Top Takeaways from hack_it 2021

This recap of the hack_it 2021 training event outlines hands-on sessions including a tabletop-style “Making the Malware” exercise (reversing the NIST framework to plan attacks), a “Tales from the Trenches” panel sharing real-world lessons on patching, MFA, and responding to threats like Hafnium, and a “Slipping Past Prevention” demo showing how custom payloads can evade modern AV. Key takeaways emphasize understanding attacker TTPs (recon, phishing, initial access, exfiltration), the limits of antivirus, and the importance of defense-in-depth and community knowledge sharing.