Kids tease each other that it "takes one to know one." Takes "one" of whatever is under discussion, that is: nurds, bullies, goobers, stinkers and so forth. There's a slightly more seasoned aphorism about criminal activity that has a similar ring to it. It takes a thief, the saying goes, to catch a thief. If you want to understand criminal activity, then you have to consult an actual criminal, or at least learn to think like one. Countless Hollywood movies have followed this blueprint - including, earlier this year, the cybercrime thriller Blackhat starring Chris Hemsworth.

Now global governance and IT security organization ISACA is taking a similar approach to teaching principles of cybersecurity. ISACA is hosting a free webinar (registration required) on Thursday (Aug. 13) to help attendees sharpen their IT security skills. In particular, the webinar aims to provide some "inside baseball" intrigue by helping security pros in charge of protecting enterprise networks to gain "a healthy dose of 'knowing your enemy.' " Want to know what a dedicated attacker is thinking while planning an attempt to crack your corporate network? Here's your chance to get inside their head.

If life were a Hollywood movie, then the webinar, titled "Dissecting the Top Five Network Attack Methods: A Thief's Perspective," would be hosted by a briefly furloughed and internationally notorious hacker, serving time at a federal supermax for cracking the NSA's most secure network, and led out of his cell in chains to a Skype setup in the prison library just minutes before the start time. Real life being what it is, of course, "Dissecting the Top Five Network Attack Methods" will be hosted by a pair of senior security executives from Intel.

The speakers are Nat Smith and Steve Grossenbacher, who serve, respectively, in director of network security and senior manager of network security roles for Intel Security. Both men are intimately involved in bringing the McAfee Network Security Platform to market (Intel acquired McAfee in 2011 and is in the process of rebranding its products as Intel Security).

The Intel Security duo will base their presentation on recent market research that identified common methods favored by thieves to breach network security. The thrust of the presentation is to help security pros view their networks the way that intruders view them, and take action accordingly to counter the most frequently used approaches to network penetration.

The webinar begins at noon (Eastern time), and is scheduled to last one hour. Attendance is especially encouraged for security pros who have ISACA certifications, as the webinar will provide a chunk of Continuing Professional Education credits at no cost.