This Month we met up with Ethical Student Hackers President James Lawford to give us the ins and outs of the society.
How would you describe the society in a sentence?
Understanding security by learning how to break things.
What can someone expect from the society?
We mainly run weekly sessions, each on a different topic. So far, throughout most of our sessions, it’s only committee members; however, if someone does come to us with a particular passion of theirs to present on, we will get someone to work with them [and run a session].
Occasionally we go for drinks after to socialise. We also run a Capture the Flag competition once or twice a year where people solve challenges to score points.
What is your main appeal?
Having fun with hacking, trying to problem solve. As well as the educational and career benefits it can have.
Is society open to people not studying Computer Science or no knowledge of hacking?
We try and make it as open to all courses and walks of life as possible. We were founded by a biology student in 2018, so we do try and kinda carry that forward.
We do have people who don’t do computer science, the majority do, but there are some who don’t. We find usually, the best time to join, whether you do computer science or not, when you have less experience is right at the beginning of term as a lot of the sessions will have a lot more of a focus on a beginner level. However, even later on, we will still give help and provide guides for people who don’t have any knowledge but can operate a computer, for example.
What sets you apart from Computer Science?
It’s the focus on security. Which I think is becoming more and more relevant. We really dial into what you need to consider in security when you’re making things, how do you break into things, what’s secure and what’s not secure, and how to make sure things are secure.
What can people look forward to?
I think we will do another Give It A Go [in the second semester] because I think that helps a lot of people, especially in our society. I think people can feel very intimidated by the technical nature of it. It will be very beginner-friendly, even more so than the normal sessions and will allow people to get a flavour of what we do.
In terms of upcoming sessions, there is nothing concrete planned, but there’s always great guest talks that often require very little knowledge, but there will be lots of interesting stuff coming up. Previous guest talks include DS Damian Speare from Yorkshire & Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit talking about policing in the digital age, and Mike Jones, a reformed ex-anonymous hacker talking about Radio Frequency.
What’s your favourite session of the year been?
I really enjoyed the wifi hacking session. I thought it was really good because it’s very applicable to everyone’s lives because everyone at home has a wifi access point. We went through the stages of how you hack [wifi]. We got, I think, nearly all but one or two people who left early to crack the password. So everyone not only learned about the process, but went through the steps of cracking the password and access point I put physically in the room. It’s fun to do, obviously but shows how the wifi security works but also shows them how important it is to have a good password, do updates and have relatively modern hardware because it highlights how easy these things are to hack.
Why did you first join the society?
I joined because I was interested in security and hacking, both personally and professionally. It’s a massively growing industry, it’s needed more and more. University is a great place to learn about that. Our department [computer science] doesn’t really cover it that much.
What made you want to become president?
I wanted to be president because there were no other candidates and I wanted to see the society I had been a part of and learnt from continue for others. I also thought that I would learn a lot from it, both technically and managerially from the role.
Membership – £4 per year
Social media – @_shefesh (Instagram)