Hacker Valley Studio

Three banks in four days isn't just a bragging right for penetration testers. It's a wake-up call showing that expensive security tools and alarm systems often fail when tested by skilled operators who understand both human behavior and technical vulnerabilities.

Greg Hatcher and John Stigerwalt, co-founders of White Knight Labs, talk about their latest physical penetration tests on financial institutions, manufacturing facilities protecting COVID-19 vaccine production, and why their new Server 2025 course had to rewrite most common Active Directory tools. They share stories of armed guards, police gun draws, poison ivy reconnaissance, and a bag of chips that saved them from serious trouble. The conversation reveals why EDR alone won't stop ransomware, how offline backups remain the exception rather than the rule, and what security controls actually work when attackers bring custom tooling.

Impactful Moments:

00:00 - Intro

Connect with our guests – 

When your firewall forgets to buckle up, the crash doesn’t happen in the network first, it happens in your blindspots.

In this episode, Ron is joined by returning guest Chris Hughes, Co-Founder of Aquia and host of the Resilient Cyber podcast. Chris helps reframe vulnerability work as exposure management, connect technical risk to human resilience, and break down the scoring and runtime tools security teams actually need today. Expect clear takeaways on EPSS, reachability analysis, ADR, AI’s double-edged role, and the one habit Chris swears by as a CEO. This episode fuses attack-surface reality with mental-attack-surface strategy so you walk away with both tactical moves and daily practices that protect systems and people.

Links:

The real disruption isn’t AI replacing humans, it’s the shocking possibility that human labor was the economic bubble all along.

In this episode, Ron Eddings sits down with Daniel Miessler, founder of Unsupervised Learning and longtime security leader, to break open why companies are hitting record profits with shrinking workforces, and what that means for your future. Daniel shares how AI agents, context management, and his Telos problem-first framework are reshaping what it means to create value in the modern economy. From Apple to Human 3.0, Daniel explains why building in public, learning fast, and solving real problems are the ultimate career edge in an AI-powered world.

Links:

Upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams

AI agents aren't just reacting anymore, they're thinking, learning, and sometimes deleting your entire production database without asking. The real question isn't if your AI agent will be hacked, it's when, and whether you'll have the right hooks in place to stop it before it happens.

In this episode, Ron breaks down the ChatGPT Atlas vulnerability that shocked researchers, revealing how malicious prompts can turn AI assistants against their own users by bypassing safeguards and accessing file systems. He presents his new talk "Hooking Before Hacking," introducing a framework for applying EDR principles, prevention, detection, and response, to AI agents before they execute unauthorized commands. From pre-tool use hooks that catch malicious intent to one-time passwords that put humans back in the loop, this episode shares practical security controls you can implement today to prevent your AI agents from going rogue.

Impactful Moments:

00:00 - Introduction

Links:

Connect with Ron on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronaldeddings/

Check out the entire article here: https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/cybersecurity-experts-warn-openai-chatgpt-101658986.html 

GitHub Repository: https://hackervalley.com/hooking-before-hacking 

See Ron's "Hooking Before Hacking" presentation slides here: http://hackervalley.com/hooking-before-hacking-presentation

Check out our website: https://hackervalley.com/

Upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams

Love Hacker Valley Studio? Pick up some swag: https://store.hackervalley.com

Continue the conversation by joining our Discord: https://hackervalley.com/discord

Become a sponsor of the show to amplify your brand: https://hackervalley.com/work-with-us/

Join our creative mastermind and stand out as a cybersecurity professional: https://www.patreon.com/hackervalleystudio

What if your security team never missed a single alert and actually had time to think strategically?

In this episode, Ahmed Achchak, CEO and Co-Founder of Qevlar AI, reveals how autonomous SOCs are reshaping security operations worldwide. From tackling alert fatigue to empowering analysts with intelligent AI-driven investigations, Ahmed shares the inside story of building a system that can act on threats faster than any human alone. Learn how Qevlar’s innovative approach is giving organizations clarity, control, and measurable ROI while freeing security teams to focus on what truly matters.

Impactful Moments

Check out Qevlar’s website: https://www.qevlar.com/

Check out our upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams

Who said cybersecurity had to be serious? The future of cyber is creative, human, and even a little sexy.

Impactful Moments:

00:00 - Introduction

02:00 - CISA layoffs and collaboration fragility

04:00 - Welcoming Maria Velasquez

06:00 - How loneliness sparked a global community

08:00 - Why collaboration fuels cybersecurity growth

10:00 - When cybersecurity marketing was “boring”

14:00 - Story behind Torque’s “Kill the S.O.A.R” campaign

15:00 - Making cybersecurity emotional and human

17:00 - Maria’s advice for bold marketing leaders

18:00 - The next big thing: experiential marketing

20:00 - Inside Cyber Marketing Con 2025

24:00 - Final reflections on community and creativity

27:00 - Ron’s takeaways: connection drives innovation

Links:

Connect with Maria on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-vepa/

Join our creative mastermind and stand out as a cybersecurity professional:

https://www.patreon.com/hackervalleystudio

Love Hacker Valley Studio? Pick up some swag: https://store.hackervalley.com

Continue the conversation by joining our Discord: https://hackervalley.com/discord

Become a sponsor of the show to amplify your brand: https://hackervalley.com/work-with-us/

To defend like a human, you first have to think like a hacker.

Impactful Moments

Links:

Check out our upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams

Join our creative mastermind and stand out as a cybersecurity professional:

Love Hacker Valley Studio? Pick up some swag: https://store.hackervalley.com

Continue the conversation by joining our Discord: https://hackervalley.com/discord

Become a sponsor of the show to amplify your brand: https://hackervalley.com/work-with-us/

When code meets intuition, innovation gets personal. But what happens when we let AI vibe with our ideas?

Impactful Moments

00:00 - Introduction

Check out our upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams

The real edge in cybersecurity isn’t found in new tools, it’s built through timeless fundamentals and a mindset that never stops learning.

Impactful Moments

Check out our upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams

What if protecting your digital twin becomes the new cyber hygiene?

Links:

Check out our upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams