FIRST Impressions Podcast

Rapidly approaching, the EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) is set to reshape how manufacturers develop, secure, and support digital products. In this episode of the First Impressions Podcast, Mars Cheng of TXOne Networks breaks down what the CRA means for organizations that want to sell products in the European market and why the regulation is being called one of the most significant cybersecurity com...

In this episode of First Impressions, Julie Agnes Sparks and Greg Foss of Datadog discuss the growing wave of SaaS-focused attacks, from credential theft and supply chain compromises to large-scale data exfiltration campaigns targeting platforms like Salesforce, GitHub, and other cloud services. They explore the visibility gaps that make these incidents difficult to detect, the challenges of monit...

In this episode of the First Impressions Podcast, FIRSTCON26 Speakers, Cheng-Lin Yang and Lily Chen of CyCraft, explore a growing threats to LLM-assisted security workflows: poisoned artifacts designed to manipulate AI-generated analysis. They discuss how a single malicious document can attract an AI's attention, influence its reasoning, and ultimately alter the information presented to security t...

In this episode of the First Impressions Podcast, we sit down with Vijay Sarvepalli and Christopher Cullen to unpack the chaotic reality of modern vulnerability coordination. From AI-generated bug reports and patching nightmares to insecure pickle files, Log4j flashbacks, and the race to secure open source software before attackers strike, the conversation dives deep into how security teams can “p...

In the first episode of the 2026 season of the First Impressions Podcast, Mor Weinberger and Lior Kaplan preview their upcoming FIRST Conference session, “From Discovery to Fix: What 10,000 Open Source Projects Reveal About CVE Remediation.” The discussion explores why vulnerability remediation remains slow despite the growing speed of CVE discovery, especially as AI accelerates vulnerability rese...

The FIRST Impressions Podcast returns for FIRSTCON26! This kick off episode brings Program Chair, Merike Kaeo, to the table to discuss the vision behind the 38th Annual FIRST Conference program and the goals and challenges faced. Centered around the theme “Peak Defense: Building Adaptive Systems for Modern Threats,” Merike shares how this year’s program was carefully designed to balance technical...

In this episode of the FIRST Impressions Podcast, FIRSTCON25 Speaker, Matias Mesiä of NCSC-FI, discusses the high-impact 2024 data breach that targeted the City of Helsinki’s education department. With over 100,000 residents affected, Matias breaks down how the incident unfolded and the coordinated response involving NCSC-FI, city officials, service providers, and law enforcement. He shares the un...

In this episode of the FIRST Impressions Podcast, Martin and Chris chat with FIRSTCON25 speaker, John Hollenberger of Fortinet. John offers a sneak peek into his session, "Building the Blueprint: Designing Effective Storyboards for Cybersecurity Tabletop Exercises." He explains how detailed storyboards can shape more impactful tabletop exercises by aligning objectives, scenarios, injects, and key...

In this episode of FIRST Impressions, the hosts interview FIRSTCON25 speaker, Cornelia Puhze of SWITCH-CERT, a human-centered security professional and co-chair of the FIRST Human Factors in Security SIG. Cornelia dives into the world of social engineering, AI-driven manipulation, and how we can better educate people to protect themselves from scams without the burden of technical jargon. She emph...

In this episode of FIRST Impressions, hosts Martin McKay and Chris John Riley speak with Desiree Sacher and Carson Zimmerman about their upcoming talk at the 2025 FIRST Conference in Copenhagen. Drawing from personal experience and scientific research, they unpack the complexities of burnout in cybersecurity — exploring its causes, impact, and sustainable solutions for both individuals and organiz...

In this episode of FIRST Impressions, hosts Chris John Riley and Martin McKeay speak with John Stoner, Global Principal Security Strategist at Google Cloud. Together they discuss the importance of ongoing detection testing, the challenges of running emulations in production environments, and how to balance technical goals with organizational constraints. John previews his upcoming talk at the 2025...

In this special FIRSTCON25 FIRST Impressions episode, our hosts, Chris John Riley and Martin McKeay interview Henrik Larsen, Program Chair of the 2025 FIRST Conference in Copenhagen. Henrik discusses the conference theme: “Fortresses of the Future: Building Bridges, Not Walls” and previews keynote speakers, Scandinavian influence, and cultural highlights of the host city. Tune in to learn what to...

In this FIRST Impressions podcast episode, we dive into the fascinating world of mobile network security with Umair Bukhari, Director and Head of Ericsson P-Cert. Umair shares insights on the evolution of telecom threat environments, from the early days of 1G to the cutting-edge advancements in 5G and beyond. In the interview, he highlights how these changes impact both users and network security,...

Join us on the First Impressions podcast for an exclusive interview with Todd Beardsley from CISA, recorded live at the 36th annual FIRST Conference in Fukuoka, Japan. Todd delves into the Known Exploited Vulnerability (KEV) list, explaining its critical role in cybersecurity and how even years-old vulnerabilities continue to be exploited. Learn about the detective work involved in validating expl...

In this special episode of the First Impressions podcast, recorded at the 36th annual FIRST Conference in Fukuoka, Japan, hosts interview Carson Zimmerman, a seasoned SOC expert. Zimmerman discusses his presentation, "14 Questions Are All You Need," which helps SOCs evaluate performance and address areas for improvement, emphasizing the importance of deep, insightful questions and the human elemen...

In this episode of the First Impressions podcast, hosts Chris John Riley and Martin McKay interview Nitesh Surana and Jaromir Horejsi of Trend Micro to discuss their upcoming talk at the FIRST conference. Their session will explain how they discovered threat actors abusing GitHub's cloud-based development environment, Codespaces, to build and test infostealers. While Codespaces itself is secure, i...

In this episode of the First Impressions podcast, hosts Chris John Riley and Martin McKay interview Satoshi Okada and Takuho Mitsunaga , researchers from Toyo University who will be speaking at FIRSTCON24. In the episode, they discuss artificial intelligence, specifically large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, and the importance of multi-stakeholder governance for safer AI development. Okada a...

Join the First Impressions Podcast hosts for a chat with FIRSTCON24 Diamond Sponsor representatives, Ko and Rick from LACERT! Explore LACERT's pioneering role in Japan's cybersecurity since 1995, including innovative tools like Falcon Nest, and their overall contributions to global cybersecurity standards. Don't miss the insights of this episode and learn more about the importance of international...

Join hosts Martin McKeay and Chris John Riley for the newest FIRST Impressions Podcast episode featuring FIRSTCON24 speakers, James Potter and Raja Jasper from Huntington National Bank. The pair discuss their upcoming conference talk and explore the challenges of remote work in cybersecurity. Tune in for expert insights on digital communication etiquette, global team collaboration, and the evolvin...

This First Impressions podcast features representatives from CyCraft, one of FIRSTCON24’s Diamond sponsors. Based in Taiwan, CyCraft utilizes cutting-edge AI and machine learning to tackle a myriad of security challenges, from threat hunting to identity analysis. Tune in to discover why CyCraft is passionate about community engagement and learn about the practical applications of machine learning...

Join hosts Martin McKeay and Chris John Riley in this episode of the First Impressions podcast as they chat with Georgy Kucherin from Kaspersky's Global Research and Analysis team. Together they discuss combating sophisticated spyware targeting mobile devices like Pegasus and Operation Triangulation, highlighting the challenges in protecting our digital lives. Kucherin shares strategies for analyz...

Tune in to the latest episode of the First Impressions podcast, where hosts Martin McKeay and Chris John Riley sit down with Megan Sanford, VP Chief Product Security Officer at Schneider Electric Energy Management Division. As a keynote speaker at the 36th annual FIRST Conference in Fukuoka, Japan, Sanford shares insights into the world of product security. Discover why a secure development lifecy...

In this episode, the FIRST Podcasters interview FIRSTCON24 Program chair, Taki Uchiyama about the upcoming 36th Annual FIRST Conference to be held in Fukuoka, Japan, June 9-14, 2024. Under the theme of “Bridging Security Response Gaps”, Taki shares the importance of communication and collaboration within the security community and his hopes for the 2024 conference. This episode shares an inside lo...

In this short episode, the FIRST Podcasters interview FIRSTCON24 Program chair, Taki Uchiyama. The 36th Annual FIRST Conference will be held in Fukuoka, Japan, June 9-14, 2024, under the theme: “Bridging Security Response Gaps”. Taki shares some of the topics he hopes to highlight next year including improving industry diversity and showcasing emerging security teams. Tune in for details on how to...

In this episode, the FIRST Podcasters interview FIRSTCON23 Keynote speaker, Lesley Carhart and discuss her session: “How Did We Get Here? The History and Future of Cyberattacks against Industrial Control Networks”. Lesley explains and explores the complicated history of Industrial incident response and just how cybersecurity affects physical systems.