Video summary
Josh Corman, founder of the non-profit organization "I Am The Cavalry," introduces a mission born from his experience at Hacker Summer Camp and supported by funding from Craig Newmark. The organization addresses a critical vulnerability where Chinese military actors have compromised US critical infrastructure, specifically targeting water, power, transportation, and communications sectors. Corman emphasizes that the failure of these systems is not merely an abstract cyber threat but a direct danger to human life; for instance, a loss of water supply can shut down hospitals within two to four hours, especially during summer heatwaves when cooling systems fail. The group operates on a theory of change that involves innovating narrowly within twelve US hospital towns to create successful models that can be widely replicated across other regions.
The core philosophy of the initiative draws parallels between cyber events and natural disasters like hurricanes or earthquakes, arguing that preparing for digital attacks also builds resilience against physical catastrophes and massive power outages. Corman notes that while the water industry is passionate, it suffers from a severe lack of inventory management; many organizations do not know exactly what devices they possess, where they are located, or when they were installed. This ignorance is dangerous because unknown devices often sit in remote fields with internet access, making them impossible to protect if they are compromised. The economic reality prevents hiring enough personnel to physically inspect every site, so the solution lies in leveraging remote access technologies and the existing skills of the cybersecurity community to monitor these hidden vulnerabilities.
The speaker calls upon the hacker community to transition their hobbyist curiosity into a professional responsibility for national security, asserting that as society becomes increasingly dependent on technology, it must rely on experts like them to ensure safety and trustworthiness. He urges citizens and organizations to stop ignoring these risks and to actively use their skills to defend human life, framing this effort not as an optional career path but as a necessary duty for neighbors and family members who depend on secure infrastructure. By informing, influencing, and inspiring the public about these threats, the group aims to turn the tide against "unnatural disasters" caused by cyber warfare. Ultimately, the message is one of empowerment: the talent pool exists to handle these challenges, and it is up to individuals to step forward and utilize their capabilities when society most needs them.
Read the full video transcript
I'm Josh Corman. I'm the founder of I am
the cavalry.org.
We just turned 13 years old after being
born here at Hacker Summer Camp. You
know, unstoppable 27 is a very short,
very intense, uh, funded non-profit
501c3 project
uh, focused on the fact that,
unfortunately, the Chinese military has
compromised US critical infrastructure,
specifically water, power,
transportation, and communications.
And based on my cavalry work with
healthcare, I know that no water means
no hospitals, no kidding, in about 2 to
4 hours, even shorter in the the heat of
the summer where there's no HVAC. Uh,
Craig Newmark of Craigslist wanted to
fund it.
Uh, so at u27.org, we have a theory of
change. We've been operating on it. The
idea is to innovate narrowly with 12 US
hospital towns and replicate those
successes widely to [music] the others.
>> Water is something that I got into, um,
10, 15 years ago and really kind of fell
in love with it cuz it's
it's a [music]
it's something that needs a lot of work,
but at the same time it's a very
dedicated, very passionate group of
people that keep the water flowing. I
like to tell people, you know, when the
power goes out and everything else is
going to the hell around you,
you can usually turn on your water
faucet and there's going to be water,
all right? The fire trucks generally
have fire, uh, you can get water [music]
out of fire hydrant.
Um, and that's a that's a huge amount of
people that are involved in that.
>> Some of our weakest sectors are water
and food supply and healthcare and,
um, we're also not so good when things
cascade from one sector to another.
>> Solving the problems that a cyber event
can cause and planning for those also
takes care of situations around where
might a tornado might have an earthquake
or some massive power outage.
>> We took a page out of crisis management
and natural disasters. These are
unnatural disasters, but
when it comes to like hurricanes or
floods, you know, one of the things I
was told by a national security person
is you have to inform, [music]
influence, inspire, right? Tell them
what you know, tell them what you don't
know. I think [music] a lot of us in the
hack culture, we did this
as a hobby.
You know, curiosity was our crime,
right? Um when we weren't paying
attention, our hobby became our
profession. And we did we did this for
an employer or for a business or in a
capitalistic enterprise. As the world
increasingly depends on technology, they
increasingly depend on us to make sure
it's safe
and trustworthy. Get your off of
Showdan, as one of my good friends says.
The number one issue that we in the
water industry have right now is an
inventory. We don't know what we have.
Um and so if the first thing that the
people would do after they hear this is
just walk out, physically walk their
processes down, and and take pictures
and just build a spreadsheet of all the
stuff that's out there. It's not the
device that you walk past every day in
the plant. It's a device out in a remote
field. I mean, one of the things about
the water that you've got to understand
is that to get from one end of my
jurisdiction to the other might take a
3-hour drive. It's the economics, right?
We don't we're not going to hire six
more people, but we can put remote
access in it at 50 sites. So, [music]
um in a lot of cases, these devices just
kind of show up. Um nobody knows how
they got installed, when they got
installed, but doggone it, they're
sitting there and they're on the
internet and and uh we didn't know it.
Can't protect what you don't know,
right? What you don't know is there, so.
My mission, my call to action is
you know, whether you wanted this
responsibility or not, we are the the
talent pool that knows these things. We
do know what goes bump in the night. We
do know how to bump back.
And I
I ask you to whether you wanted to do
this or not,
this is the moment that
our neighbors, our family members, our
fellow citizens depend upon us. Will we
show up? This is about protecting human
life, [music] and we have the skills.
Uh I hope you're willing and able to use
them.
>> Maryland is the home of Old Bay,
McCormick Spice.
So, I I guess I'll make that my handle
now. Old Bay, somebody suggested.