In fact, Henderson is just one of the 1,000 security specialists the tech giant hired in 2015.
He said he has always been curious as a kid.
Henderson attended the University of Texas and studied Computer Science.
When I was 11, my father brought home our first computer.
Within a week, I had become an active participant on the Bulletin Board Systems (BBS).
Using these bulletin boards introduced me to other like-minded individuals and hackers across the world.
All of a sudden the world became more accessible to me.
I quickly decided that I was more interested in taking things apart than putting them together.
After legally getting a phone booth in his room, he took it apart.
However, while Henderson was growing up, none of it existed, which is what thrilled him.
Ive always been bound by ethics, he says.
That is not to say that kids dont do stupid things.
Did my parents love when Id take apart their expensive electronics within just a few days of purchase?
But being a hacker, I had to know how everything worked.
He was fascinated to the wealth of information and resources available here.
We often had to create adhoc tools, which took time.
At IBM, we have more firepower, thanks to tools like BlueMix and Watson, among other resources.
I have access to basically anything I could ever imagine which is really exciting for a researcher.
The sky is really the limit here.
So in the morning I start by asking, Did we find any critical flaws?
Do I need to tell a client we found a vulnerability and begin working to fix it?
He always find methods to break into or break apart these devices, to find new errors and susceptibilities.
Thanks, to the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT).
The worst part about my job is telling a client they have a major vulnerability.
But often, that initial delivery of bad news is difficult.
To which his reply to the question would be, It depends on what bank you use.
He is also asked by people if he has ever done any spy stuff.
Henderson says that the biggest misconception that people have about hackers is that they are all criminals.
To me, being a hacker means you have an unbridled curiosity about how things work.
Television shows and movies depict hackers as simply knowing how to do something.
In reality, hacking is about taking something apart physically or virtually and understanding the inner workings.
As an ethical hacker, we are driven to understand how things work.
Ethical hackers have a moral compass guiding them to help protect people from the flaws they find.
Most people assume if youre hacker, you had no friends growing up.
But honestly, hacking has nothing to do with that.
Im a father of two and Im happily married.
Also, my expertise in hacking has lead me to become a world-class practical joker within my team.
I think that practical jokes foster critical thinking.
It is easy to upset a promising career by doing something stupid.
Ensure that you are guided by your values while you research vulnerabilities.
source: www.techworm.net
