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Surprise!! It's a mini solo episode to kick off the new year and it's on one of the most important topics there is - how to achieve your goals in 2025 and beyond!

In this episode I talk about a topic I've never covered anywhere before - my personal system for productivity and how it helps me, and can likely you help you stay on track for those 2025 goals and stay aligned with what is most important in your life. 

Check this episode out for some useful productivity tips, inspiration, recommendations for some of my favorite books, and fuel to get fired up for 2025! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

Note: The episode thumbnail is the actual picture that I took of the quote that I mention seeing in the coffee shop that day in 2018. 

Episode Notes

• Simon Sinek - Start With Why
• The 5-Fold Why Technique
• Book - The 12 Week Year
• Book - The ONE Thing
• Obsidian
• The Eisenhower Matrix
• Book - Steal Like An Artist
• Book - 4000 Weeks: Time Management for Mortals

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Mark Morowczynski returns for his 4th(!) time with his Microsoft coworker and identity and authentication expert Tarek Dawoud in this incredibly insightful conversation on the what, why, and how of  phishing resistant credentials that YOU can implement right now!
 
This conversation covers:

• What makes MFA phishable?
• What phishing resistant credentials are and how they work
• The history and modern methods for phishing resistant credentials
• What attacks will be used once we move to phishing resistant credentials, and how to prevent and detect it
• How verified digital identities and corporate identification can help further reduce risk of help desk based attacks
• Shifting the culture to adopt a passwordless login
• Key logs to detect identity attacks
• Resources for learning KQL

Episode Links:

• Tarek Explains Phishing Resistant Authentication: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wtwUh6iyxY
• Microsoft Digital Defense Report: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/security-insider/intelligence-reports/microsoft-digital-defense-report-2024
• Nuance: https://www.nuance.com/index.html
• Book - The Definitive Guide to KQL: https://www.microsoftpressstore.com/store/definitive-guide-to-kql-using-kusto-query-language-9780138293383 
• KQL Github Repo: github.com/kqlmspress 
• Kusto Detective Agency: https://detective.kusto.io/

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In this mega-discussion with Seth Misenar on GenAI and LLM usage for security operations we cover some very interesting questions such as: 

- The importance of natural language processing in Sec Ops
- How AI is helping us detect phishing email
- Where and how AI is lowering the bar for entry-level security SOC roles
- Should we worry about AI hallucinations or AI taking our jobs?
- What is a reasoning model and how is it different than what we've seen so far?
- The future of AI - Multimodal interaction, Larger Context Windows, RAG, and more
- What is Agentic AI and why will it change the game?

Episode Links:

• The book from Manning Seth liked as a thoughtful accessible on-ramp: https://www.manning.com/books/introduction-to-generative-ai
• Coursera prompt engineering course series: https://coursera.org/specializations/prompt-engineering
• Gandalf Online Prompt Injection Challenges from Lakera (FYI Seth finds a lot of Lakera’s content to be really high-quality and useful): https://gandalf.lakera.ai/baseline
• “Nonsense on stilts” reference from Gary Marcus in response to the Google employee claiming LaMDA was sentient: https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/nonsense-on-stilts?utm_source=twitter&sd=pf. 
• AI as a monster with a smiley face image: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/shoggoth-with-smiley-face-artificial-intelligence
• Ethan Mollick is the Wharton professor Seth mentioned, Seth says his “One Useful Thing” Substack is a valuable and thought provoking source: https://www.oneusefulthing.org/. Also his book, Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI, would also be worth checking out: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/book

Click here to send us your ideas and feedback on Blueprint!

In this episode, we take you behind the scenes of a complex gift card fraud investigation. Join host John Hubbard and guest Mark Jeanmougin as they explore the intricate details of uncovering and combating a clever case of cyber fraud. In this episode Mark discusses how the incident was identified, investigated, contained, and what lessons were learned along the way.

Episode Links:
- Mark's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markjx/
- Mark's Teaching Schedule: https://www.sans.org/profiles/mark-jeanmougin/

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Have you ever wondered what it takes to write and publish an information security book? In this special bonus episode following season 4, John discusses with Kathryn, Ingrid, and Carson the challenges and rewards of self-publishing, and the kind of effort that goes into producing a book like "11 Strategies of a World-Class Cybersecurity Operations Center".

This special season of the Blueprint Podcast is taking a deep dive into MITRE’s 11 Strategies of a World-Class Cyber Security Operations Center. Each episode John will break down a chapter of the book with the book’s authors Kathryn Knerler, Ingrid Parker, and Carson Zimmerman.

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Support for the Blueprint podcast comes from the SANS Institute.

If you like the topics covered in this podcast and would like to learn more about blue team fundamentals such as host and network data collection, threat detection, alert triage, incident management, threat intelligence, and more, check out my new course SEC450: Blue Team Fundamentals.

This course is designed to bring attendees the information that every SOC analyst and blue team member needs to know to hit the ground running, including 15 labs that get you hands on with tools for threat intel, SIEM, incident management, automation and much more, this course has everything you need to launch your blue team career.

Check out the details at sansurl.com/450 Hope to see you in class!

Click here to send us your ideas and feedback on Blueprint!

"This final chapter of the book is no simple closer! "Turn Up the Volume by Expanding SOC Functionality" covers testing that your SOC is functioning as intended through activities such as Threat Hunting, Red and Purple Teaming, Adversary Emulation, Breach and Attack Simulation, tabletop exercises and more. There's even a discussion of cyber deception types and tactics, and how it can be used to further frustrate attackers. Join John, Kathryn, Ingrid, and Carson in this final chapter episode for some not to be missed tips! 

This special season of the Blueprint Podcast is taking a deep dive into MITRE’s 11 Strategies of a World-Class Cyber Security Operations Center. Each episode John will break down a chapter of the book with the book’s authors Kathryn Knerler, Ingrid Parker, and Carson Zimmerman.

Support for the Blueprint podcast comes from the SANS Institute.

If you like the topics covered in this podcast and would like to learn more about blue team fundamentals such as host and network data collection, threat detection, alert triage, incident management, threat intelligence, and more, check out my new course SEC450: Blue Team Fundamentals.

This course is designed to bring attendees the information that every SOC analyst and blue team member needs to know to hit the ground running, including 15 labs that get you hands on with tools for threat intel, SIEM, incident management, automation and much more, this course has everything you need to launch your blue team career.

Check out the details at sansurl.com/450 Hope to see you in class!

Click here to send us your ideas and feedback on Blueprint!

"Metrics, is there any more confusing and contentious topic in cybersecurity? In this episode the authors cover their advice and approach to measuring your team so that issues can be quickly identified and performance can continuously improve!

This special season of the Blueprint Podcast is taking a deep dive into MITRE’s 11 Strategies of a World-Class Cyber Security Operations Center. Each episode John will break down a chapter of the book with the book’s authors Kathryn Knerler, Ingrid Parker, and Carson Zimmerman.

Sponsor's Note:

Support for the Blueprint podcast comes from the SANS Institute.

If you like the topics covered in this podcast and would like to learn more about blue team fundamentals such as host and network data collection, threat detection, alert triage, incident management, threat intelligence, and more, check out my new course SEC450: Blue Team Fundamentals.

This course is designed to bring attendees the information that every SOC analyst and blue team member needs to know to hit the ground running, including 15 labs that get you hands on with tools for threat intel, SIEM, incident management, automation and much more, this course has everything you need to launch your blue team career.

Check out the details at sansurl.com/450 Hope to see you in class!

Click here to send us your ideas and feedback on Blueprint!

"Research has shown that communication is one of the most important factors for success in security incident response teams. In this chapter, the authors discuss the critical types of information that must be shared within the SOC, with the constituency, and with the greater cybersecurity community. 

SANS Cyber Defense Discord Invite - sansurl.com/cyber-defense-discord

This special season of the Blueprint Podcast is taking a deep dive into MITRE’s 11 Strategies of a World-Class Cyber Security Operations Center. Each episode John will break down a chapter of the book with the book’s authors Kathryn Knerler, Ingrid Parker, and Carson Zimmerman.

Support for the Blueprint podcast comes from the SANS Institute.

If you like the topics covered in this podcast and would like to learn more about blue team fundamentals such as host and network data collection, threat detection, alert triage, incident management, threat intelligence, and more, check out my new course SEC450: Blue Team Fundamentals.

This course is designed to bring attendees the information that every SOC analyst and blue team member needs to know to hit the ground running, including 15 labs that get you hands on with tools for threat intel, SIEM, incident management, automation and much more, this course has everything you need to launch your blue team career.

Check out the details at sansurl.com/450 Hope to see you in class!

Click here to send us your ideas and feedback on Blueprint!

Tool choice can be a make-or-break decision for security analysts, driving whether getting work done is a struggle, or an efficient, stress-free experience. How can we select the right tools for the job? Which tools are most important? Answers to these questions and more are in this week's episode of Blueprint!

This special season of the Blueprint Podcast is taking a deep dive into MITRE’s 11 Strategies of a World-Class Cyber Security Operations Center. Each episode John will break down a chapter of the book with the book’s authors Kathryn Knerler, Ingrid Parker, and Carson Zimmerman.

Sponsor's Note:

Support for the Blueprint podcast comes from the SANS Institute.

If you like the topics covered in this podcast and would like to learn more about blue team fundamentals such as host and network data collection, threat detection, alert triage, incident management, threat intelligence, and more, check out my new course SEC450: Blue Team Fundamentals.

This course is designed to bring attendees the information that every SOC analyst and blue team member needs to know to hit the ground running, including 15 labs that get you hands on with tools for threat intel, SIEM, incident management, automation and much more, this course has everything you need to launch your blue team career.

Check out the details at sansurl.com/450 - Hope to see you in class!

Click here to send us your ideas and feedback on Blueprint!

In this special live recording from the SANS Blue Team Summit 2023, Kathryn Knerler, Ingrid Parker, and Carson Zimmerman joined John Hubbard they share their insights and expertise with attendees by answering their pressing questions. From discussing the most effective strategies for building a successful SOC to sharing tips on how to stay ahead of emerging cyber threats, our guests provide invaluable advice for those who work in a security operations center (SOC). If you're looking to take your SOC to the next level or are simply interested in the latest developments in cybersecurity, this episode is a must-listen. Tune in to hear from some of the most respected experts in the field and gain valuable insights that could make all the difference in how you approach cybersecurity.

This special season of the Blueprint Podcast is taking a deep dive into MITRE’s 11 Strategies of a World-Class Cyber Security Operations Center. Each episode John will break down a chapter of the book with the book’s authors Kathryn Knerler, Ingrid Parker, and Carson Zimmerman.

Support for the Blueprint podcast comes from the SANS Institute.

If you like the topics covered in this podcast and would like to learn more about blue team fundamentals such as host and network data collection, threat detection, alert triage, incident management, threat intelligence, and more, check out my new course SEC450: Blue Team Fundamentals.

This course is designed to bring attendees the information that every SOC analyst and blue team member needs to know to hit the ground running, including 15 labs that get you hands on with tools for threat intel, SIEM, incident management, automation and much more, this course has everything you need to launch your blue team career.

Check out the details at sansurl.com/450 Hope to see you in class!