Silverman. “Non-malware exploits I have tested include lots of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth related attacks, such as taking down networks or stealing Wi-Fi passwords.”
Silverman got interested in technology at a young age and has gotten progressively better at working with it over the years. He started with hardware, but moved to software, which is currently his chief interest.
“My experience with technology and desire to understand the functions and workings of physical electronics goes way back,” said Silverman. “I first used an Arduino probably seven or eight years ago, which was my introduction to coding.”
Silverman thinks it is important to warn users of the vulnerabilities of their technology, and highly recommends against leaving your computer in a public space.
“To stay protected from more serious attacks I would just recommend using common sense online and sleeping your computer when away, especially if you’re on Windows,” said Silverman. “Physical security sucks, like it’s too easy to steal everything. With physical access a device can be hijacked in seconds.”
great portrayal of subject. What an interesting hobby to have.