Hacker Valley Studio

Hosts Ron and Chris interview guest Erik Goldman, VP of Product at Panther Labs, a software engineer, expert in product and an entrepreneur. 

Erik is great at asking questions, that is one of his superpowers. One of his strategies to build a product is to sit down with customers, ask them what they want him to do, deeply understand their persona, and gather data.

Erik builds his thesis for success, and knows how to distinguish a good company from a great company by analyzing which one has a philosophy that goes beyond the software.

Erik offers advice for listeners on how to operate better on their company.

1:03 - Intro

2:37 – Bio

6:18 – The difference between building a product and building a business

7:18 – What are Erik’s strengths based on his past experiences

9:20 – How Erik stays away from tinkering with the code, and more of the technical aspects

11:48 – Erik’s power of understanding the concepts by asking questions

13:19 – The difference between a good company and a great company

15:20 – What Erik thinks about the future of technology and the cyber security of the future

19:30 – Erik’s thoughts about automating security operation

26:07 – Erik’s advice for listeners to operate better in their company’s environment

27:50 – How to stay up to date with Panther Labs.

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Erik Goldman: Panther Website

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Hosts Ron and Chris interview guest Keith Wilson, director of cyber security education at Attack IQ Academy. Keith is the perfect example on how to take years of experience in engineering and analysis, and turn it into something that is impactful for all people. Keith has created educational content for people in the industry and different types of learners. His trajectory is filled with success stories, and also invites people who want to get into cyber security. 

1:11 - Intro

3:03 – Bio

6:13 – How Keith’s fascination with education started

9:09 – Blueprint for education: concepts, the structure of classes, and activities

12:33 – The approach to different types of learners 

15:21 – Discussion about students who want to get into cyber security or transition into another aspect of it

16:51 – Keith’s creative process for building new content and sharing information

20:51 – Success story of when education is done right

22:41 – Advice to listeners about putting out educational content 

24:16 – How to stay up to date with Keith and Attack Academy IQ

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Keith C. Wilson: LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter | Attack IQ Academy 

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Visit our friends and sponsor Panther Labs.

What do you call cyberspace in space? What is the evolution of cyber security in space?

The expert Frank Pound, computer scientist, entrepreneur, founder and president of Astro Sec is the guest to clarify all things related to cyberspace. Space traffic control is discussed. Frank advised the Air Force, Space Force, and their contractors to help build the Hack-A-Sat competition which attracted teams from around the world to demonstrate their prowess in this blended space and cyber competition challenging them in everything from orbital dynamics to radio communications.

1:00 – Intro 

2:10 – Bio Frank Pound

11:10 - Frank Pound talks about the democratization of technology 

12:03 – The explosion of IOTs on the market, sensors, and rapid advancements on space launch 

12:54 – The open-source hardware movement

18:04 – General excitement about space in 2019 and investment in safety

20:56 – Potential for a cascading effect making space travel impossible 

23:37 – Frank Pound talks about safety measures

24:50 – A summary of Hack-A-Sat’s latest works

27:22 – Alternatives to cyber security and safety in space 

37:00 – Frank answers the question on how to do missions in space

40:16 – How to find out more about Frank Pound and Hack-A-Sat’s competition, interviews and resources 

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Frank Pound: Twitter | Website

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Visit our friends and sponsor Panther Labs

In this episode of Hacker Valley, Chris and Ron tackle a quick question. The question of the day is, “what is social networking?” Together they discuss different aspects of social media and how it facilitates connections and careers.

Ron’s perspective is that social networking empowers folks to find like minded people, learn new things, self advocate and learn about others. Chris shares how social networking on LinkedIn put him in a position to build a community in cybersecurity.

Timecodes

01:53 - The difference between networking and social networking and polishing profiles.

04:00 - How Ron engages with social networking mindfully.

06:30 - How LinkedIn helped Chris and Ron find their community.

08:46 - How social networks can elevate cybersecurity practitioners, researchers and businesses.

10:00 - Threat intelligence, open source intelligence and finding family on social networks

13:00 - Perspectives on the future of social networks and digital interaction.

15:45 - Making the most of social networks

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Ken Underhill is an award-winning cyber security executive, entrepreneur, and teacher. His mission is to help others find their value and share it; ultimately leading to success both professionally and personally. Ken’s courses offer an intuitive approach to help start a career in cyber security. Whether you’re a budding cyber security professional or a seasoned veteran, Ken’s perspective can serve a purpose in your life. 

Join Ron, Chris and Ken to dive into what it takes to create content, help others, and thrive in your career!

01:30 Guest Intro

02:14 Bio 

11:30 Ken’s journey in content creation

13:22 Why focusing on giving value first matters

16:15 Ken’s future plan for content

23:50 The path to making an impact

29:40 Connecting with your audience

37:58 Get in touch with Ken 

Hacker Valley Studio: Swag | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram | Email Ron & Chris | Website

Ken Underhill: Courses | YouTube | Website | LinkedIn 

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Join our monthly mastermind group via Patreon

Visit our friends and sponsor Panther Labs

In this episode of Hacker Valley, Chris and Ron are joined by a familiar friend, Valentina Palacín, who you might have heard on HVS Blue season 1. Valentina is an author, public speaker, self-taught developer, and Threat Operations lead at Marqeta Incorporated, armed with a background in translation and interpretation. 

Join Chris, Ron and Valentina for this round-table masterclass in all things Threat Hunting to discuss the questions you may be asking yourself:

What is Threat Hunting? How do you become a Threat Hunter? What’s it like to be in the shoes of a Threat Hunter? Or work with one? 

Key Takeaways:

0:00 Welcome to the podcast!

1:10 Introduction/ Bio

2:55 What is Threat Hunting?

5:25 Chris’ take on working with a Threat Hunter (Ron)

7:08 Valentina’s Threat Hunting flow

9:18 Ron and Valentina talk about progressions in Threat Intelligence

12:20 The group talks about the ideal characteristics of a Threat Hunter in both junior and senior level positions

18:00 How to get into Threat Hunting

20:55 Get in touch with Valentina!

Valentina Palacín: Book | LinkedIn | Twitter

Hacker Valley Studio: Swag | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram | Email Ron & Chris | Website

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Join our monthly mastermind group via Patreon

In this episode, Chris, Ron, and their special guest going to be talking about your table. Not the table itself, but what is on it. They are talking about food and following our passions. They've brought in Bri Van Scotter, professional Chef, author, hunter, and host of the TV series Wilderness to Table. Bri is so unbelievably talented in so many areas. Everyone is going to love this episode and learn a little bit about the food we eat. 

Key Moments

00:56 - Intro to Bri

02:41 - Bri’s Background

03:59 - The darker side of food production

04:57 - The hunt begins

06:13 - For the love of food

11:41 - On going deep with your craft

16:10 - Getting more in touch with your food

21:33 -  Eating for Health

22:52 - Honoring our food sources

25:28 - Knowledge is power

Visit Bri at her website

Follow Bri on Instagram

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Join our monthly mastermind group via Patreon

Visit our friends and sponsor Panther Labs

Ron and Chris are the hosts and guests for this episode! This episode answers fundamental questions about Security Architecture. Learning about security architecture is absolutely essential for anyone on the path of becoming a cyber security expert just looking to learn more about a cybersecurity topic.

Security Architecture is the foundation, the fabric and the process used to help secure your data, your privacy, and even your money.

Now for a second, Imagine that you are an architect and your biggest strength is your ability to build banks. And a new client reaches out to you... We'll name this client Ray. And Ray asks you to build his company a new bank with all the bells and whistles. You're going to need to build Ray and his company something spectacular! This bank you build is going to need to serve as an office and boost productivity for the bank staff. The bank is also going to serve as a place where customers can deposit and withdraw money. But most importantly, Ray is going to want you to protect his crown jewel, his money! (Think of all those gold bricks and bars that Ray is going to want to keep under his possession )

Key Takeaways:

0:00 - Welcome back to the Hacker Valley Studio

1:10 - Ron's favorite topic! Security Architecture

1:45 - Security architecture is the foundation 

2:21 - Where a security architecture starts and stops

4:00 - A security architect is playing a game of Tower Defense

6:27 - Using EASY Framework as a security architect

10:04 - Prerequisites for becoming a security architect

13:55 - Differences between security architect and security engineers

16:55 - Resources for learning more about security architecture

19:21 - Stay in touch with Hacker Valley Studio!

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Learn more about our fantastic sponsor Upytcs

In this episode, we speak to a Detection and Response expert! Our guest is Nick Hakmiller, Senior Engineering Manager at Panther Labs.

Nick was first exposed to technology in High School where he took an introduction to Visual Basic programming course. When learning about multi-threaded applications Nick became curious and began exploring how to open too many threads to crash a computer. Throughout Nick’s career he’s maintained an interest and focus on attack techniques and building defensive security programs.

On occasions, security controls may fail to catch an attacker. A detection is logic that is applied to logs, security controls, and alerts to notify teams and automated processes. Nick describes Python as an exceptional programming language to apply detections and create detections as code.

Nick describes many aspects of security as an engineering problem. As organizations transform and adopt new technologies, security issues arise and evolve. Nick describes that the team’s that are most successful with applying detection as code have chosen to view security as a function that engineering should participate in and help solve.

As an organization’s security program matures, Nick mentions that the most impactful detections will likely be written and created by someone within the organization. For instance, creating a detection that defines which users should have access to sensitive data is likely to be created by a member of the organization with knowledge of team structure.

Towards the end of the episode, Nick shares his wisdom to any practitioner that wants to step into the role of creating detections and providing impact while doing so.

Key Takeaways

0:00 - Welcome Back to the Hacker Valley Studio Podcast!

2:29 - Nick Hakmiller, Senior Engineering Manager at Panther Labs

4:20 - How Nick became interested in technology

6:00 - What is a detection?

7:25 - How detection as code applies to cybersecurity and software engineering

10:11 - Prerequisites to consider before applying detection as code

12:27 - Thinking beyond out of the box solutions and applying detections

15:54 - Categories of detections and which are most impactful

23:45 - Reducing alerts by engineering efforts

27:40 - Is it possible to automate everything for security?

32:56 - Advice on getting started with creating detections

Keep in touch with Nick Hakmiller on LinkedIn

Reach out to Nick on Panther’s Community Slack

Stay up to date with Nick’s work by viewing Panther Analysis

Learn more about Panther Labs

Today’s guests are our very own hosts!  Ron and Chris.  Together they tackle everything that surrounds threat intelligence by answering both the hard and easy questions.

Between the stories they share about past experiences, and the facts behind threat intelligence, you will learn something new, and that’s a promise!

In essence, threat intelligence is taking the information about threats or things that can go wrong and applying it to their network and company.  It’s the processing, collection and analyzation of data to understand threat actors, motives, targets and attack behaviors. 

Key Takeaways

1:10 Episode starts

2:39 Threat intelligence

3:00 Ron & Chris share what threat intelligence means to them

6:33 Organizations and threat intelligence

8:39 Back in the day

12:54 Benefits of threat intelligence

15:08 Skills needed to be in threat intelligence

19:22 Networking

23:34 E.A.S.Y.

Links:

Email Ron & Chris

Support Hacker Valley Studio on Patreon.  Follow Hacker Valley Studio on Twitter.

Follow hosts Ron Eddings and Chris Cochran on Twitter.

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