Alex Hillman: The White Hat Hacker on 5 Types of Scams, How To Protect Your Bitcoin & Why You Need to Create a Family Inheritance Plan
“Why do I know how to lock pick? Because doors exist.” -- Alex Hillman, white hat hacker.
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There isn’t much Alex Hillman – known as “Good Guy Biker” – hasn’t done.
He's an entrepreneur, a crypto miner, a private business consultant, and a white hat hacker (the ethical kind of hacker). He has dozens of businesses with 11 sources of income. So when he earned his first million he made sure to set some parameters in place to protect his newfound wealth (and mind).
His success in the technology industry was written in the stars. He spent his early years obsessing and tinkering with disruptive technologies — though sometimes pushing the boundaries a little too far.
“[As a young boy] I used to take over small countries’ websites. So, when countries were getting their websites for the very first time – you know some country in Africa or some country in Europe – I changed the flag. And I’d call it ‘LX Ville’ which is my name ‘Alex’ without the ‘A’ or the ‘E.’ All that stupid shit. I didn't know any better.”
He continues…
“We actually attacked Yahoo.com at one point. We had their main server crashed. Their backup server crashed. And the redundant server was so slow the website didn't work for the better part of two weeks. And like, again, I was young. I didn't know better. I didn't appreciate the impact that those types of things had.
They had just started releasing their stock trading tools. So, upon reflection – when you think about the stock trades, the fees and the advertising and things that they lost – it's to the tune of millions and millions of dollars we screwed up for Yahoo that week.”
Luckily, time and maturity would transform his rebellious, offensive actions into benevolent ones.
“I was just too young to appreciate the impact of those types of things. So, as I started getting older and looking back, I started emotionally… I started feeling shitty about some of these things that I'd done as a younger man.”
Alex eventually became a white hat hacker, which is a hacker who tries to find the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of a business before black hat hackers (or the bad kind of hackers) find and exploit them. White hat hackers are considered ethical and the reason businesses have less downtime, are better safeguarded, and experience less hacks overall.
“So I started doing white hat hacking, which was hacking for good intent.”
You might be wondering: why does he need to hack in the first place? Because it’s in his nature. In the same way I itch to write every week. In the same way an artist compulsively picks up her guitar to play. Except for Alex, his drive is to take what already exists, break it, and re-make it. To understand the make-up of every thing that surrounds us in our environment.
“Why do I know how to lock pick? Because doors exist. Why do I know how to fix a computer? Because computers are a thing. And if they weren't a thing I wouldn't bother learning it. I'm an enthusiast in that way.”
Today, he continues to do white hat hacking. Sometimes he works with the police to help people recover their lost or stolen money or bitcoin. In many ways, his reputation precedes him because:
“A lot of billionaires are messaging me and calling me and relying on me for information when things happen and it's really cool.”
With his experience in the hacking space, I thought it’d be special if The Misfit subscribers heard from Alex first-hand accounts of scams in order to protect themselves better.
If you know me, you know I love stories so we share a lot of real stories of people getting scammed. What happened? What did Alex do? What can we learn from these unfortunate stories?
During our 2-hour long conversation we also talked about:
White hat hacking vs. black hat hacking
5 common scams & real stories of people getting scammed
How victims react when they’re scammed & what is done with victim’s information
The process of helping victims recover lost or stolen bitcoin
How freedom comes with money
Tips and advice to safeguard your bitcoin (and which bitcoin wallets Alex recommends)
Why the banking industry is getting worse
Why and how you should think about leaving behind a bitcoin inheritance plan for your family
Listen to our conversation on Spotify or Fountain.
Note: While these were darker topics, at the end, we explored why bitcoin is a necessity. The conversation does get technical at parts. So if you’re new to bitcoin, it may be a good idea to quickly learn about bitcoin wallets before listening to the episode. You can start learning about bitcoin wallets here. As always, please let me know your thoughts or if you have any questions!