Jennifer Villarreal on how she upped her hacking game

Jen, a former military professional turned hacker, shares her journey into cybersecurity and her experiences with the Synack Red Team in the latest episode of WE’RE IN! She transitioned from fixing security issues to actively seeking vulnerabilities, inspired by her brother and motivated by her experiences at the storied hacker conference, DEF CON. Jen emphasizes the importance of skill development and preparation for women entering the male-dominated cybersecurity field, and discusses her preferred hacking tools and techniques.

In this episode of WE’RE IN!, Jennifer gives her take on AI in penetration testing, suggesting it should be used as a tool for initial reconnaissance but not for exploiting vulnerabilities.

Listen to hear more about:

• Why all of Jennifer’s smart home devices’ warranties are voided
• How anyone can be a hacker by following the Open Source Intelligence methodology to find vulnerabilities
• The importance of producing high-quality work and going above and beyond to gain trust in the pentesting industry