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Residence Los Angeles, California, United States Occupation Ethical Hacker, Cyber Security Expert, Consultant | ||
Ralph (Rafael) Echemendia is a cyber security specialist, who is known as the "The Ethical Hacker." He specialises in protecting intellectual property in the entertainment industry and educating on security.
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Early life
Echemendia was born in Cuba and raised in Miami where he attended Miami Senior High. His first computer was a Commodore 64. He began hacking with it at the age of 14.
Entertainment industry
Echmendia began working in entertainment when he created a secure online ticketing system for the Marley family. He also investigated the early online leak of an Eminem album.
In 2011, Echemendia was the lead technical investigator on the breach of security that led to The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 leaking. He worked to identify the person responsible for leaking behind the scenes pictures and videos of the film, almost a year before the movie’s release.
Echemendia formed RED-E Digital in 2012, the company is a vehicle to consult with the entertainment industry to protect pre-released content.
Enchemendia was approached by director Oliver Stone to collaborate on his movie, Savages. Echemendia worked with Stone to aid in the authenticity of the script and production design. Echemendia also had a cameo role in the film as "Wiley", the sound expert.
In 2015, Echemendia worked with Stone again for Snowden, providing technical supervision. He supported the actors by explaining the background to the technical terms in the script. Echemendia and screenwriter Kieran Fitzgerald also worked with Edward Snowden to replicate the actual NSA log-in screen. The production used a secure chat-and-file-sharing program from RED-E.
In 2016, Echemendia became the hacking consultant to directors and producers of Nerve.
Instruction
In 2009, Echemendia acted as Technical Reviewer for Pearson Education's whitepaper, Chained Exploits: Advanced Hacking Attacks from Start to Finish.
Echemendia has spoken at many technology events such as Austin's South by Southwest (SXSW), the Los Angeles Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Festival. His "Hacking Hollywood" appearance has been presented at Creative Artists Agency, the Digital Entertainment World Expo, the Content Protection & Piracy Summit, as well as the Anti-Piracy and Content Protection Summit.