Episodes

TechSpective Podcast Episode 133 Nick Edwards, Vice President of Product Management at Menlo Security joins me for this insightful episode of the TechSpective Podcast. Nick brings decades of cybersecurity experience to the table, offering a deep dive into the intricacies of enterprise browser security. If you’re looking to bolster your organization’s cybersecurity posture, this episode is a must-listen. Key Highlights from the Episode Nick delves into the fascinating evolution of browsers, from ...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 132 The rapid adoption of generative AI technologies like ChatGPT has taken the tech world by storm. Generative AI models and the LLMs (large language models) they rely on are pervasive--and potentially invasive--which highlights the importance of AI safety research, emphasizing the need to accelerate efforts to keep pace with this swift adoption. Adobe’s Strategic Approach Gurpartap "GP" Sandhu, the leader of the product security AI and data engineering team at Adob...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 131 Most people--at least, most people in tech--agree at this point that it's not so much that AI will steal your job as it is that AI will augment your job. To the extent that your job itself might be at risk, it's more likely that you would be replaced by someone who is better at using AI than you--not replaced by AI itself. Experts inside Adobe have been hard at work developing that sort of AI augmentation to streamline security operations. The LLM agent Adobe has...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 130 Backing up data has been a fundamental requirement for IT since data began. In the age of ransomware, though, data backups have had a bit of a rollercoaster ride. When ransomware first emerged, data backups were a saving grace. If your systems were encrypted and knocked offline by ransomware, you could simply restore from backup and carry on. Eventually, though, threat actors figured out how to also seek out any connected backups and encrypt them as well. As orga...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 129 You may not have noticed, but the tech and cybersecurity job market has sort of sucked the past few years. Maybe it's just me. My friend Richard Stiennon, research analyst with IT-Harvest and author of Security Yearbook 2024, joins this episode of the TechSpective Podcast to talk about the upcoming 5th edition of the Security Yearbook, and share his insights on why he thinks that is all about to change. "Hiring has been frozen for the last 18 months, but my advic...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 128 Should you know how computer programs work? Is learning to code an imperative life skill? I suppose it is possible to get through life without a basic understanding of computer code, but given the reality of the world today and the fact that pretty much everything is running on code of some sort, it is a crucial skill, in my opinion. I invited Ed Kim, VP of Education and Training at Code Ninjas, to join me on this episode of the podcast to talk about learning to ...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 127 Artificial intelligence is not new--and yet we are also still at the very early stages of what it can do. Generative AI has sparked a massive revolution and mainstream adoption of AI. It has tremendous potential. Almost unimaginable potential. Sam Curry, VP and CISO at ZScaler, joins this episode of the TechSpective Podcast to talk about the ways generative AI is transforming our lives and what it means for the evolving cybersecurity landscape. Will AI take your ...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 126 Between the persistent cadence of new technology and expansion of the attack surface, and the constant evolution of the threat landscape, organizations face a daunting task. Cybersecurity teams are faced with an overwhelming amount of information and alerts and it's their job to find the proverbial "needle in a haystack." Except, the needle isn't in a haystack. The needle is in a large pile of other needles--and the objective is to figure out which needles matter...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 125 Cybersecurity is cyclical. Over the past two decades that I have been working in and writing about security, the market has gone from an array of point solutions to consolidated "Swiss Army knife" platforms that do it all and back again. It seems like we are in a consolidation phase right now. My friend Wolf Goerlich joins me on this episode of the TechSpective podcast to discuss the dynamics of the cybersecurity industry and the challenges organizations face. Wo...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 124 The technology and cybersecurity markets have been a bit rocky over the past couple years. At least, that seems to be the general perception. Companies once on track to IPO have withered on the vine, and organizations of all sizes have laid off tens of thousands and scaled back initiatives to conserve capital in a rough economy. At the same time, though, there have been investments, and there have been mergers and acquisitions. New companies and technologies have...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 123 Customer experience is crucial for the success of a brand. However, it can be costly for a company to properly staff and train agents to address customer needs, and it is often a maddening exercise for customers seeking help. Generative AI may hold the key to solving both ends of that equation and delivering better results for both the company and the customers. Naomi Nuta, VP of Marketing at Cogito, joins this episode of the TechSpective Podcast to talk about th...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 122 There are a number of steps involved in cyber threat analysis to review event information and determine which events are benign or innocuous and which are malicious--or at least deserve greater scrutiny. For the most part, it's not that it is exceptionally complex or difficult work. The issue is mostly a matter of scale. The sheer volume of security events generated makes the initial triage to flag the ones that need more attention and collect the peripheral info...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 121 SBOMs (Software Bill of Materials) have gotten a lot of attention in the past year. Think of SBOMs as the ingredient list of software – a detailed catalog of every component, library, and module that constitutes a software product. This concept isn't just a fancy tech term; it's necessary in today's world, where software complexity resembles a vast, interconnected jigsaw puzzle. SBOMs bring transparency and clarity to this complex digital environment, much like h...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 120 Ads and commercials are a sort of "necessary evil." Aside from the NFL Super Bowl, I don't think anyone is ever anxious to see commercials--and even that has been trending toward more mundane and underwhelming ads for the last few years, in my opinion. Nobody really wants to see the ads, but the ads are what pays the bills and enables the content--which the audience does want--to be offered for free, or at least a lower cost, subsidized by the ad revenue. The way...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 119 If you want to prevent threat actors from infiltrating or compromising your environment, it helps to see things from the threat actor perspective. This concept has been fundamental to cybersecurity for many years--whether it is penetration testing, red teaming, ethical hacking, or other angles. Whatever you call it, the notion is simple enough. Bugcrowd more or less pioneered the idea of harnessing the collective power of ethical hackers to provide crowdsourced s...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 118 "You can't protect what you can't see." The first time someone said that, I am sure it was very profound. It is an obvious statement, but also very powerful in the context of cybersecurity. If you aren't even aware of the hardware assets connected to your network, or the software applications they are running, how can you possibly be aware of any vulnerabilities or weaknesses they may contain, and how could you take meaningful steps to reduce your exposure to ris...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 117 Cybersecurity used to be more of a mystical dark art, but over time, businesses and individuals have come to understand just how critical cybersecurity is, and cybersecurity professionals and vendors have recognized that they need to integrate with and facilitate business productivity rather than pushing security for the sake of security and creating unnecessary roadblocks for everyone. Thankfully, security culture is improving for many organizations. Mike Halste...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 116 Getting hacked sucks in all scenarios. In most cases, though, getting hacked is an inconvenience. In some cases, it is deadly. Having your data stolen, or getting your computer bricked by ransomware is annoying. Getting a medical device like an insulin pump hacked might kill you. Christopher Gates, Director of Product Security at Velentium, joins me on this episode to talk about medical device security and the differences between cybersecurity in general and secu...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 115 Adobe has worked with security researchers and managed a vulnerability disclosure or bug bounty program for years. It now has an invite-only Adobe-VIP Bug Bounty program as well, though--granting broader and early access to select researchers to help guide and secure Adobe products. A recent blog post announcing the Adobe-VIP program explains, "The Adobe-VIP private bug bounty program is maintained by our Product Security Incident Response Team (PSIRT) and is des...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 114 Gaming has come a long way since you had to actually travel to an arcade with a pocket full of quarters (or hope the change machine would actually accept and exchange the wrinkled dollar bills you carried) to play Pac-Man. Gaming today is defined by massive, multi-player, online games where individuals interact with--and sometimes partner with or compete against--relative strangers across the internet as a function of the game. It adds layers of excitement and en...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 113 Do you have a right to privacy? Should you--as a consumer or individual--have control over your personal data, which companies are allowed to collect or access it, and how it is used? It seems reasonable, to be honest. At the very least, consumers want--and expect--transparency. Building trust with customers relies on being transparent about what information is collected and why, and how it is used. There should also be a way for an individual to view their own p...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 112 In 2000 Marc Andreessen noted software is eating the world. Fast forward a couple decades, and I think it's fair to say he wasn't wrong. Now that pretty much everything is code, and there are billions upon billions of lines of code, it is also more important to identify and resolve issues in the code to prevent or remove vulnerabilities and flaws that might be exploited. The evolution from Waterfall to Agile to DevOps has dramatically accelerated the development ...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 111 Identity plays a pivotal role for cybersecurity. Threat actors have a variety of tools and methods to crack and compromise credentials, which is why many attacks are--from the perspective of cyber defense--inside attacks. They are executed using valid credentials that have authorization to access or do the things they do. The crux of the issue comes down to both protecting identity data and impeding the ability of threat actors to infiltrate the network using hac...

TechSpective Podcast Episode 110 Once upon a time, Windows PCs were--by default--the chosen platform for businesses, and Apple computers were for consumers. Companies made exceptions for workers focused on creativity or design, but Apple devices were generally frowned upon at work. When I first started working in IT, I supported an environment with about 200 PCs and about 50 Macs (it was an advertising agency, so we had a higher percentage of "creative" workers than most companies). Managing and...