TechSpective Podcast

TechSpective Podcast Episode 095   The cybersecurity industry has been around for quite a while--and both Raj Samani and I have been involved in some way for most of it. Yes, that "dates us" both a bit, but it also means that we have firsthand experience and perspective on how the industry has evolved. Raj Samani is currently SVP and Chief Scientist at Rapid7. He was a guest on this podcast back i...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 094   There are nearly 3,000 cybersecurity companies out there--and you can find them all in the Security Yearbook 2022. This is the third annual release of the Security Yearbook by research analyst and author Richard Stiennon. He has compiled them alphabetically, geographically, and by industry category, along with key details such as their location, current headcount...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 093   Zero trust remains a hot topic for 2022. It has been around for the last decade, but it has gained momentum in response to the shift to remote work resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the spike in ransomware attacks. President Biden and CISA have cited zero trust as one of they keys for improving security in the public sector and for critical infrast...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 092   CISOs are tasked with a balancing act that is often difficult to achieve--delivering quality apps quickly without sacrificing security. Traditionally, organizations tend to lean toward the speed to market side of that equation at the expense of security, but the attack surface and threat landscape continue to expand and organizations are more aware of the securit...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 091   Gathering relevant artifacts and performing a forensic investigation following a cybersecurity incident is a challenge for any organization. However, for larger companies that have a presence across multiple sites and countries, the challenge is far more complex. Not only is there a higher volume of incidents to respond to and investigate, but there are regional...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 090   May was Mental Health Awareness Month. I recorded this podcast with the intent of publishing it in May, but COVID finally caught me after two-and-a-half years so I was sidelined for a bit. Fortunately--or unfortunately depending on your perspective--while May is Mental Health Awareness Month, mental health is actually an issue all year long, so the content is jus...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 089 There is no such thing as perfect or invulnerable cybersecurity. The goal of cybersecurity is to raise the bar or cost of entry to make it as challenging as possible for threat actors, and to detect and identify new threats as quickly as possible. Given the sheer size of the threat landscape and the volume of threats, it\'s also important to automate as much as pos...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 088 What have you got going on next Tuesday? Identity Management Day is coming up on April 12. Identity Management Day is a one-day virtual conference that brings together security leaders, vendors, and advocates to raise awareness, share best practices, and inspire individuals —and organizations of all sizes—to take action when it comes to effectively managing and sec...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 087 In a former life, I was a network administrator and IT support manager. One of the core responsibilities was to ensure resilience and business continuity even in the event of a power outage--and that meant relying on UPS (uninterruptible power supply) devices. APC was the brand we used, and--as far as I know--APC is the default that most companies turn to. New rese...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 086 Connecteam is an Israeli startup with a mission to provide everything a company needs to empower, manage, and engage its deskless workforce. That mission is resonating with investors as well, as the company recently announced $120 million in Series C funding. Global efforts to quarantine and limit the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic have dramatically accelerated di...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 085 The Winter Olympics are taking place right now in Beijing, China. It puts the teams and athletes in a sensitive and precarious situation because China is an economic and geopolitical adversary to most of the participating nations, and expectations are high that China will do everything it can to intercept communications and infiltrate devices to gather intelligence...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 084 The world has changed in dramatic ways over the past couple of years. The COVID-19 pandemic forced an overnight shift to a remote, work-from-home business model and accelerated digital transformation efforts. Those changes have cybersecurity consequences--making the attack surface more complex and introducing new risks for attackers to take advantage of. Prabath Ka...

The concept of zero trust is not new. John Kindervag popularized the term back around 2010 when he was a Forrester analyst, and organizations have been implementing and deploying variations on the idea ever since. However, the combination of the continued expansion of the attack surface and threat landscape, the shift to working remotely from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the dramatic ris...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 082 There is a steady evolution and progress of security in response to an ongoing game of cat and mouse with cyber attackers. As attackers adapt and innovate new tools and techniques, the way we approach cybersecurity has to change as well--both strategically and tactically. Extended Detection and Response--or XDR--seems to be the next thing. My guest for this episode...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 081 The world of cybersecurity and technology loves acronyms. You have compliance mandates like SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley), HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), certifications acronyms like CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) and CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker), and fun things like...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 079 It isn't easy to maintain your security posture and be prepared to face the latest cyber attacks. Vulnerability management and threat research are two important elements that can help. Effective vulnerability management enables you to identify and mitigate weaknesses in your environment, and proactive threat research can provide you with valuable intelligence about...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 078 Wi-Fi security is plagued by some incorrect or outdated myths and misperceptions. Some stories refuse to die no matter how much time goes on or how verifiably false they are. For example, a significant percentage of people are positive that Stella Liebeck was just clumsy and trying to cash in--and that she got a payout of hundreds of millions of dollars from McDona...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 077 In theory, the fact that the internet provides virtually instantaneous access to the sum total of all human knowledge should make us smarter as a society. Unfortunately, it seems to be having the opposite effect in a lot of cases. As much information as their is out there, there is also a ton of mis-information, both incidental and intentional, and people appear to...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 076 Compliance frameworks and mandates are just a fact of life for anyone working in IT or cybersecurity. The PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) guidelines provided by the credit card industry has had a significant impact. When a compliance mandate includes penalties that might prevent a business from being allowed to accept or process credit card p...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 075 What is the job of a CISO? Malcolm Harkins, Chief Security and Trust Officer for Epiphany Systems, joins me to answer this question--among other things. We discuss the role of cybersecurity and the importance of contemplating risk. Malcolm stresses that organizations should not be caught completely off guard by things like the COVID-19 pandemic, and that if cyberse...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 074 It has been a wild year and a half since the world went into quarantine lockdown for the COVID pandemic in March of 2020. Organizations initially responded as if it were a short-term crisis -- like responding to an impending hurricane -- and quickly realized that this was different and they needed to shift gears for the long haul. Alan Shimel, founder, CEO, and edi...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 073 My guest for this episode is my friend Marcus Carey. Marcus is currently an Enterprise Architect at ReliaQuest. He was founder and CEO of ThreatCare--which was acquired by ReliaQuest--and he is the creator of the 'Tribe of Hackers' book series. He is also well known on social media for being a job opening matchmaker and his willingness to help out people who are tr...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 072 How many passwords do you have? Honestly, I am not really sure at this point. I've lost track. I do recall that Bill Gates declared that the password was going to die like 20 years ago, and yet somehow I seem to have 70 or 80 of them at any given time. The mission to end passwords continues, though, and Transmit Security is trying to lead the way. My guest for this...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 071 It almost seems cliché to talk about visibility when discussing cybersecurity. Many vendors repeat the mantra of "You can't protect what you can't see." Whether you're trying to do vulnerability management, patch management, or just monitor the network for suspicious or malicious activity, it is a simple fact that doing it effectively requires a foundation of compr...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 070 How do you know where the weak spots are in your cybersecurity defenses? One of the best ways is to engage a third-party--an external set of eyes and skills--to conduct a penetration test and try to find them. John Sawyer, Director of Services, Red Team at IOActive, joins me on this episode of the TechSpective Podcast to talk about what red, blue, and purple team e...