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‘White hat’ hacker Amanda Rousseau hacks back at malicious software

Rousseau is No. 94 on the Recode 100.

By Rani Molla
Rani Molla is a senior correspondent at Vox and has been focusing her reporting on the future of work. She has covered business and technology for more than a decade — often in charts — including at Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal.
Part of The Recode 100

Amanda Rousseau is a “white hat” hacker and a senior malware researcher at security firm Endgame. Earlier this year, she reverse engineered the massive WannaCry ransomware attack — a cyber attack targeting Microsoft Windows that hit 200,000 victims in 150 countries — in order to prevent future outbreaks.

She’s also an avid voice on Twitter about cybersecurity and women in tech.

In August, Rousseau published a piece in Teen Vogue on what it’s like to be a female hacker.

“Since I was one of the few women on the floor, I had a higher standard to perform because I stood out and was an anomaly,” Rousseau wrote of her previous job at the U.S. Department of Defense. “In return, I was forced to learn how to get the job done efficiently and with no mistakes in a short amount of time, which allowed me to quickly rise through the ranks.”

This year she also founded VanitySec, a blog for women who are into fashion and cybersecurity.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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