Trojan foal: In conversation with a professional hacker from Borussia Mönchengladbach

We would like to report on a very special connection that we have been proud to maintain for two years: our partnership with Borussia Mönchengladbach. This partnership goes far beyond sport. In the run-up to the event, we looked closely at the question of what values this traditional club stands for and whether they match ours. The answer was a resounding yes.

Our collaboration is based on shared principles such as teamwork, strategic thinking and the constant pursuit of improvement. These parallels are not only reflected in sport, but also in our daily work in the field of information security. Concepts such as defence, attack and exploiting vulnerabilities are central to both the football pitch and the cyber world.

To explore these fascinating connections in more detail, we had the pleasure of welcoming a special guest to our podcast: Robin Hack. Robin gave us a deep insight into the world of professional football. The interview is available both as a podcast to listen to and as a written summary.

Michael: Robin, how are you today?

Robin: Yes, I'm actually doing relatively well. The season is over, ticked off. And now it's time to get down to the business of staying in the league. Exactly. That was the least we wanted to achieve. But it's still...Yes. I think we're all glad that we did it the day before the last matchday. And now we'll go down, recharge our batteries, recharge our batteries and then we'll move forward again.

Very well. That's how we felt as fans too, of course. We were very happy that it worked out on the penultimate matchday. Many greetings again to FC Köln, who unfortunately didn't make it, but did us a small favour by beating Berlin. Yes, we've already had many cybersecurity experts as guests here on the podcast and now we want to look at the other side and try to make the transfer to football. A hacker by definition is someone who is very tech-savvy, tinkers a lot and is creative in their use of technology. If we follow this line of reasoning, you're basically a professional hacker. Where in your life, perhaps as an introductory question, has the topic of cybersecurity or information security ever touched you? Are there any points?

Are you referring specifically to social media?

Basically: Do you have a home network where you have already had to deal with this issue?Or do you use a password generator?

Luckily, I have someone in the family who knows a lot about it and who, I think, takes care of everything for me because I personally don't know much about it. But yes, I'm also glad that we have this person and they always do it. But of course, you deal with it, especially nowadays with social media, especially Instagram and WhatsApp, which are all there, there are already a lot of private things involved and I think you're already behind keeping it all private.

Have you ever come across a cyberattack or incident in the media that you've followed a bit? I mean, there are a lot of headlines these days.

So even for me personally, there have often been attempts to hack something, be it Facebook or Instagram. I think it feels like an everyday occurrence. You hear from every corner that someone is trying to hack something.

Unfortunately, exactly, and it's still on the rise. We recently had another incident with VARTA AG, a large company from Germany, which is still suffering from this. The incident happened months ago. The SPD was recently in the headlines again, talking about an incident a year and a half ago. But as I said, we want to build a bridge to football today. And as already mentioned, we have topics such as exploiting vulnerabilities, which we need to do in the security context, namely carry out analyses: Where do we have vulnerabilities so that we can then close them? Hence the question to you: How do you actually prepare for an opponent like this? You know that a defence is coming to BORUSSIA-PARK and you know, okay, we have to break them down somehow if we want to get three points, otherwise it won't work. Can you give us a few insights into how that works? Video analysis, preparation for an opponent?

Yes, we usually start towards the middle or beginning of the week. In the new week and throughout the week, we then have two or three sessions for video analysis. First we look at the offence, then the defence, mainly also standards. We break everything down explicitly and try to find weak points in the opposition, especially in their defence, and think about how we want to defend against their offence. That's spread out over the week. At the beginning we often do regeneration to recover the body, then towards the end or middle of the week we start with the new opponent, with video analyses. We then try to implement this on the pitch and prepare the given things in such a way that it is relatively close to the game. I think that's our normal weekly routine.

What exactly do you look at for scenes? Are they successful goals or goals from another team that have already been scored against this opponent? Or do you also watch successful tequings?

Rightly different. There are teams that rely heavily on individual players, where you know that two or three players will get the ball and you have to watch out. The player is extremely quick, often goes into 1-v-1 and then crosses. Then we look at scenes like that. But there are also teams that have a strong team structure and compactness. It's different in every video analysis. Some teams are more team orientated and come through several stations. But then there are also teams, for example Bayern, who have four extremely individual players up front, who can solve situations in tight spaces where you can't prevent everything, who get the ball, turn up the heat and maybe even play off two players. And that's how we act differently. It varies from team to team.

This is now the analysis of the opponent, so to speak, especially in defence. What about the individual players? Do you explicitly look for weak points there too? For example: Joshua Kimmich at FC Bayern. We know he's a pretty decent right-back. When you play against him as a left winger, do you explicitly look at scenes of Joshua Kimmich, how he positions and defends his opponents?

I don't think I need to look at Joshua Kimmich, because I've known him for a while and have seen a few of his games. But I don't really care who plays in my position because I'm more of a player who looks for spaces and doesn't stay static in one position and wait for the ball. I want to be involved, let myself drop, sometimes sprint deep. That's why it doesn't really matter to me whether a 1.95 metre tall defender plays against me, who is very robust, or a 1.60 metre tall defender who is quicker than me. For me, it's about finding the spaces on the pitch. If anything, I wouldn't look at a specific player, but rather the overall structure of the team, where gaps are forming and what spaces I can go into to create space. That's more my approach, especially because I tend to play on the wing. I've also played up front and in the ten, which I also like to do, but more in the left half-space. It's not just one player, but four or five players who come into question.

That's why I tend to look at how the team shifts, which spaces I can start in to buy myself time.

Absolutely, that's true of course. You don't always just play against a single opponent, but also against the right midfielder or the six-man who can push you out. Of course, you have a few who come into question, including centre-backs, if you outstrip the first one.

Sometimes I do something really crazy and go to the right side, just running across the pitch. So, I'm actually relatively flexible. The main thing is that we get forward somehow.

Yes, exactly, hackers are known to be creative, aren't they?

This is how it looks.

You had a real run in the second half of the season, scoring ten goals. Did you do anything differently or is that just a normal development process?

No, I don't think so. I stepped on the gas right from the start. I think I worked a little bit and then just got the confidence from the coach. It just worked better. I think that was the only thing that was a bit different: I was set up, released and then allowed to take my chance. Exactly, I took my chance, was then allowed to play more often and of course, with goals comes confidence, and then it went relatively well towards the end and was fun, also for me personally. Even if the results weren't what we'd hoped for, I personally always tried to give my all and have a positive influence on the team. That was the motto. And I always tried to help the team with scoring points, with goals - that's not so much, but goals rather than goals.

Yes, I saw two. I think those were the first two. Stuttgart in the second half of the season. I think they came in second or third in the table. They were definitely at the top, very strong. And then you won 3:1 at home here. That was your first brace. I think we wrote Doppelhack because it was such a good fit.

Yes, I've heard that a few times too.

Strong. It was definitely very, very important and very good. Congratulations and respect for the great performance, great second half. Now you've already said it, we're going into the summer break. But we still have football. The European Championship in your own country is just around the corner. How are you following the games?

I think like every other German. So, I watch every game, no matter where I am in the period. I try to follow it, to support it. I think we'll all do that and then hopefully have an attractive and successful European Championship at home.

That's what we really want. Finally, perhaps: We've been a sponsor for two years now. Have you or can you tell me how and whether you have perceived us or are aware of us in the Borussia environment?

As I said earlier, I have relatively little knowledge of the subject, but the name is already very present. So you often read it here and when I received the enquiry about the podcast, I knew relatively quickly what it was about. So for someone who has no idea about the topic, I can say that the name is very present and that it is already known here in the club and I think also in the neighbourhood.

Finally, we would like to thank Robin Hack once again for his time and the exciting insights. His explanations on video analysis and match preparation impressively demonstrated how important it is to prepare intensively for the opponent. These principles are not only crucial in football, but also in cyber security.

Our aim is to convey precisely this message to our partners: Prepare for your opponent's attacks and it won't hurt so much in the end. Prevention and preparation are the key to recognising weak points and defending yourselves effectively.

We hope that you have taken as much from this conversation as we have. Stay tuned and stay safe - on the pitch and online! Thanks for reading and see you next time!