LEDE Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek, known for remotely hacking into a Jeep, met with students and presented about cyber security on Thursday in McGarvey Commons.

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Before their speech, a number of students, faculty and staff had dinner with Miller and Valasek in the Logan House. Miller and Valasek answered questions and engaged in discussion with the other dinner guests. The dinner also allowed members of the Behrend community to come together.

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As technology becomes increasingly integrated into daily life, the possibilities for hacking increases. These devices, whether for necessity or convenience, often add great value, but come at a risk. The increase in technology is also creating a need for people who are so called “good” hackers, or people who find vulnerabilities in software and report it to the company. Some companies even hire people to do this.

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“So one of the things we do, sort of as a hobby, is find vulnerabilities in stuff. So whether it’s phones or computers or whatever, and then we report these editors so they fix them,” said Miller in an interview. “It’s important because we all rely on these products everyday.”

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In their speech, Miller and Valasek discussed cyber security as a whole and specifically what they do. The first point they made is that hacking in real life is not the same on television. On shows such as NCIS, computers being hacked flash a bunch of different windows, but in reality a hacked device often doesn’t display a difference, at least when it is initially bugged. The example shown of a real hacking was done on a phone. The screen flashed white briefly and then went back to normal.

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They also pointed out how hacking is different than breaking into a physical thing. It is much harder to secure things on the internet, particularly since anyone in the world can access things on the internet. Comparatively, someone must be physically there to break into a house or a car.

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“The stakes are definitely higher before you lost yours mp3s and now it’s your car,” said Valasek.

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The pair also commented on how the medical industry is steadily increasing their use of technology, whether that includes devices put into patients, used for patients or for record keeping, an increase in technology also increases vulnerabilities to cyber security.

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Miller and Valasek also discussed their jobs, which involve driverless cars. They both explained how driverless cars are safer for various reasons, including they can’t drive drunk, get distracted or tired and have 360 degree vision.

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“The next generation is not going to believe we would subject ourselves to the danger of driving our own car,” said Valasek. “And in the meantime if you can get it to just being one percent safer than us, we’ve already saved a bunch of human lives.”

Driverless cars will also help people reclaim their time and be productive instead of driving. Similarly to when flying in a plane, people could take the time spent commuting doing work or taking a nap.

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Miller and Valasek also commented on how students aren’t being pushed towards hacking and cyber security. There are a number of opportunities for learning about coding and computers, but students need to take it upon themselves to learn about hacking.

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“Don’t be afraid to break everything. Like you’re going to ruin everything for sure,” said Valasek. They both encourage anyone interested in hacking to go forth and learn as much as possible.