Simplifying Cyber

Send us Fan Mail A champagne bottle, a blade, and a clean strike turns into one of the clearest cybersecurity conversations we’ve had. We’re joined by attorney and cyber contracting veteran Drew Tharp, with Todd Wilkinson stepping in as guest host, and we use swords and fencing to unpack why breaches happen and why “just add more tools” rarely fixes the root problem. Drew walks us through the four...

Send us Fan Mail A champagne bottle can teach you more about cybersecurity than you’d expect. We start with sabrage, the old French tradition of opening champagne with a saber, and we get hands-on with the real mechanics: finding the bottle seam, aiming at the pressure-focused weak spot under the lip, and using a controlled slide instead of raw strength. When it works, it’s clean, safe, and oddly...

Send us Fan Mail A vulnerability backlog can look like a crisis, but sometimes the real crisis is that you’re staring at the wrong picture. We’re joined by Dave Sims, most recently Staff VP at Elevance Health and a longtime technology leader, to talk through vulnerability risk management in plain terms and why “more findings” doesn’t automatically mean “more security.” We get specific about the di...

Send us Fan Mail A phone call from “IT security” used to be easier to dismiss when it sounded robotic or scripted. That’s not the world we’re in anymore. We built a voice agent fast, with no coding, and it can place outbound calls, sound convincingly human, and guide a conversation toward the exact kinds of details attackers love to collect. The scary part is not that social engineering exists, it...

Send us Fan Mail You can’t just “train harder” to mitigate human risk. We sit down with Ashley Rose, CEO and co-founder of Living Security, to unpack why classic security awareness training (SAT) often produces neat dashboards with flimsy outcomes, and what it takes to build a security culture that people actually engage with. Ashley shares her non-traditional path into cybersecurity, how marketin...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when college athletes suddenly become brands… and targets? In this episode of Simplifying Cyber , we sit down with sports law expert Matt Banker to unpack the fast-moving world of NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) and the cybersecurity risks hiding beneath the surface. From hacked athlete data and fake endorsement deals to deepfakes, shady agents, and social engineering...

Send us Fan Mail The fastest way to turn a cyber incident into a business disaster isn’t ransomware, it’s confusion. We sit down with Violet Sullivan, AVP and Cyber Solutions Team Lead at Crum & Forster, who has worked across cyber law, breach notification, digital forensics and incident response, and now cyber insurance. That vantage point lets her translate what each group needs when pressur...

Send us Fan Mail When a romance fraud expert, bestselling author, and professional scam-troll meets two cybersecurity pros obsessed with deepfakes and social engineering, you get one of the most eye‑opening – and strangely funny – episodes we’ve ever recorded.  In this episode of Simplifying Cyber, British author Becky Holmes (aka “Death to Spinach” and author of Keanu Reeves Is Not In Love With Y...

Send us Fan Mail A contract clause can change your entire security roadmap overnight, and in healthcare the stakes are higher than most industries want to admit. We sit down with Brian Waltz, longtime healthcare technology leader and former CISO at Cardinal Health, to unpack how cyber risk becomes business risk the moment patient care, diagnostics, or critical operations get disrupted. We start wi...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when a cybersecurity CEO spends 10 hours vibe coding a fully functional SaaS app…using company IP? He crashes a meeting to find out. In this special edition of Simplifying Cyber , Reveal Risk CEO Aaron Pritz gatecrashes a scheduled session with Chris Adickes, Todd Wilkinson, and Michael Milroy to demo a third-party risk management platform he built using AI tools like...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Simplifying Cyber , Aaron Pritz and Cody Rivers sit down with Nick Sturgeon — CISO at Community Health Network , Speedway Town Councilor, and current Ph. D. candidate at Purdue University — for a conversation about the challenges of securing systems that no longer stay within four walls. When healthcare happens almost everywhere, how do you keep patients, caregivers,...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Simplifying Cyber , Aaron Pritz and Cody Rivers sit down with Jax Scott — combat veteran, podcast host (Two Cyber Chicks), and VP of Cybersecurity at Pearson — for a conversation that’s equal parts leadership, risk reality, and “why is everyone still confused about BISOs?” Jax shares her unconventional path into cybersecurity (perfume sales → special operations → NATO...

Send us Fan Mail Cyber attacks don’t just knock systems offline—they can empty shelves, disrupt feeding schedules, endanger animals, and muddy price signals across the food supply.  We sat down with Kristin (Demoranville) King, CEO of Anzen Sage and host of Bites and Bytes Podcast, to unpack how modern agriculture runs on a mesh of OT, data, and logistics that adversaries increasingly target. From...

Send us Fan Mail How does a CISO react to a live deepfake? In this eye-opening conversation with Alan Alford, CISO at NTT Global Data Centers, we kick off with a live deepfake demonstration that showcases the capabilities and limitations of this emerging technology. The demonstration serves as a springboard into a crucial discussion about the genuine threat deepfakes pose to organizations. While v...

Send us Fan Mail What makes a truly effective security leader in today's complex threat landscape? In this enlightening conversation with Andy Ellis, former CISO of Akamai Technologies and author of "1% Leadership," we explore how the role of the security executive has transformed from a technical specialist to a strategic business enabler. Andy shares his remarkable journey from Ai...

Send us Fan Mail WATCH this episode on our YouTube channel!  Ever wondered why employees keep finding ways around your security controls? The answer might lie in how those controls are designed and implemented. In this thought-provoking episode, we're joined by Matt Belanger, CIO of Republic Airways, to tackle one of cybersecurity's most persistent challenges: the friction between securi...

Send us Fan Mail Ever wonder why healthcare organizations are such prime targets for cyberattacks? In this eye-opening conversation with Kelly White, founder of Risk Recon, we uncover the startling reality that healthcare accounts for 37% of all breach events in the last decade. Kelly's journey from soldering Timex Sinclair computers in the late 70s to founding a pioneering third-party risk m...

Send us Fan Mail What happens after an employee clicks on a phishing link? Jason Hoenich (hey-nick), the self-proclaimed "Security Awareness Apologist," believes that's where the real education begins. Drawing from his experiences at major entertainment companies like Disney and Sony, Jason shares how live hacking demonstrations where employees witness real-time compromises create p...

Send us Fan Mail Ever wonder what lurks beneath the surface of that shiny acquisition target? Our expert panel, featuring M&A Expert Brandon Kern, pulls back the curtain on the hidden cyber risks that can make or break your next deal. When companies merge or acquire, cybersecurity considerations often take a backseat to financial projections and market synergies. Yet overlooking digital vulner...

Send us Fan Mail Ever wonder how to protect sensitive data when you don't have an IT department? In this revealing conversation, two pharmaceutical industry veterans who recently launched their own consulting businesses share the cybersecurity challenges they never anticipated after leaving corporate America. Katie Hewitt, founder of BioVenture Advisors, and Laura Viaches, president of Endeav...

Send us Fan Mail Artificial intelligence has firmly established itself at the forefront of the cybersecurity agenda, creating both unprecedented opportunities and complex challenges for security leaders. In this eye-opening conversation with cybersecurity veteran Tim Sewell, we dive deep into the realities of implementing effective AI governance and security practices in today's rapidly evolv...

Send us Fan Mail What can the largest diamond heist in history teach us about modern cybersecurity? When $100 million in diamonds vanished from Belgium's supposedly impenetrable Diamond Center vault, it wasn't cutting-edge technology that failed—it was people and processes. Join host Aaron Pritz and senior cybersecurity consultant Rebecca as they unpack the fascinating story of the 2003...

Send us Fan Mail Grace Chi, co-founder and COO of PulseDive, takes us deep into the often overlooked world of cyber threat intelligence networking. Grace has become a passionate advocate for the human connections that power effective security programs, conducting groundbreaking research on how threat intelligence practitioners share information. What makes this conversation especially valuable is...

Send us Fan Mail How prepared is your organization for disruption?  In our latest episode, we dive deep into the critical topic of Business Continuity Planning (BCP) with cybersecurity expert and new Reveal Risk Director Todd Wilkinson.  As digital dependencies grow, the way companies approach BCP must evolve. Todd highlights the shift in ownership from IT departments to business leaders, shedding...

Send us Fan Mail Unlock the secrets of a successful career in cybersecurity with our guest, David Gee, a recently retired industry veteran and author of "The Aspiring CIO and CISO." Amazon: https://a.co/d/9FCsBQR   Packt (includes a promotion for the e-book version!): https://www.packtpub.com/en-us/product/the-aspiring-cio-and-ciso-9781835469194?srsltid=AfmBOooJFrNzjkRT_cLx3ux-ErfFownjl1...