The eVestigator® - aka Simon Smith's - Australia's most elite Cyber Forensic Investigator Media Channel

SIMON SMITH has been programming since the tender age of 11 years old. Throughout his young professional life, he had an accelerated start and achieved what many people may call impossible. He is currently a successful, well-known Australian Digital Forensics Software Engineer and Cyber Security Expert Witness and Investigator. His combination of skills sets arises from over 20 years of industry experience on top of a youthful array of teenage achievements including being placed at the top of the country in his IT certification results and straight into industry as an analyst programmer but with the expectation of completing the full role, inclusive of the SDLC.

At the young age of just 22 years old, he was lecturing after work short course at University in advanced computer programming and shortly thereafter in addition to this running a successful international standalone enterprise software business at the forefront of IoT technology for major hospital networks in the US, interfacing with digital dictation devices and writing API and SDKs for digital transcription devices and vendors for plugins to popular software such as Windows Media Player, Real One, VLC, internet web browsers via JavaScript connectivity, (essentially API for programmers) COM interfaces, iTunes and more. his digital dictation software also led him into the realm of VOIP and streaming audio capture and workflow management. The system then grew to an entire hospital automated digital dictation and transcription reliable setup which processed over a million minutes of medical dictation. Further, he developed a Pocket PC Windows CE based digital dictation proprietary voice recording and workflow system that the physicians would take with them whilst reviewing x-rays or will use to dictate after an appointment. He then created an ISDN PPX system that also integrated into the workflow that allowed the recording, rewinding, inserting, overwriting and addition of metadata via DTMF that would be another method for physicians to record. As innovation was on the forefront of Simon's mind, he created one of the world's first remote printing applications allowing almost instant workflow from dictation, to transcriptionist back to the surgery as a printed document, all in one. This was at the time when physicians were converting from tape to digital. Then after performing work on that business during the night he woke up to start his professional job and do it all over again from 9 am. In the period of eight years in working for an employer whilst keeping up this fast pace, he created systems that automated business CRM processes and reporting, mastered all areas of the SDLC especially computer programming. In those roles, he worked on many large corporates including major pharmaceutical companies, interrogated geodata that spanned terabytes of information via SQL, assisted in integrating legacy systems into the new era of programming. At this point, Visual Studio and C were his main tools until he decided to branch out and open up his own empire.

All throughout those years he had a special interest in the lack of security all software that he came across suffered and was able to find flaws in almost any software he found. In one instance, almost thirteen years ago he reported to QuickBooks that credit card numbers were visible via a simple method of manipulating the binary of the data file. He was bemused to find that the never responded. Similarly, a flaw in a major household name manufacturer’s digital door lock system where he was able to duplicate the tags of at least three stocked models on the shelves in Australia that contained what he found to be flaws in the implementation of RFID and Bluetooth, this enabled him to unlock any door essentially within five seconds. Being of good character he contacted the manufacturer immediately, they took six months to get back to him, receive his information and never contacted him again. Cyber security is a very mixed basket of skills. It was at this time that Simon opened up a highly successful vertical market enterprise as CEO and shortly after that became a licensed investigator. During that period, he invested greatly in his education which almost started in reverse making him a very decorated young man with both Australian qualifications at post-graduate level and Department of Homeland Security NICCS recognised certifications in areas related to Cyber, fraud, workplace threats, social media, criminal, high-tech forensics and forensic investigations. However, it wasn’t the training that gave Simon his abilities, it was his inherent underlining skill of two simple things; logic and common sense. Those two skills combined have been applied to business, forensic investigations, cyberstalking cases, his professional mediation and dispute resolution credentials, his high technical ability and understanding of human behaviour to solve problems.

There is not an IT/Cyber/Security job that he has not mastered. He is an Expert Entrepreneur, Counter Intelligence Social Engineer, and PI. He is known for his skills solving real High-tech cases and has been asked to assist international Cyber Police.

He is a cybercrime expert witness using techniques he creates on a case-by-case basis to track IP addresses with little to no clues very successfully via a methodical method of social engineering he specialises in. He has given expert opinion on topics such as Cyber Terror, Cyber Stalking, Cyber Espionage, the Dark Web, Blockchain and Cryptography. He has been labelled by Security Now’s Ken Hess as perhaps the “World's Best Investigator”.

He has identified Cyber Criminals by direct unfiltered IP addresses and even had a friendly conversation with them whilst attaining the necessary details to give police for crimes that add up to approximately $80m. He has also helped to identify over 200 Cyber Stalkers by using the same techniques and helping the Australian Community in a subject area they otherwise would be left abandoned. In Australia, the police do not actively pursue or investigate Cyber Crime, they only allow you to report it which can be very frustrating for the public. Simon has a variety of skills covering mediation, conciliation, alternate dispute resolution, computer forensics, expert witness, evidence preservation and has been appointed an independent expert in complex technical cases by the court. He is well-known in the Australian media and has been featured on SBS (3), Sky News (Cable), Today (9), ABC (2), A Current Affair (9), The Project (10), radio, print, online and abroad many times.

Keynote Accomplishments

Mr. Smith is an upfront, say it how it is, very informed investigative speaker. He has attended hundreds of sites during a Cyber crisis and mitigated such crises in record time. The only way he has done this is by understanding the full systems development lifecycle but most importantly by keeping communications open and strong with C level staff. He is very much a people person and can identify that people are very much a part of the process. He has two upcoming conferences, in his previous conference with Secure Utilities he presented to a group of high level CSIOs openly and honestly about what he has seen as a forensic investigator on the frontline and what really matters. He pointed out the difference between information sec and cyber sec. He was featured as an expert in the Secure Utilities magazine line-up specifically focusing on how some utilities personnel are its biggest risk when it comes to keeping data secure. He outlined steps that utilities need to take to protect their data and the techniques available to achieve this. He gave them a shocking demonstration of how easy it is for somebody to socially engineer a staff member by playing them a video. He gave a real, honest, evidence-based presentation which was not selling any services or textbook style presented but was factual and backed up by actual real-life experience.

Presentation

In the modern world, we are taught to think about the complex issues that emerging technology has brought to us. We are constantly battling in the fight against Cyber Espionage and hacktivism, the introduction of increased ransomware and cryptocurrency obstacles, fraud and a very big rush to market for all systems to fix the problem. We are also met with what the industry perceives as a gap in the market of professionals in cyber sec to deal with the IoTs and clouds in the sky as well as these extra intelligent beings known as hackers. However, from what I have seen and grown up with all my life, this is merely smoke and mirrors. What if I told you that there was a much simpler explanation to all of this? What if I told you that the very problem that we are trying to fix, is causing the problem we are trying to fix? Coming from a high-tech background, I would love to come and blast out a million technical words but it’s not necessary from what I have learnt from technology the limitations of machine learning and the severity of human deception, I believe that I can provide a way of thinking that has worked for me and an explanation that if we were to look backwards, would signify the trigger points of what we know consider to be a crisis. It is only us humans that are the ones that truly have the ability to make a difference by applying two ingredients. Logic and Common Sense.

I recently was a presenter at the Respect Campaign's Global Cyber Health & Safety Virtual 3D Summit

http://evirtualsummits.com/event/the-respect-campaign/

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