InfoSec Journeys

Pedram Amini is a security researcher, published author, founder, investor, advisor, and hacker of all things. He has a strong background in reverse engineering and creative problem-solving skills and has presented a variety of research at security conferences such as BlackHat, DefCon, RECon, Ekoparty, Microsoft Bluehat, ShmooCon, ToorCon, Virus Bulletin; and taught numerous sold-out courses on reverse engineering.

Pedram is the founder of many well known InfoSec brands, including the Zero Day Initiative, OpenRCE.org, Jumpshot and most recently Inquest. Throughout this conversation Pedram shares how he started within the industry, how and why he created his various start-ups, what drives his passion for problem-solving within the industry and from where he draws inspiration.

Pedram is super-inspiring to talk to; someone who is extremely successful and accomplished within the industry and has created some game-changing brands. Thank you for sharing your insights Pedram and we're looking forward to a Round 2!

Charity Wright is a Cyber Threat Intelligence expert with over 15 years experience at US Army, NSA, and across the private sector where she currently works at Recorded Future. Her passions includes research and reporting on global cybercrime, state-sponsored cyber threats, and disinformation operations. She also specialises in the analysis of Chinese geo-political warfare.

In this episode we take a look at a crazy situation Greg found himself in when he accepted a job offer at a well known public company. Buckle up, this is mind-blowing.

Greg Van Der Gaast is an InfoSec Consultant with over 20 years experience across the industry. From hacking into nuclear infrastructure, to guiding organisations through significant security transformation journeys, Greg has literally written the book about cyber security best practice. He is the author of 'Rethinking InfoSec' - which you are highly recommended to check out.

Greg Van Der Gaast is an InfoSec Consultant with over 20 years experience across the industry. From hacking into nuclear infrastructure, to guiding organisations through significant security transformation journeys, Greg has literally written the book about cyber security best practice. He is the author of 'Rethinking InfoSec' - which you are highly recommended to check out.

Jason Shockey is a US Marine Corps veteran with over 20 years experience in the Cyber Security industry. Highly skilled and a visionary leader within the InfoSec landscape. Jason has developed an amazing online platform to help others define their cyber career pathway which we discuss; we also talk about the transition from military to civilian life and the benefits of the advanced training, frameworks and leadership skills that the Marine Corps provided. This was a fascinating insight into the mind of someone who is super-passionate about the InfoSec industry; someone who loves giving back to the community and helping others develop their career. Thank you for taking the time out Jason to speak to us.

LINKS

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-sho...

https://mycyberpath.com/

SHORTCUTS

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Intro - 00:36

Monitor Do Not Block - 01:06

Breaking into InfoSec - 02:24

Security tooling within Military - 03:00

InfoSec within Marine Corps - 05:25

Networks & Communication - 08:22

Getting past the red tape - 09:50

Cyber job titles within Military - 12:52

Transitioning from military to civilian life - 16:25

Frameworks within the industry - 18:05

Industry training for military and business - 21:41

Certifications and cyber training within military school - 23:57

Overview of mycyberpath.com - 26:20

Barriers within industry & benefits of personality analysis - 28:10

Fine tuning a career pathway - 32:19

LISTO framework - 34:16

Cyber security skills gap - 35:37

Terminology within Job Descriptions - 38:16

Getting past the Resume keyword filters - 41:25

Imposter Syndrome & getting out of your own way - 42:30

Keys to success for being a strong leader - 45:25

Building a personal brand - 49:26

Summary & Close - 51:40

Mike Jones, once described as a 'Cyber Terrorist', is reformed hacker who now helps protect organisations from advanced cyber attacks. He is a US military intelligence expert, highly skilled in the art of offensive security and an original member of the activist group known as Anonymous. Mike was also part of a Russian APT hacking group known as APT28 and is the host of the Haunted Hacker podcast - which you should definitely check out.

Mike has a unique relationship with cyber security. He is super-skilled in helping protect organisations from attack, but also highly skilled in hacking into the most secure environments on the planet. This was a fascinating journey inside Mike's mind, how he started within the industry, what took him down the paths that he chose and what the road ahead looks like for him in 2021 and beyond. We appreciate you sharing your story Mike.

LINKS

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikejones...

https://www.facebook.com/HauntedHacker/

https://twitter.com/H4unt3dH

SHORTCUTS

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Intro - 00:49

Making the right cyber decisions - 02:20

Early career and Anonymous - 05:20

Navy and SIGINT - 10:40

Measuring success within military - 12:38

Transitioning to civilian life - 14:50

Aspergers and the effects on Mike's life - 16:13

Starting out in Anonymous - 20:00

Being exiled from US - 22:40

Getting caught - 26:30

Being a Confidential Informant in APT28 - 29:20

Exiting the hacking group - 34:47

Relationship with family - 36:10

Surviving with limited freedoms - 38:00

Talking publicly about life - 39:25

Operational Security - 41:10

Feelings about the US - 43:06

New Direction Cyber Security & Advisory roles - 44:33

Helping kids stay on the right path - 46:50

Bug Bounty Community - 48:00

New Role & Responsibilities - 49:31

What businesses should focus on most - 50:42

The hard part of leaking information - 52:28

Different ways of hacking - 54:00

SIGINT and Number Stations - 56:33

How Mike describes his journey - 59:20

Thoughts on Snowden - 01:00:06

Favourite cyber attack tool - 01:02:38

Summary & Close - 01:03:30

Sarah Armstrong-Smith is Chief Security Advisor at Microsoft and also serves as a Non-Executive Director at Decipher Cyber. Sarah has developed an extensive skill-set throughout a 20 year career in InfoSec, excelling in Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery strategy; helping to prepare and secure multi-national organisations against an ever-advancing cyber threat landscape.

We hear how Sarah got started in the industry, how her passion for disaster recovery developed, what drives her to keep pace with the landscape and her top tips for communicating effectively with C-Suite executives.

This was a really insightful episode, with lots of key takeaways.

SHORTCUTS

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Intro & Role Overview - 00:27

Starting a new role during COVID - 01:20

How Microsoft accelerated Teams during COVID - 01:55

Key Challenges for Organisations - 08:36

Managing risk in a fast-paced industry - 11:58

Justifying the costs of business continuity planning - 13:54

Sarah's career path within InfoSec - 17:20

Education versus Business Life - 24:16

Measuring the success of cyber-attack planning - 28:00

Cyber frameworks as a minimum standard - 31:20

Recommendations for smaller enterprises - 35:20

Being a Non-Executive Director - 38:38

Benefits of Decipher Cyber - 43:00

Developing a passion for technology - 45:40

Communicating with C-Suite and Executives - 46:40

Women in InfoSec - 50:48

Building credibility within the industry - 52:51

Summary & Close - 55:55

Jack Rhysider is the creator and host of Darknet Diaries, an award-winning Podcast covering 'true-stories from the dark-side of the internet'. If you're in Cyber Security there's no doubt you would have heard of Jack's show and we were very lucky to have Jack talk to us about where and how his career as a Content Creator started and how it's developed over time. Also, we explored with Jack his InfoSec journey, talking about his education and employment background and how those skills really contributed to his success today.

I loved how open Jack is with sharing his story, talking not only about his personal journey, but sharing the tools, methods and insights into what really makes a podcast successful. Jack also maintains an excellent blog-site where he shares in-depth articles which may just help you make it to the big-time too.

Thank you Jack for sharing your journey; it was a real fascinating insight!

SHORTCUTS

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Introduction & Career Overview - 00:38

Starting Darknet Diaries - 02:12

How Jack learned the art of story-telling - 05:10

Education and certifications for InfoSec - 09:05

Story-telling with complex topics - 13:30

Being a "Slow-News Junkie" - 15:48

How Darknet Diaries has developed - 17:26

Jack's microphone - 19:06

Finding your voice - 20:50

Turning podcasting into a full-time career - 23:45

Some favourite episodes - 26:40

Knowing what you're making is right - 28:20

Keeping the audiences interested - 29:20

Deep-diving into topics - 31:33

Scripting episodes yet sounding real - 34:50

Software tips for organising complex topics - 36:34

Keeping updated with the fast-paced industry - 40:06

How Jack finds new stories - 42:05

NSA Propaganda? - 45:50

Operational Security & Keeping Private - 47:00

Domestic hacking episode idea - 51:30

Thoughts on privacy - 55:15

Sharing the secret-sauce of building a podcast - 58:34

The benefits of blogging - 01:01:21

Dealing with negativity - 01:02:55

Topics that'll never be on Darknet Diaries - 01:04:55

Family thoughts on the podcast - 01:06:26

Guests Jack would really want - 01:07:40

Runway and cadence for the show - 01:10:38

Employing others to help create the podcast - 01:12:30

Summary & Close - 01:14:10

LINKS

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https://darknetdiaries.com

https://twitter.com/JackRhysider

https://blog.lime.link

https://www.tunnelsup.com

In this episode we meet Rick Jones, entrepreneur and co-Founder of Digital XRAID - a managed security service specialist provider. Rick has an inspiring journey within #InfoSec; having broken into the industry through sheer determination to pivot from his previous career-path and accelerated his development by learning from highly successful security consultants. Fast-forward and Rick now owns a leading cyber security #business with a global reach and employs some of the UK's leading security professionals.

We talk about the risks Rick took to make the leap into starting a company, the challenges and rewards along the way and the key attributes that have helped him succeed.

A highly inspiring insight into just what it takes to succeed in a highly #competitive landscape. Thanks again Rick for sharing your journey.

SHORTCUTS

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Intro - 00:40

The start of Digital XRAID - 01:27

Defining a mission - 02:35

Adapting the vision - 03:47

Recruiting quality talent - 05:08

Building the brand - 06:49

Getting the first customer - 08:13

Pivoting careers - 10:42

Breaking into InfoSec - 12:52

Not allowing fear to hold you back - 16:22

Finding the entrepreneurial spirit - 18:05

Perception of contractors - 20:54

Why start a business - 22:00

Learning to run a business with Goldman Sachs - 25:18

The importance of building a network - 26:35

How to keep the spirit alive - 28:24

Identifying and overcoming Imposter Syndrome - 29:38

Finding talent vs. perceived talent shortage - 32:05

Key skills to focus on to break through - 34:46

Transferrable skills are important - 39:11

Resiliency is key - 40:22

Personal challenges when starting a business - 41:35

Make it a personal journey - 44:44

Where the name Digital XRAID came from - 45:30

What's next and the mindset to progress - 47:47

Summary, wrap-up & WAKE UP ASHLEY!! - 51:43

Geoff White is an Investigative #Journalist who covers the #Technology and Cyber Security industry. Geoff has a fascinating career; investigating high-tech #crime and has produced highly-engaging, insightful content covering cyber-attacks such as WannaCry, Sony and the Bangladesh Bank Heist; Dark Web investigations such as Silk Road and AlphaBay and has produced exceptional Podcast content covering many other related areas of Cyber. It was a real pleasure to talk to Geoff about how he got started, what motivates him to investigate within this space and he shares his top tips for those budding Investigative Journalists to get started too.

Thank you for sharing your journey Geoff and we cannot wait for more of your insights.