Soft-Spoken. Self-Taught. Zoom Bots: Bandana Kaur on Confidence, LLMs & Climbing Cringe Mountain

🔐 She Built a Zoom Bot at 13 to Skip Class… and Ended Up Securing NASA.
Meet [@Bandana | Hack With Her], a rising cybersecurity force who’s not waiting for permission to shape the future.

At just 17, Bandana is:
✨ A cybersecurity researcher focused on adversarial attacks on LLMs
🌐 A UN Dynamic Team Coalition Cybersecurity Lead
🎓 A National Cybersecurity Education Ambassador
👩‍💻 A bug bounty hunter who’s helped secure NASA, the U.S. Dept. of Education & the Indian government

But what makes her story magnetic isn’t just the accomplishments — it’s how she started:
➡️ Taught herself Python through W3Schools
➡️ Built a Zoom bot to skip 7am classes during lockdown
➡️ Climbed “Cringe Mountain” to share her learning in public
➡️ Grew a personal brand on Instagram & LinkedIn from scratch

We talked about:
✔️ The fine line between personal branding and bragging
✔️ Why vulnerability is key to networking
✔️ GenAI’s dual role in good and harm — and how she’s defending against jailbreak attacks
✔️ Her mission to make the cyberspace livable for everyone

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SHOW NOTES

Instagram - Hackwithher
Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/hackwither/

BOOKS
The Web Application Hacker's Handbook
– A comprehensive guide to web app security and penetration testing.

The Car Hacker's Handbook
– Focused on automotive cybersecurity and how to understand and exploit vehicle systems.

The 30 Ways to Make Money Hacking Ethically
– A bug bounty hunting book that explains 30 vulnerability types with real examples.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 1:25 Background
• 3:59 Intial Start - Zoom Bot
• 7:34 Persuing Programming
• 8:50 Mentors - Its a Family Affair
• 10:51 Advice in getting your first Internship?
• 12:56 Personal Brand vs Content Creation
• 15:02 How to build up your Network
• 18:13 How Big was your Network before your Internship?
• 20:05 Networking Helps Create Serenditpity
• 21:46 Thoughts on GenAI
• 24:55 How are Cyber Threat Actors Targeting LLMs?
• 26:15 What has suprised you about the Cybersecurity?
• 29:22 Tips for Students and Transitioning Professionals
• 31:26 Favorite Hacker Movie?
• 32:42 Where do you see yourself in Five Years?
• 34:43 Book Recommendations
• 35:55 Closing