DTF Cyber Podcast

Are you tracking cybersecurity metrics that actually keep your business secure, or are you just reporting "the weather" to your executive board? In Episode 48 of the DTF Cyber Podcast, Damian Chung, Troy Wilkinson, and Fern sit down with enterprise security operations leader Jason Barnes to look past the vanity metrics and deliver a definitive blueprint on the metrics that actually drive decisions...

The traditional cybersecurity entry-level pipeline is fundamentally changing. In Episode 47 of the DTF Cyber Podcast, Damian, Troy, and Fern break down the rapid evolution of security operations centers and tackle a stark reality: the traditional Tier-1 SOC analyst job is officially dead. With modern baseline metrics proving that AI platforms are automating over 50% of basic alert triage and log p...

The US government just laid down the hammer, officially recalling frontier AI models Fable 5 and Mythos 5. In Episode 46 of the DTF Cyber Podcast, Damian, Troy, and Fern dive into the chaos. Did a sophisticated prompt jailbreak a vulnerability-chaining machine into a zero-day weapon? What does this sudden regulation mean for corporate security teams, supply chain resiliency, and the blue team vs....

The patching paradigm has officially broken. CISA is considering a massive shift to a mandatory 3-day patch window for active exploits, but is a 72-hour turnaround an operational shield or a localized denial-of-service attack on your own engineering teams? In Episode 45, Damian, Troy, and Fern dive headfirst into the brutal reality of emergency vulnerability management. They tear down the growing...

Are you caught between a bedrock and a hard place with your organization's cloud budget? In Episode 44 of the DTF Cyber Podcast, Damian, Troy, and Fern break down the massive, unexpected financial and operational risks of enterprise AI deployments. From unmonitored AI agents creating a 100,000 "recursive loop" bill overnight to non-technical employees "vibe coding" insecure software with hardcoded...

The hackers are already moving at light speed. If you’re still waiting for a human to click "Approve," you’ve already lost the company. But if your autonomous AI nukes a production server during a board meeting, who stands in front of the regulators? In Episode 43, the DTF crew dives into the massive 2026 shift from automated playbooks to Agentic AI. Damian argues that traditional SOAR is dead, Tr...

In this episode of the DTF Cyber Podcast, Damian, Troy, and Fern tackle the terrifying reality of 2026: Identity is the new weapon of mass destruction. From the architectural suicide pact that allowed a 200,000-device wipe at Stryker to the personal blackmail engines fueled by the Match Group data breach, the team explores why your own IT tools are being turned against you. Timestamps 00:00 – The...

Is your resume landing in the trash before a human even sees it? This week on the DTF Cyber Podcast, Troy, Damian, and Fern get brutally honest about the cybersecurity job market. We aren't just talking about certifications; we're talking about why the standard advice is failing the next generation of cyber professionals. Troy reveals why he trashed 48 resumes in one morning, Damian explains why a...

Anthropic just changed the rules of the game with "Mythos"—a frontier-tier model that doesn't just find vulnerabilities; it reasons through a 23,000-word "Living Constitution" to decide if it even wants to help you. In this milestone Episode 40, Damian, Troy, and Fern dive into Project Glasswing, the secret group of 12 companies given early access to this "digital nuke," and debate whether we are...

In this episode, Damian, Troy, and Fern dive into the 'Wild West' of 2026: Shadow AI. From autonomous agents paying unapproved invoices to the rinse and repeat of the 2010 cloud revolution, the team debates whether AI agents are productivity miracles or a liability nightmare for the modern CISO. Timestamps: ⁠00:00 - The $50k Shadow Agent Invoice 01:02 - Fern’s Nightmare Scenario: The AI Agent in P...

In Episode 38 of the DTF Cyber Podcast, Fern and Troy welcome Healthcare CISO, Bob Schlotfelt. We dive into why an incident at a hospital is fundamentally different from a retail breach. While Damian is out, Bob brings decades of insight into protecting patient safety over just protecting data. We discuss the nightmare of unpatchable medical devices, why compliance doesn't equal security, and the...

Is the "Cyber Skills Gap" a myth? In this episode, Damian, Troy, and Fern strip away the HR fluff and talk about the cold, hard reality of the 2026 job market. From entry-level SOC roles being "squeezed" by AI to $3.5M CISO roles that come with massive personal liability, we’re breaking down what you’re actually worth and why your resume is likely being ghosted by a bot. If you aren't negotiating...

Chances are you’ve got the best tech money can buy, the latest AI, and the biggest firewalls—but you’re still losing. In this episode of the DTF Cyber Podcast, Damian and Fern sit down with Vancouver-based leadership coach and "positivity troll" Dom Vogel to discuss why the weakest link in cybersecurity isn’t a line of code, it’s the person behind the keyboard. We’re ignoring the hardware today to...

In this episode, Damian, Troy, and Fern dive into the heated controversy surrounding new federal reporting mandates. We explore the "Feds vs. Firewalls" dynamic: does mandatory reporting actually help stop the bad guys, or is it just a massive resource drain on teams already fighting for their lives? We break down the 72-hour reporting window for significant incidents and the even tighter 24-hour...

In this episode of the DTF Cyber Podcast, Damian, Troy , and Fern dive into the rapid and often confusing shift from tools like Clawdbot to Moltbot and finally OpenClaw. They discuss why these autonomous agents are more than just a productivity trend—they represent a significant new attack surface for the modern enterprise. From the "Toddler with a Chainsaw" analogy to the risk of "Shadow AI" in t...

Is the constant wave of alerts keeping you up at 3 a.m.? In this episode of the DTF Cyber Podcast, industry veterans Damian, Troy, and Fern dive deep into the reality of mental health and burnout in the cybersecurity industry. Special guest CISO, Vito Rocco jumps deep into this conversation. With 78% of professionals feeling stressed out and 62% citing alert overload as a primary cause, it's clear...

2026 is here, and the cybersecurity job market is evolving. Whether you are trying to break into the industry or land your next senior role, the playbook has changed. In this episode of the DTF Cyber Podcast, Fern and Troy are joined by Gary Perkins (CISO at CISO Global) to break down 8 actionable steps you can take right now to jumpstart your career. From building public red team projects to mast...

Is 2026 the year AI takes over everything—including the crimes? 🤖💸 In the final episode of 2025, Damian and Troy break down their Top 8 Cyber Predictions for 2026. From AI agents executing 90% of breaches to ransomware payouts potentially hitting half a billion dollars, the future of cybersecurity is moving fast. We also discuss the "Harvest Now, Decrypt Later" threat, why your LinkedIn profile...

The 2025 Cyber Christmas List That Actually Gets You Hired Happy holidays, nerds! Your mom just spent $79 on a “hacker hoodie” that says “Trust Me” in Comic Sans… …while real juniors are out here making six figures with a $29 Yubikey and a Raspberry Pi. In Episode 30, Damian, Troy & Fern save your Christmas with the only cyber gifts worth buying in 2025: • Under $50 stocking stuffers that turn...

2.5 billion daily account-takeover attempts. That’s one every 34 microseconds. Damian, Troy & Fern go full send-it mode on the 2025 ATO playbook: SIM swaps, session-token theft, MFA fatigue bombing, rogue QR codes, deep-fake family scams, and the OAuth tokens you granted in 2017 that are still wide open. Timestamps 00:00 – Intro 05:20 – SIM swaps & losing your phone number in minutes 09:40...

Anthropic’s new report is a wake-up call: hackers turned Claude into a near-autonomous espionage agent that handled 90% of the attack chain by itself. The future is officially here… and it’s terrifying. We go deep on how they did it, why current defenses are cooked, and what defenders need to do yesterday. Timestamps 00:00 – The scariest line Anthropic has ever published 01:17 – “Set it and forget...

The average company now runs 60+ cybersecurity tools — more apps than most people have on their phone. Is this making us safer… or just creating chaos, alert fatigue, and million-dollar shelf ware? In this episode, Damian, Troy, and Fern rip apart the tool sprawl epidemic: why CISOs are drowning in overlapping platforms, how 7% of IT budget became the “standard,” when best-of-breed actually beats...

In this eye-opening episode of the DTF Cyber Podcast, hosts Damian, Troy, and Fern tackle the theme of trust in cybersecurity. From external hackers spoofing CEOs in Microsoft Teams to incident response firms secretly double-dipping in ransomware negotiations, and a shocking $106M heist at the Louvre enabled by the password “louvre,” the crew explores real-world threats and defenses. Plus, tips on...

Dive into the wild world of cybersecurity certifications on this episode of the DTF Cyber Podcast! Hosts Damien, Troy, and Fern break down whether certs are the golden ticket to a six-figure cyber career, or if passion, experience, and networking matter more. From entry-level tips like CompTIA Security+ to gold standards like CISSP, they share real talk on getting hired, avoiding burnout, and buil...

Join hosts Fern and Troy as they sit down with legendary negotiator and cybersecurity expert Jean Shapiro (formerly of American Express) for an in-depth discussion on navigating cybersecurity budgets, building trust with vendors, leveraging crises for improvement, and fostering a culture of transparency. From managing $2B budgets to avoiding sales pitfalls and tying security to business impact, Je...