The Hacks

Last week, Tom and Chunga promised to do an episode that explored the vast differences between Tactics and Strategy. The truth is, most people get the two confused. Are you one of those people? It's totally ok if you are!

This problem goes back nearly 4,000 years. When it comes to the varied principles of tactics and strategy, even people who would consider themselves to be versed in the subject typically get a few things right and almost everything else wrong. However, in today's business environment, failure to understand the difference can result in potentially catastrophic results.

In this episode, Tom and Chunga breakdown the core definition of each and provide an in-depth look into which is more important, tactics or strategy.

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Thomas Hatch has worn many hats throughout his young life. He's a former member of the U.S. Intelligence community, he's been a school teacher, started his own successful software company and invented Salt, one of the most popular open source platforms on earth! 

It's because he's worn so many hats that Chunga wants to throw him a curveball. In this episode of The Hacks, Tom has no clue what they're going to talk about.  Chunga is calling this episode "The Zen of Collaboration". Working in groups, even small ones can be very challenging for human beings. History has proven over and over again that small differences can become huge problems almost instantly for (in most cases )inconsequential reasons. 

The modern workforce--especially in the tech space-- relies very heavily on the practice of collaboration. In this episode, Tom and Chunga discuss the pitfall and more common challenges when it comes to working with people who think and operate differently than you do. Tom has some ideas and strategies that you can employ instantly to deal with difficult co-workers or a toxic boss. Listen now!

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We're living in crazy and tumultuous times. 2021 has not gotten off to a great start. Because of this, Chunga wants to talk about something that he thinks is loved by everyone--open source. It's like comfort food! Chunga calls open source the "roast beef" of the technology space; but is that accurate? The short answer is no according to Tom. In fact, he claims that open source is more of a double edge sword!

Sure, there are tons of positives that are easy to see and talk about. Tom says "open source is the tide that raises all ships". However, open source as an industry and philosophy also comes with a fair amount of negative baggage that's given him a serious case of PTSD.

Why would Tom say that and what are the pitfalls?  Listen now to find out!

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Tom and Chunga are back from their long holiday break and they're kicking off another exciting year of The Hacks! As you're getting 2021 underway and settling back into your daily routine, now would be the perfect time to talk about building a culture of cyber awareness within your organization.

January is the perfect time of year to focus on cyber awareness in order to set the right tone for the entire year. Tom Hatch has enormous experience in this area and as a result, he has some great ideas, opinions, and tactics to focus on and get 2021 started the right way.

Where does it all begin? Not surprisingly, Tom says it starts where all good tech practices start--with people!  Listen now to learn more.

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It's the final show of 2020 and WOW, what a crazy year it's been!

What are Tom and Chunga talking about for their final episode of the year? Are they doing a big "2020 year in review"?  No...  Who wants to review 2020?!?

In this final episode before the Christmas break, The Hacks are talking about something much more exciting--Zero Touch Automation for DevOps. Tom also talks about driving a tank over a car!

Chunga thinks Zero Touch Automation is going to be one of the big, buzz-phrases of 2021. We all know that DevOps is the core of any successful automation platform; so what is Zero Touch Automation? Simply put, it gives professionals the ability to explore, develop, and test programs faster than ever before.

Tom says that we've always had Zero Touch Automation, hello?! What do you think computers are? If that's the case, then why is it starting to become a branded term now? Tom has an answer to that question and more, listen now!

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The holidays are upon us and The Hacks are having a hard time concentrating. Because of this, Tom and Chunga want to change things up a bit. They're putting on their tinfoil hats and talking about Spy Games.

Nation-states spy on each other. Let's be honest, they spy on everyone, enemies, and allies. While spying on your enemies is a given; should it be acceptable to spy on your closest friends and allies? What about countries spying on their own people? Every time a story breaks in the press, everyone seems to act shocked and amazed that a nation would take such action.

In truth, allies and have always spied on each other. Tom Hatch is a former member of the U.S. intelligence community and he says that the only way to truly eliminate confusion, deception, and the "fog of war"--is to spy. Yes, even on those you trust. Does Tom have the same opinion when it comes to spying on its own citizens? Does he think whistleblowers like Edward Snowden are heroes or villains? Listen now to find out!

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Tom and Chunga are fresh back from the Thanksgiving holiday and they're talking about something that most tech industry executives claim to understand, but really don't.

Today's episode is all about open source. It seems counter-intuitive to create a piece of software, give it away for free, and then try to make money with it! 

Why would anyone in their right mind choose to do that?

The trick is to understand the larger strategy when it comes to open source. The Hacks discuss the tremendous benefits of having an open source community and strategy as a component to any tech industry business model. They also talk about how most businesses that have an open source offering and community are actually getting things wrong.

Listen now to find out why Tom Hatch says open source is the most misunderstood area of tech!

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Recently, Tom and Chunga watched a viral video of a soccer (football) match being played in the U.K.

This particular game was unique because they decided to replace the highly skilled, human, TV camera operators with robotic cameras. These cameras were all controlled by AI or artificial intelligence. Everyone thought this would be a groundbreaking decision, especially considering the goal pandemic. 

Their logic at the time was sound. Simply program the TV cameras-which were positioned around the stadium-to follow the soccer ball as it made it's way up and down the field. Sadly, they failed to consider every possible scenario and the televised broadcast was a complete disaster. What went wrong?

One of the match referees was bald... The AI responsible for controlling the TV cameras mistakenly thought the official's bald head was the soccer ball!

What is the problem here? Why can't smart, hard-working people, seem to get a grip on artificial intelligence? After all, the concept isn't exactly new. It should be easy by now, right?

Tom and Chunga have some thoughts and opinions about why artificial intelligence continues to struggle. They may surprise you!

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In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga are talking about a group of people that aren't very popular within the tech industry. At a minimum, most of these people are looked at with skepticism and raised eyebrows. In some cases, they're actually treated with contempt. Today, Tom and Chunga are talking about ethical hackers.

Chloe Messdaghi is an infosec advocate and CEO of WoSEC. She's been getting a lot of attention lately because of her efforts to de-stigmatize professionals in this line of work. The Hacks discuss her advocacy and whether or not people are right to treat ethical hackers differently than their more conventional counterparts.

What does it take to become an ethical hacker? How does one start their journey? Why would someone choose to make this type of work their chosen profession? Listen now to find out!

To learn more about this episode:

https://www.chloemessdaghi.com/

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Once again, Tom and Chunga are proud to welcome Janae Andrus as their special guest for this episode of The Hacks. You may have heard that SaltConf20 is happening this Thursday, October 29th! Registration is completely FREE and you can get yourself signed up HERE

Janae gives Tom and Chunga an in-depth rundown of what people can expect from this year's SaltConf virtual conference. Plus, she'll also give everyone the details on how they can win a bunch of killer SaltConf20 SWAG.  Listen now!

For more about this episode:

www.saltconf.com

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