Tony Brown and Lee Ayers on the 2600 Cybersecurity Meetup in Charleston

I’m at the 2600 meetup at KDE Technology in downtown Charleston. Tony Brown explains it’s a cybersecurity and tech community meet that happens the first Friday of every month from 5 to 7 or 8, and it connects to an international 2600 network that started in 1984, with meetups happening around the world the same night. Lee Ayers frames it as a place to bring the community together, including people who are not in cybersecurity but want to learn. The room covers everything from lock picking to Active Directory, and we talk about hacking history that starts with phone phreaking before personal computers. Tony breaks down what people misunderstand about security: the best defense is basic habits like long passwords, password management, not reusing or sharing passwords, and using two factor authentication. When I ask Lee for a principle he stands on, he lands on zero trust, which means giving only the permissions needed and treating security as a concept, not just code. Tony closes by sharing how to visit at 111 Hale Street and follow the KDE Technology Facebook page for monthly event posts.