Fireside with Lei

I get a chance to speak with Amanda Berlin, the CEO of Mental Health Hackers.  We discuss how her involvement in the hacker/infosec community has revolved around contributing, supporting others and challenging herself to do more. This has this lead Amanda to be drawn to helping others, trying to do good in the community, and … Continue reading "Episode 22: Amanda Berlin, Mental Health Hackers"

In this episode I catch up with an old coworker who I worked with on vulnerability scanning software and has since become a red-teamer or “adversarial simulation”. He started as a gamer, and we talk about how he learned the foundation of his hacking skills from his days of gaming. Chris opens up on the … Continue reading "Episode 21: Chris “Lopi” Spehn, Game Hacker to Red Teamer"

In this episode my guest is DocWho, the fez wearing, multiple winner of hacker jeopardy, and all around good guy! We catch up about what his life has been like for DocWho, who has had some detours in life, like returning to college at an older age to finish his degree, and moving from the … Continue reading "Episode 20: DocWho, Dances with Fezes"

In this episode I catch up with GeekSpeed, an offensive security expert.  We talk about life, family, conferences, and more. About his foray into the silicon valley life at a young age, and how that failed and he ended up back with his parents for a short stint while he got a normal IT job … Continue reading "Episode 19: GeekSpeed, Catching up on life, health and happiness."

In this episode of fireside with lei, I chat with Lance James someone I’ve heard and seen of in the community but never had a chance to ever sit down and chat.  I learn of Lance’s background on how he got introduced into the hacker slash security scene via creating crypto and peer to peer … Continue reading "Episode 18: Lance James. Success, Failures, Grief and Buddhism."

In this episode I catch up with Arclight again, we have a discussion on the hisotry of the 23b shop, and why the 23bshop has prevailed for so long while other hackerspaces have dissolved. We also discuss SparkleCon, a yearly event hosted at the 23b shop space coming up in early Feburary 2019. More information … Continue reading "Episode 17: Arclight revisited, We talk Sparklecon and the 23b shop."

In this episode, I talk with Lock from the san diego saber and san diego sabers podcast, but originally I met lock through hacker conferences. Lock’s background is fascinating, from building himself up in the IT world to the executive level to being a core volunteer at def con. He has experienced it all, and … Continue reading "Episode 16: Lock and I talk, Light Sabers and Life"

I get to catch up with the infamous Nick Farr, and hear about how he came about in the hacker scene as the “guy in a suit” and other communities. A serial volunteer, Nick has had a lifetime full of helping or creating events from Hackers on a Plane to improving mail services at Burning … Continue reading "Episode 15: Nick Farr, Talking on purpose."

In this episode I talk with Arclight of the 23b shop and ACCX products about growing up in hacker community of the 90s to running a hacker space in the 2000s. We talk about the days of being a BBS sysop, dumpster diving, urban exploration, the mojave phone booth and how things have changed in … Continue reading "Episode 14: Arclight, What it was like in the 90s, and what it’s like today"

In this weeks’ episode, I catch up with Shane MacDougall a world cup street luge competitor, former fire fighter and long time security professional back from his days of red teaming during the late 80s and early 90s. Shane has had his fair share of set backs and disruptions in life, but has always sided … Continue reading "Episode 13: Shane MacDougall from infosec to extreme sports competitor."