Behind the Shield - A Virtual Guardian Podcast

Expert panelists and host Marco Estrela brings you behind our shield to discuss current cybersecurity topics ripped from the headlines. This month, we welcomed a very special guest: Paul Schmick, Executive Vice-President and Chief Security & Technology Officer for Alliance Security US. Paul joined our panelists Patrick Naoum, Bill Strub, Toby Penn, and host Marco Estrela for an insightful and...

RSA Conference 2026 Recap This month on Behind the Shield, the team dives into their experience at RSA Conference 2026—one of the cybersecurity industry’s biggest annual gatherings. Host Marco Estrela is joined by Bill Strub, Toby Penn, and special guest Tommy Koorevaar, Manager of SOC at Virtual Guardian, as they break down the key themes and takeaways from this year’s event. From the latest buzz...

Expert panelists and host Marco Estrela brings you behind our shield to discuss current cybersecurity topics ripped from the headlines. This month, we welcomed a very special guest: Jay Suggs, Founder of Suggcess Consulting Services and crisis leadership specialist. Jay joined our panelists Patrick Naoum, Bill Strub, Toby Penn, and host Marco Estrela for an insightful and dynamic discussion. Hot T...

Expert panelists and host Marco Estrela brings you behind our shield to discuss current cybersecurity topics ripped from the headlines. This month we had a special guest! Elisa Mula, Founder of EM Designs, joined our panelists. Elisa and Marco went toe to toe, would Marco’s physical penetration prowess hold its own or would Elisa’s physical security tactics crush Marco like a bug! Listen to find o...

Expert panelists and host Marco Estrela brings you behind our shield to discuss current cybersecurity topics ripped from the headlines. Hot Topics: Cybercriminals Leveraging ChatGPT, AI’s “Lethal Trifecta”, F5 Networks Source Code Theft, SharePoint Vulnerability Update, Disrupting Malicious Uses of AI, AI-Powered Password Guessing Threat  

Expert panelists and host Marco Estrela bring you behind our shield to discuss current cybersecurity topics ripped from the headlines. This episode's Hot Topics include: The city of St. Paul's ransomware shutdown, Canada joins the EU in a cybersecurity pact, Palo Alto acquires CyberArk, SharePoint hack vulnerability, the Uberization of hacking, WhatsApp and Telegram banned in Russia   Sources: Top...

Expert panelists and host Marco Estrela bring you behind our shield to discuss current cybersecurity topics ripped from the headlines. In this special episode, we hear from panelists Patrick Naoum, Bill Strub, and new to the panel, Toby Penn about their experience at the 2025 edition of RSA. Tune in to hear about some of this year's trending topics, most popular booths, and puppies at the conferen...

This month we welcome guest and sponsor Julia Furst Morgado of Veeam for her spotlight topic "The Critical Nature of Incident Readiness and Response" and to chat about this month’s biggest cyber headlines with our panelists Marco Estrela, Patrick Naoum, and Bill Strub.   Topic 1: Patrick Article title: Statement on People's Republic of China reconnaissance of Canadian systems Source: https://www.c...

Expert panelists and host Marco Estrela bring you behind our shield to discuss current cybersecurity topics ripped from the headlines. In this special episode, the team interviews one of Virtual Guardian's top SOC managers Tommy Koorevaar. Their discussion dives into what a day in the life of a SOC manager entails and common misconceptions about the inner workings of SOC teams. Our panelists also...

Happy New Year Behind the Shield listeners! This month we welcome back guest Tom Tovar, CEO and Co-Creator of our sponsor Appdome to reflect on the biggest cybersecurity headlines of 2024 and share predictions for 2025! Our guest is joined by host Marco Estrela and expert panelists Patrick Naoum, Bill Strub, and Jason Williams.

This month we welcome guest Tom Tovar, CEO and Co-Creator of our sponsor Appdome to chat about this month’s biggest cyber headlines with our panelists Marco Estrela, Patrick Naoum, Bill Strub and Jason Williams.   To learn more about Appdome's consumer survey on mobile security mentioned in this episode visit: https://www.appdome.com/mobile-consumer-cyber-security-survey-2024/   Hot Topics:   Topi...

This month we're joined by Mike Melo, CISO of Ontario’s Life Labs, for a Q&A about his CISO role, what keeps him up at night and the pitfalls of trying to achieve cyber-resilience. If you’re interested in having a sneak peek into the daily life of a CISO, you won’t want to miss this interview. Hot Topics segment includes: Utilities getting attacked (again!), is quantum computing threatening Bi...

This month we welcome guest and sponsor Lisa Jones-Huff of Elastic to chat about this month’s biggest cyber headlines with our panelists Marco Estrela, Patrick Naoum, Bill Strub and Jason Williams. Hot Topics:  Topic 1: Jason Article title: Microsoft summit plots end of kernel access for EDR security clients Source: https://www.csoonline.com/article/3523753/microsoft-summit-plots-end-of-kernel-acc...

Back from our summer hiatus, we have a brand new episode of Behind the Shield! This month we’ve brought back one of our favorite special guests, Chris Vincent, to chat about this month’s biggest cyber headlines with our panelists Marco Estrela, Patrick Naoum, Bill Strub and Jason Williams. Hot Topics: CrowdStrike’s global blue screen of death debacle, splitting the CISO role, Oracle’s NetSuite woe...

The Behind the Shield team is back with the latest in cybersecurity! This month is a Hot Topics only show with panelists Patrick Naoum, Bill Strub, Jason Williams and your host Marco Estrela.  Hot Topics: Fortigates get breached, Do you recall when Recall was recalled?, medical-related ransomware breaking all kinds of records (Recorded Future study), arrests in the Desjardins hack, update on the S...

Expert panelists and host Marco Estrela bring you behind our shield to discuss current cybersecurity topics ripped from the headlines. This episode's Hot Topics include: Do bounties for ransomware work? Black Basta, wreaking havoc again! Google accidentally wiping out a huge account and APT28 cybercrime group updates. Stay tuned to the end of this episode for some bonus insights from some of the b...

Behind the Shield host Marco Estrela and panelists Patrick Naoum and Jason Williams are joined by Bruno Germain of this episode's sponsor: Zscaler.    This episode's hot topics include: Sources: Topic 1: Jason Article title: Hackers Deploy Python Backdoor in Palo Alto Zero-Day Attack Source: https://thehackernews.com/2024/04/hackers-deploy-python-backdoor-in-palo.html   Topic 2: Patrick Article ti...

Expert panelists (including our new panelist Jason Williams) and host Marco Estrela bring you behind our shield to discuss current cybersecurity topics ripped from the headlines. This episode's all Hot Topics format includes: The Volt Typhoon announcement, Cyberattack on US healthcare payment system, SEC Cybersecurity Disclosure coming into effect, Lessons from the Microsoft's Password Spray Hack,...

Expert panelists, including our guest Matt Konwiser from this month's sponsor IBM Security, and host Marco Estrela discuss current cybersecurity topics ripped from the headlines. This episode's Hot Topics include: Open AI’s concerns about #GenAI, the data security of AI boy/girlfriends, Matt’s take on the #AppleProVision, and LockBit’s recent bust by the UK government. If you want to talk to us ab...

Virtual Guardian 's BTS panelists and guest Jane Arnett of Check Point cover hot topics, revisit the highs and lows of cybersecurity in 2023, and make their predictions and wishes for 2024.    Hot Topic Sources: Article title: Hackers Extort Victim with SEC Whistleblower Complaint Source: https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/hackers-extort-victim-with-sec-2694993/#:~:text=In%20an%20unintended%20conse...

We didn't have time to get to all of our Hot Topics in the Nov 2nd Behind the Shield!  Ready for a little more  cyber news from Marco, Bill and Patrick? Bonus Hot Topics: AI Kidnapping Hoaxes: https://www.darkreading.com/black-hat/virtual-kidnapping-ai-tools-enabling-irl-extortion-scams Johnson Controls Breach - An Update from Patrick from last week's discussion. https://www.msspalert.com/news/joh...

November 2023 Episode (Recorded on 11.02.2023) – Special #AIWeek Episode Expert panelists, including our guest Chris ‘Tito’ Sestino of HiddenLayer , and host Marco Estrela discuss current cybersecurity topics ripped from the headlines. Hot Topics:  Credit card fraud while traveling; AI generated phishing attacks, Johnson Controls Breach, Emerging AI Regulations & Effects Spotlight: “Securing A...

September 2023 Episode (Recorded on 9.21.2023) Expert panelists and host Marco Estrela discuss current cybersecurity topics ripped from the headlines. Hot Topics: MGM and Caesar’s Cyberattack, TransUnion Data stolen, Microsoft AI Employee Accidental Leak, Canadian Airports DOS, Clorox Breach Extras:  CISCO’s $28B purchase of SPLUNK, NaviLogic’s name change to Virtual Guardian   Sources: Topic 1: B...

August 2023 Episode (Recorded on 8.3.2023) Hot Topics: Cybersecurity labeling for smart devices, New 4-Day disclosure requirement by SEC, Chinese Malware’s Potential Impacts to US, WormGPT, JumpCloud hack linked to North Korea, US’s Data Breach Record Extras:  Rapid Fire Q&A for the panel; Remembering Kevin Mitnick, 1990s “Most Wanted Computer Outlaw” Sources: Topic 1: Patrick #1 Article title...

June 2023 Episode (Originally Aired Live on 6.15.2023) Hot Topics: US-based white hat researcher, Eaton Zveare, discovers serious flaws in well-known carmaker; Phishing controversy using pay raise as bait; Making progress in the war against cybercrime. Special Guest Panelist: Graham Cluley of the award-winning “Smashing Security” podcast. Spotlight: Rudolph Araujo, Arista Networks : IoT, Ransomwar...