Sittadel Podcast

When cybersecurity professionals need to develop their skills and earn credentials, they turn to Ben Malisow, author of Exposed! and a number of self-paced courses on Udemy. 

Ben Malisow didn't waste any time to bring his unwelcome perspective to the podcast.  In Ben's mind, it's time for you to embrace a future of perfect privacy: where all of your secrets become public. Your location, your browser history, and your finances should all be at the fingertips of your neighbors. Big corporations and governments are already using this information, so why should the person you just met at the bar be left out in the cold?

It's easy to disagree with Ben.

But what if it wasn't just your secrets? What if everyone's information was available to you as well? Would you feel more comfortable meeting a stranger if you were able to review their arrest history first? As Ben points out, privacy creates opportunities for fear and distrust. Secrets lead to shame. 

There are movements all over the United States to bring about transparency in politics and law enforcement. Today, cities burn in the wake of officer-involved shootings, but if the public had access to all the information, they could reach a level of comfort that the actions were justified. Or if it wasn't justified, it would be plain to see for the Good Apples who protect and serve. But this would only be possible with complete transparency. And what is transparency if not the enemy of privacy?

It's hard to disagree with Ben.

Until we reach our new future, it's up to cybersecurity practitioners to continue defending the C in the CIA triad. For more information on how Sittadel can keep your secrets safe, let's get the conversation started at www.sittadel.com.  

Social Media has fostered the most interconnected and mentally unwell society in history.  Communities have never been more accessible and people have never felt more alone.

Silicon Valley titans like Pinterest and Reddit have fundamentally changed the way information is shared on the Internet. For many previously marginalized voices, social media has provided platforms for collaboration and representation. And while those examples are important, the valor of social media starts to drop off from there. After another round of concerning reports on facebook's priorities, Nate has to hold the conversation that stays resident in the back of our minds: When billion-dollar businesses drive our communication, can decisions be made with the public's best interests in mind?

The social media apps that live in our pockets are treasure troves of private information. For law enforcement, that data represents an endless stream of opportunities to protect the innocent. But as we explored last week, this moral tradeoff can leave us feeling conflicted at best. 

In this episode, the two discuss Social Media, facebook, Instagram, outages, transparency and accountability, the facebook whistleblower, health and wellness monitoring, and Nate started a gang.

There's no call to visit our website today.  Just promise us you'll think about spending your time intentionally.

We know your location, see your pictures, listen in on your microphone, and even get into your encrypted chat.  But we only use that for good! (Okay, except for that one time...)

Israeli based cyber intelligence company NSO Group is a billion-dollar business that helps law enforcement agencies and governments learn everything about innocent and guilty citizens alike in the name of protecting the virtuous.

Cyber weapons like Pegasus represent a moral tradeoff.  The intended use is to curb human trafficking or intervene before violent crimes are committed, but it comes at the cost of invading the privacy of good-doing citizens.  We're quick to accept this risk when weapons are wielded by the armed forces that defend countries, but the NSO Group is motivated by profits as much as any other private company.

As Nate discusses in the episode, he often finds himself caught between the creative ambition of an artist and catering to what will sell. To pay the bills, Nate has to sacrifice a bit of creative freedom. When companies profit from circumventing the security systems that keep us safe, it's a much greater sacrifice.

In this episode, we discuss zero day vulnerabilities, Pegasus Spyware, NSO Group, Edward Snowden, Spysweeper, Privacy concerns, mobile security, law enforcement, wardriving, and WIFI security.

Use our contact form or tweet us @sittadelpodcast to start the conversation on how Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions can play a role in protecting your information (and if you're a business, there's a good chance you're already paying for one you've never set up).

Some men see EDR as it is; others see EDR as it should be.  Maxime Lamothe-Bressard joins Nate and Joshua for a discussion on the ways LimaCharlie is removing the roadblocks for working with some of the most important data points for Incident Responders and SOC analysts: file execution telemetry.  Maxime brings a wealth of experience to the show, bringing insight from his time at Google-X, CrowdStrike, and a French Cafe.  You can get started with LimaCharlie today for free by visiting limacharlie.io.

For more information, visit https://www.sittadel.com or tweet us at @sittadelpodcast.

Friend of the show Aaron Burns drops by the studio to talk about his experiences with scams sent straight to his phone.  Aaron and Nate do their best to reinvent a few new cybersecurity terms, but Joshua wasn't having any of that nonsense.  In this episode, the team discusses how Universal 2 Factor Authentication (U2A) promises big improvements by requiring login pages to prove their identity before users are permitted to login.

Happy Labor Day!  Comedian Jayson "Avocado" Acevedo helps the Sittadel Podcast team celebrate with a look at 3 day weekends and the social engineering risks they introduce for businesses.  Later, Jayson would weigh in on cryptographically relevant quantum computers, which could be the worst idea we've ever had.  What does quantum computing have to do with drive thru terminals?  Nothing, Jayson. Absolutely nothing.  

If you'd like to hear more from Jayson, head over to https://jaysonavocado.com

To enjoy CrowdStrike's APT database, check out https://adversary.crowdstrike.com

To chat with the Sittadel Podcast team, tweet us @sittadelpodcast, email us at ask(at)sittadel(dotcom), or start the conversation at https://sittadel.com

In this episode, we talk about social engineering, viruses, advanced persistent threats, APTs, CrowdStrike, Jayson Avocado, Marvel, DC, comic books, and several things that had to be edited out (looking at you, Jayson).

Trafenia joins us for another trip back to the 90s to talk about the Melissa Virus, Joshua tells us about how plywood fits into cybersecurity, and Nate introduces us to Jacques.

In this episode, the trio discusses phishing, security awareness training, Kevin Mitnick, Hook Security, honest hips, business continuity, and disaster recovery.

For more on what Sittadel can do for you, head to our website at https://www.sittadel.com

Trafenia Flynn Salzman has been working with computers since the movie Rush Hour was a relevant cultural reference.  She's bringing that depth of experience to the podcast and comments on the representation of women in cybersecurity, Cloud Security, Zero Trust, and CARTA.  Later, Nate would be disappointed the episode wasn't titled White Van Candy Man.

Topics in this episode include diversity, Cloud Security, ZTNA, CARTA, MFA, trust algorithms, data centers, and teradactyls.

For more on what Sittadel can do for you, head over to our website at https://www.sittadel.com.

Troy Hunt created www.HaveIBeenPwned.com with the expectation that a few of his mates would use it to keep their accounts safe, but today it's the resource the world uses to monitor passwords at risk for credential stuffing attacks. Troy spends an hour on the podcast discussing password strength, his work at Pluralsight, and answering the age old question: What do squirrels have to do with cybersecurity?

We thank Troy both for his time and for making the Internet a safer place.

Joshua tries to talk about the role of executive management in a cybersecurity operation, but Nate would rather talk about movies.