The Conversational Geek Podcast

As an MSP, you should already know that profitability is the real business you’re in. So any unpredictability in your business model equates to a potential, well.., “UNprofitablity”. As part of your backup as a service, you keep customer data for a specific period and even retain some for long periods of time. But, as your customer base grows, so does the backup storage necessary to accommodate ne...

As cybercriminals continue to leverage email as a primary initial attack vector, attacks that rely on domain, brand, and individual impersonation result in business email compromise, vendor email compromise, and deposit fraud. Of course, there’s an opportunity for email scanning solutions and even security awareness training to help with the problem, but there’s an entire security protocol establi...

As organizations look for ways to better leverage the cloud to deliver resources and services to employees, customers, and partners, one of the results is going to be expansions in network infrastructure and increases in network traffic by communication service providers, or CSPs. So, what does the future look like for CSPs, how are enterprises driving this future, and what’s the benefit to IT org...

A cybersecurity stance is, of course, made up of a number of solutions that each inspect, detect, protect, and respond in a consistent manner. And it’s this consistency that somewhat determines just how secure the organization is. But what about when you factor in the human element – the “great inconsistency”, if you will. How do users impact the organization’s cybersecurity stance? Find out as we...

It's fair to say that when we think about stopping a cyberattack, it's almost always in the context of some kind of assumption of having a number of solutions in play. And, depending on the types of solutions you use (and, of course, the specific ones you employ), the costs begin to add up. So, is an "unlimited" budget a requirement here, or is it even possible to defend on a budget? Find out as w...

Whether an enterprise is in the public or private sector, there’s a need secure and compliant communication on enterprise-authorized channels by all employees within an organization. Such policies are vital not only for regulatory compliance but also for safeguarding data privacy and maintaining resilience against cyber threats. So, what’s at risk and how does it impact your organization? Find out...

If a system has a vulnerability, you patch it, right? So what’s the patch for users that continually click on malicious content in email and on the web? It’s Security Awareness Training, of course. In the world of we vulnerability management, never have a system reject a patch, or resent the IT team for applying it – but in the case of Security Awareness Training, it’s an ever-present problem. Why...

One of the growing focuses of globally-minded organizations today is the adoption of eco-friendly and sustainable products. Many governments and regulatory bodies have introduced laws and regulations that compel organizations to think and act this way. The digital transformation to the cloud leveraging virtualization and hyperconverged infrastructure is one example of how IT is leading the way. Bu...

Very often data privacy and security are overseen by compliance regulations that often span multiple jurisdictions. Laws like GDPR and California’s CCPA have found ways to make the expanse of their influence go global (or at very least, cross-border), despite organizations not existing within locales where the laws originate. We’ve even seen very large fines issued (something we’ll talk about toda...

There are approximately 7 Billion IoT devices in use today, and with the introduction of 5G making it far easier for sensors and remote devices to quickly send data to the organization, this number is expected to grow to over 25 Billion by 2030. So, what should we expect to see in the coming years from IoT? In this podcast, we'll talk with Larry Socher, SVP of Strategy and Alliances at Eseye about...

There’s a ton of focus placed on the problem of phishing attacks – and rightly so; a recent global study has phishing listed as both the most often used initial attack vector and the more frequent attack type involved in experienced cyberattacks. But the real problem isn’t so much the phishing, but the underlying social engineering used within these campaigns – something that has spread to be used...

When we think of Microsoft Teams, most often we jump to thinking about features and capabilities, integrations, and automations. But there’s SO much more to Teams today than just the software itself; Microsoft has put tremendous effort into creating an ecosystem of tools, solutions, communities, and initiatives in place to make your organization thrive THROUGH its use of Teams. In this podcast, we...

It's no secret that the absolute majority of cyberattacks begin with a phishing attacks, with as many as one in nine malicious emails making their way past security solutions. But it's not just the malicious emails that are to blame; as users within organizations play a few roles in elevating your organization's risk of attack via email. In this podcast, we'll talk with Jack Chapman, VP of Threat...

There's a lot of noise from security vendors about what Zero Trust is and what it takes to get there. And becuase we all know they have their own take on the topic, it's necessary to step back and figure out what kinds of people, processes, technologies, and timelines will be necessary to achieve an impactful state of Zero Trust. And is it more a discipline than a process? A mindset rather than a...

We see a lot of claims like “Hackers could see through walls to steal your passwords” or “Government Agency Warns That Hackers Could Hijack Some Implanted Defibrillators.” The media often latch on to new vulnerabilities and hype them to a point where organizations put time in to patching them because leadership believes they are a critical issue – they’ve been in the news after all. But does this...

There have been plenty of desktop management solutions available over the last 20 plus years. But the modern desktop can literally be anywhere, can be physical or virtual, located on-prem, in a datacenter, or in the cloud. And there are a barrage of management tools both from Microsoft and third party vendors today, each doing things a little bit differently, requiring organizations to need to loo...

While Microsoft Teams has been around for a number of years, the pandemic jumpstarted a massive focus on the digital workspace, surging in popularity and use. Microsoft has been continually enhancing Teams over the last 3 years, helping organizations with productive online communication and collaboration. But, what’s next for Teams? Should their competition be worried? And should you be excited? F...

Why is it that no two cyber insurers have the same set of requirements, coverage, and exclusions? Is there actually a way organizations can get the policy they need to protect themselves from cyberattack risk? Find out the answers to these questions and more as we dive deep into the current state of cyber insurance with cyber insurance author, broker, and self-proclaimed “cyber insurance nerd” Jos...

How is it that a company launches because of an episode of “Dancing with the Stars”? Why is Steve Wozniak to blame? And how did Conversational Geek evolve from an idea for a book all the way to a global brand? Find out the answers to these questions and more as we pay homage to our origin story in our very first episode of The Conversational Geek Podcast with guest speaker 8-time Microsoft MVP awa...