8th Layer Insights

Every now and then you need to try something new. That's what this episode is. If you listened to Season 2, Episode 3 (Technology and the Law of Unintended Consequences), you may remember the mock interview with Janet, the virtual assistant. This episode expands that idea and features a set of four mock interviews -- all with security-related object. This is an interesting experiment to help flesh-out some ideas behind these objects, the reasons they exist, their motivations, and the situations in which they find themselves.

On this episode, we have four guests: Samantha, a piece of facial recognition software with a really interesting idea, Dave the password who has a pretty bad sharing problem, Devon, a secure email gateway who is struggling with the weight of the world and Barb, the phishing email who will say just about anything possible to get you to click that link.

Guests: 

Books and Resources:

Production Credits:

Additional voice talent provided by Luna Freyava, Rich Daigle (a.k.a. Mouth Almighty), Punyaha Mukherjee, and Tabitha Garland

Music and Sound Effects by Blue Dot Sessions, Envato Elements, & SmartSound

Artwork by Chris Machowski @ https://www.RansomWear.net/ and Mia Rune @ https://www.MiaRune.com.

8th Layer Insights theme music composed and performed by Marcos Moscat @ https://www.GameMusicTown.com/

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On this episode, Perry sits down with James Linton (formerly known as The Email Prankster). In 2017, James went on a virtual joyride exploiting the ways that people interact with emails. One of the most interesting things about James' story is that his exploits didn't rely on any type of highly technical method(s); they were simple display name deceptions. But that didn't stop him from fooling CEOs from some of the worlds largest banks, celebrities, and high ranking staff members in the White House.

James' success using these simple methods serves as a warning for us all. We don't fall for scams because they are technically sophisticated or because we are stupid. We fall for scams because we are human.

Guest: James Linton (LinkedIn) (Website)

Books and Resources:

Production Credits:

Music and Sound Effects by Blue Dot Sessions, Envato Elements, & Storyblocks.

Artwork by Chris Machowski @ https://www.RansomWear.net/ and Mia Rune @ https://www.MiaRune.com.

8th Layer Insights theme music composed and performed by Marcos Moscat @ https://www.GameMusicTown.com/

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If you've been following the cybersecurity industry for the past few years, you've likely heard about the "cyber skills gap." In this episode, Perry sits down with Heath Adams (TCM Security), Professor Karla Carter (Bellevue University), Sam Curry (Cybereason), and Lola Obamehinti (eBay) to explore what the skills gap is and how to begin to close the gap. We touch on subjects such as where traditional degrees, online training, certifications, mentorship, and networking fit in, as well as the value of diversity. And we offer thoughts for employers, current industry professionals, and job seekers.

Guests:

Books and Resources:

Production Credits:

Additional voice talent provided by Rich Daigle.

Additional research by Nyla Gennaoui.

Music and Sound Effects by Blue Dot Sessions, Envato Elements, & Storyblocks.

Artwork by Chris Machowski @ https://www.RansomWear.net/ and Mia Rune @ https://www.MiaRune.com.

8th Layer Insights theme music composed and performed by Marcos Moscat @ https://www.GameMusicTown.com/

*** Use of The Twilight Zone theme music in this episode is considered 'Fair Use' under copyright law due to its 'transformative' nature as a parody.

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Let's face it. Most of us have a love/hate relationship with technology and technological advances. We dream about the new thing... but when it arrives, we are usually a little disappointed. Many of us also lament the constant erosion of privacy, the changes in social norms, and more. And, little-by-little, we allow those aspects of new technology to make us numb. We accept the cognitive dissonance of not totally being happy with the trade-offs; yet we still make the trade.

In this episode, we explore a few of the positives and some of the unintended consequences associated with recent technological advancements. We'll hear from Dr. Lydia, Kostopoulos, Dr. Charles Chaffin, Andra Zaharia, and Aaron Barr.

Guests:

Books and Resources:

Production Credits:

Additional voice talent provided by Kristina Leigh.

Additional research by Nyla Gennaoui.

Music and Sound Effects by Blue Dot Sessions, Envato Elements, & Storyblocks.

Artwork by Chris Machowski @ https://www.RansomWear.net/ and Mia Rune @ https://www.MiaRune.com.

8th Layer Insights theme music composed and performed by Marcos Moscat @ https://www.GameMusicTown.com/

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And now for something completely different. This episode is a show within a show.

Get ready to step into The Dark Stream: it's a parody of one of those old late night paranormal, conspiracy, or confession call-in radio shows from the 1980's and 90's. And, yes, it's over-the-top and cheesy.

In this episode, you'll hear some re-edited and never before aired sections from Perry's previous interviews with Rachel Tobac, Maxie Reynolds, and Chris Hadnagy.

Guests:

Recommended Books and Resources:

Production Credits:

Additional voice talent provided by Rich Daigle (a.k.a. Mouth Almighty) and Sarah McQuiggan

Music and Sound Effects by Blue Dot Sessions, Envato Elements, & Storyblocks.

Artwork by Chris Machowski @ https://www.RansomWear.net/ and Mia Rune @ https://www.MiaRune.com.

8th Layer Insights theme music composed and performed by Marcos Moscat @ https://www.GameMusicTown.com/

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This episode is all about creativity: what it is, what it looks like, and what to do when you get stuck. Perry speaks with four experts who have made creating new and interesting things their life's work. Featuring Jack Rhysider (Creator/host of Darknet Diaries), Faith McQuinn (creator of Boom, Margaritas & Doughnuts, and Apollyon), Tom Buck (YouTuber and content creator), and Sam Qurashi (Exploring the Psychology of Everything).

Guests:

Resources & Books:

Additional research by Nyla Gennaoui.

Music and Sound Effects by Blue Dot Sessions, Envato Elements, & Storyblocks.

Artwork by Chris Machowski @ https://www.RansomWear.net/ and Mia Rune @ https://www.MiaRune.com.

8th Layer Insights theme music composed and performed by Marcos Moscat @ https://www.GameMusicTown.com/

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This is the second of a two part series covering Cybersecurity’s ABCs: Security Awareness, Behavior, and Culture. This episode discusses the difficulty that security leaders have in defining what a security culture actually is. Luckily, we can draw on learnings from organizational culture management and culture transformation experts.

Guests for this episode include, David Sturt, Executive Vice President of the O.C. Tanner Institute, author of Great Work: How to Make a Difference People Love and Appreciate: Celebrating People, Inspiring Greatness., Dr. Jessica Barker (co-CEO and Co-Founder, Socio-Technical Lead at Cygenta; author of Confident Cyber Security and co-author of Cybersecurity ABCs), Kai Roer, Chief Research Officer at KnowBe4, creator of the Security Culture Framework, author of Build a Security Culture, and Michael Leckie, founding partner at Silverback Partners, LLC and author of The Heart of Transformation: Build the Human Capabilities that Change Organizations for Good.

Guests:

References, Resources & Books:

Music and Sound Effects by Blue Dot Sessions, Envato Elements, & Storyblocks.

Artwork by Chris Machowski.

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This is the first of a two part series covering Cybersecurity’s ABCs: Security Awareness, Behavior, and Culture. We touched on facets of Awareness in Episode 1 and Behavior in Episode 3. These two episodes cover the cybersecurity ABCs in a very pragmatic way, with this episode covering Awareness and Behavior and Episode 10 providing a deep dive into Culture.

Guests for this episode include, Dr. Jessica Barker (co-CEO and Co-Founder, Socio-Technical Lead at Cygenta; author of Confident Cyber Security and co-author of Cybersecurity ABCs), Chrysa Freeman (Senior Program Manager for Security Awareness at Code42), Ian Murphy (Founder, CyberOff), and Lauren Zink (Senior Security Awareness Specialist at Boeing; author of LinkedIn Learning courses: Creating a Security Awareness Program and Building a Security Awareness Program: Phishing Simulations).

Guests:

References, Resources & Books:

Music and Sound Effects by Blue Dot Sessions, Envato Elements, & Storyblocks.

Artwork by Chris Machowski.

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Risk is a funny thing – our minds are constantly looking for risk, scanning our environments and our available choices. And sometimes we do a great job at anticipating and avoiding risky situations. But that doesn’t mean that we are universally good at dealing with risk. In fact, we can be downright appalling at considering and avoiding risk.

In this episode, we explore the concept of risk, why we're so bad at understanding it, and the steps we can take to improve. Perry speaks with four risk experts who will help us understand the ups and downs of how we evaluate risk. We’ll touch on everything from Black Swans to Grey Rhinos to risk frameworks, risk equations, inbuilt risk in the design of computing interfaces, and more. Featuring Michele Wucker (author of The Grey Rhino and You Are What You Risk), Christian Hunt (Founder of Human Risk), Dr. Arun Vishwanath (Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Avant Research Group), and Matt Stamper (Chief Information Security Officer and Executive Advisor at EVOTEK and co-author of the CISO Desk Reference Guides vol1 & vol2).

Guests:

Resources & Books:

Music and Sound Effects by Blue Dot Sessions, Envato Elements, & Storyblocks.

Artwork by Chris Machowski.

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In this episode, Perry Carpenter sits down with renowned mentalist and skeptic, Banachek. Banachek (Steve Shaw) grew up with a fascination in magic and a frustration with psychic frauds. As a teenager, he contacted magician and skeptic, James “The Amazing” Randi and ended up working with Randi on a special initiative known as Project Alpha, which set out to expose a general lack of objectivity in parapsychology research. Banachek served as the director for the James Randi Educational Foundation’s “One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge” for 15 years and is now the President of the James Randi Educational Foundation. 

Perry and Banachek discuss Project Alpha, the ways of fake psychics and fraudulent faith healers, and issues associated with confirmation bias and framing effects. They also discuss Banachek’s new live mentalism show in Las Vegas, which incorporates theatrical mindreading and other mentalism effects along with a storyline that explores Banachek’s life, antics, and passion for critical thinking.

Guest:

Books and References:

Music and Sound Effects by Blue Dot Sessions & Storyblocks.

Artwork by Chris Machowski.

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