Safe Mode Podcast

Cybersecurity firms have pioneered the use of artificial intelligence in their products, but the latest generation of AI technology offers hope that a greater share of the work to secure computer systems could be automated. A new competition at the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency aims to jump start efforts to build open source AI tools to find and fix vulnerabilities. Program Manager Per...

When Will Hurd served in the House of Representatives he quickly made a name for himself as one of the Congress’s leading voices on cybersecurity. The Texas Republican helped pass a series of key technology modernization bills and gained a reputation as a sensible bipartisan dealmaker. A former CIA operations officer, Hurd was once billed as the future of the Republican party. A centrist Black law...

When journalist Kashmir Hill first revealed the facial recognition technology built by Clearview AI it served as a wake up call for what a group of renegade technologists with few ethical foibles could do to society. By amassing a huge trove of facial images and training an algorithm on that data, Clearview built a product with an unprecedented ability to to identify individuals — exploding our no...

A slowing U.S. economy has taken a brutal toll on cybersecurity companies. A deteriorating economic environment has resulted in cutbacks in security spending, rising interest rates have placed pressure on venture-backed start-ups and many cybersecurity firms have conducted lay-offs. On this episode of Safe Mode, Roger Thornton, a cybersecurity-focused venture capitalist and a partner at Ballistic...

Josh Corman and Beau Woods, the founders of I Am the Cavalry, join CyberScoop Senior Editor to discuss the ten-year anniversary of their grassroots hacking group and their efforts to address the crisis in computer security. CyberScoop reporter AJ Vicens joins the podcast to talk about sanctions against the Trickbot hacking gang. And a mystery will be revealed: how a sensitive Microsoft encryption...

It’s been called the cybersecurity poverty line. Many organizations just don’t have the money to afford a skilled cybersecurity team to protect themselves from hackers. But there’s a movement afoot to change that dynamic through cybersecurity clinics that can support organizations in need. The Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity at the University of California, Berkeley, is at the forefront of deve...

A string of breaches involving Microsoft infrastructure has left many within the security community frustrated with the company’s approach to securing its systems. CyberScoop Senior Editor Elias Groll sat down at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas with Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade, a principal threat researcher at SentinelOne, to discuss the key role Microsoft products play in the comput...

Chris Inglis led the Office of the National Cyber Director until February of this year and helped steer national policy on some of the most pressing national security issues. He talks with CyberScoop senior editor Elias Groll from Black Hat in Las Vegas. CyberScoop reporter Tonya Riley joins the show to discuss how the White House may attempt to curtail the “surveillance economy.”

Sean Vitka, senior policy counsel at the tech advocacy group Demand Progress, joins the show to discuss the debate over Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and how law enforcement can use the controversial tool to spy on Americans. CyberScoop senior editor Elias Groll talks about two big cybersecurity conferences this week in Las Vegas – Black Hat and DEF CON.

Writer and researcher Bilyana Lilly breaks down how private sector and government assistance to Ukraine has helped stop many Russian cyberattacks targeting Ukraine. CyberScoop reporter Tonya Riley and Safe Mode host Mike Farrell discuss kids online safety legislation moving forward in the U.S. Congress.

Thinking like a hacker means finding creative solutions to big problems, discovering flaws in order to make improvements and often subverting conventional thinking. Bruce Schneier, a cryptographer, security professional and author, talks about the benefits for society when people apply that kind of logic to issues other than computers. In an interview with CyberScoop Editor-in-Chief Mike Farrell,...

Cyberattacks have played a significant role in the war in Ukraine. Officials in Washington and Kyiv have blamed Russian hackers for targeting satellite systems and using digital assaults to execute disinformation and psychological warfare campaigns. Victor Zhora, the deputy chairman of the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine, is actively involved in defend...

There’s growing concern about the existential dangers of AI. At the same time, there’s boundless optimism about its potential for good. Anne Neuberger, White House deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology, sits down with Elias Groll, CyberScoop senior editor, to talk about how the administration thinks about the best approaches to limit AI harms without getting in the way...

When the FBI seized the website earlier this year operated by the Hive ransomware group, it was the result of the bureau's efforts to infiltrate the infrastructure that cybercrime groups rely on to carry out their attacks. The bureau has set out to get inside these group’s networks, destroy them from the inside, help victims and prevent ransomware. Cynthia Kaiser, deputy assistant director within...

Pig butchering has become an all-too-common online con that costs victims millions of dollars annually. And there’s little remedy for a growing number of victims. But Erin West, a California prosecutor, has made it her mission to fight back against these scams and the people executing them. She talks with CyberScoop Editor-in-Chief Mike Farrell about the origin of pig butchering, how scammers dupe...

You've probably noticed that hackers are changing the world. Everday, data breaches are putting you at risk. Privacy invading apps are chasing your attention. Spies are treating the online world as their playground. Safe Mode is your guide to the murky, often bizarre, always fascinating world of cyberspace. Every week we break down the most pressing issues in technology, provide you the knowledge...