If you have heard of the process of social engineering, the ability of a hacker to trick you into divulging your private details, then you might have come across ethical hacker Rachel Tobac. She’s the CEO of SocialProof Security and board member of Women in Security and Privacy. I virtually attended one of her more recent talks, during which she explained her craft and gave some suggestions on how we all can improve our personal security and make her job more difficult.

Tobac has carried out some notable security stunts in the past, such as live hacking a CNN report’s accounts and stealing his airline points. “I hack so people can understand how hackers think and hopefully you will avoid these mistakes,” she told her audience.

You can read more about her talk — and how to harden your own defenses against social engineering attacks — in my latest blog for Avast here. And if you want to watch a great documentary about the teens behind the 2020 Twitter hack, you can find it streaming on Hulu here,