Welcome back to the show! Hacker Valley Studio podcast features Host Ron Eddings, as he explores the world of cybersecurity through the eyes of professionals in the industry. We cover everything from inspirational real-life stories in tech, to highlighting influential cybersecurity companies, and we do so in a fun and enthusiastic way. We’re making cybersecurity accessible, creating a whole new form of entertainment: cybertainment.
Episodes
Tuesday Sep 01, 2020
Tuesday Sep 01, 2020
Hosts Ron and Chris welcome you to today’s episode! This episode of Hacker Valley Studio is the start of a new season, Hacker Valley Blue, a series dedicated to threat intelligence, exclusively for listeners.
The episode begins with Ron and Chris sharing their backgrounds in threat intelligence and cybersecurity. Chris picked intelligence as his job field in the United States Marine Corps, and eventually went on to The National Security Agency and United States Cyber Command. He focused on the how, who, and what of all the cyber-attacks happening at the time. Chris then went on to create his own company, and do consulting work in threat intelligence for over a decade.
Ron has always had an interest in cybersecurity, and at 16 he found a mentor who took him under his wing in the trade. After a couple of years working in offensive attacks, he transitioned to a job building intelligence tools that dealt with threat data. While Chris focused more on the operational side of threat intelligence, Ron’s was more technical, and their experience converged well.
Throughout the rest of the episode, you will hear about what threat intelligence can do for businesses. Ron and Chris discuss how analysts can build rapport with the employees and stakeholders using their intelligence, and what questions companies should ask of analysts for the best results. They do this by walking listeners through Chris’ EASY framework.
1:07 - The new season of Hacker Valley Blue is introduced.
3:43 - Chris shares his background in intelligence.
6:15 - Ron shares his background in intelligence
11:43 - What can threat intelligence do for an organization?
17:50 - The EASY Framework
18:41 - Elicit Requirements
21:40 - Asses Collection Plan
26:03 - Strive for Impact
30:24 - Yield the Feedback
Links:
Learn more about Hacker Valley Studio
Support Hacker Valley Studio on Patreon
Follow Hacker Valley Studio on Twitter
Follow Ronald Eddings on Twitter
Monday Aug 24, 2020
Monday Aug 24, 2020
Hosts Ron and Chris welcome you to today’s episode! This episode of Hacker Valley Studio features Brian Romansky, the Chief Innovation Officer at Owl Cyber Defense. You will hear about his ideas, inventions, and how hardware is helping us in cybersecurity today.
The episode begins with Brian sharing his background, and journey into the cybersecurity space. He always knew he wanted to do something with technology and thought he may go into robotics. The transition into the cyber world was a natural one when he was working on a team that was moving mechanical postage metering to happen electronically. These machines were often trying to be hacked, and the team also began working on e-commerce and shipping platforms. From then, he continued to work on cybersecurity, data, and cryptography.
Today, at Owl Cyber Defense Brian works on cross domain solutions for the US Department of Defense, and other government organizations, as well as commercial customers. It gets him up in the morning because it combines many of the electrical and cryptography space that interests him, with hardware. His hope for the future, is that there is a paradigm shift in cybersecurity, making it less of a cat and mouse game by using hardware enforced mechanisms.
He doesn’t have a lot of free time, but as the episode wraps up, you will also hear about what Brian is interested in, and working on outside of work.
:29 CIO of Owl Cyber Defense, Brian Romansky is introduced to the show.
4:33 Brian shares his journey from electrical engineering to cybersecurity.
6:25 Brian explains the work he does today.
14:16 Brian hypothosizes on the future of cybersecurity
16:58 Brian answers the question “Is there an unhackable system?”
19:55 Advice for organizations relying more on technology during work from home.
27:48 What does Brian do outside of work?
Links:
Learn more about Owl Cyber Defense
Learn more about Brian Romansky
Learn more about Hacker Valley Studio
Support Hacker Valley Studio on Patreon
Follow Hacker Valley Studio on Twitter
Tuesday Aug 18, 2020
Tuesday Aug 18, 2020
Security and Privacy Expert and author, Christopher Budd, is welcomed to the Hacker Valley Studio podcast! You will hear some great communication tips and how to handle people who fear worst case scenarios during a crisis. He explains how to showcase your authority and credibility during a tough situation. He talks about traits that make someone great at handling these situations, the importance of temperament, and improvisation.
In this episode, Christopher Budd shares his journey to becoming an expert in crisis communication. He spent ten years with the Microsoft Security Response Center. He has worked with other security and technology companies as a consultant and full-time employee. He says, “...and if I can sum up what it is I do best, I always say, I take awful news and make it just bad.” Christopher gives some examples of his communication approach. 1) He says he is upfront about news being bad news. He recommends getting credibility by leading with the truth. 2) He then explains reasons why it is a bad situation. 3) Finally, he explains reasons why the situation could be better than you think it might be.
He explains that you are not only dealing with the situation itself but also peoples’ fears and projections of the situation. Christopher talks about different personality types and how they handle crisis management. He explains the importance of temperament, the ability to compartmentalize, and thinking about action steps. As the episode draws to a close, Christopher shares some of his thoughts on the workplace today and some of the changes in the COVID environment. He elaborates on topics like privacy and communication. He highlights how technology has allowed us to function as well as it has in the past few months.
Links:
Learn more about Hacker Valley Studio
Support Hacker Valley Studio on Patreon
Follow Hacker Valley Studio on Twitter
Follow Ronald Eddings on Twitter
Follow Chris Cochran on Twitter
Follow Christopher Budd on Twitter
Learn more about Christopher Budd
You can reach out to Christopher Budd at unimaginativelychristopher@christopherbudd.com
Christopher Budd is published in Great Thinkers A-Z
Sunday Aug 09, 2020
Sunday Aug 09, 2020
In this episode of the Hacker Valley Studio podcast, hosts Ron and Chris speak with 25-year cybersecurity veteran Chris Kennedy. Chris is the Chief Information Security Officer and the VP of Customer Success for AttackIQ, and he and the hosts discuss various topics related to cybersecurity and Chris’s background, with special focus on the MITRE ATT&CK framework
The beginning of the episode centers on Chris Kennedy himself, as he provides background information on both himself and his company. Chris’s career took many turns preparing him for his current role, with a few especially remarkable highlights: he was one of the first cybersecurity officers in the Marine Corps, worked for the world’s largest hedge fund, and was basically one of the first CISO's in tech. As an executive, he saw how much he depended on the ecosystem of security tech, and he also saw how unreliable this technology was. This realization paved the way for his move to AttackIQ.
Links:
Learn more about Chris Kennedy and contact him at chris.kennedy@attackiq.com.
Learn more about AttackIQ.
Learn more about AttackIQ’s Academy.
Learn more about MITRE ATT&CK.
Learn more about MITRE ENGENUITY’s Center for Threat-Informed Defense.
Learn more about Hacker Valley Studio.
Support Hacker Valley Studio on Patreon.
Follow Hacker Valley Studio on Twitter.
Follow hosts Ron Eddings and Chris Cochran on Twitter.
Monday Aug 03, 2020
Monday Aug 03, 2020
In this very special episode, we brought back fan favorite Laura Garnett a world-renowned performance strategist, to examine us to see what makes us special. We finds our purpose, our power, and our core emotional conflict in less than an hour! You really see a master at work in this one.
Laura's Website: https://www.lauragarnett.com/
Laura's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauragarnett/
Laura's Twitter: https://twitter.com/garnettl