The Hacks

Tom is always excited when he gets to talk about things in the tech industry that are messy. When Chunga brought this topic to The Hacks, he lit up like a Christmas tree.

The IOT (internet of things) market is huge and shows no sign of slowing down. With speed comes mistakes as innovators rush-faster and faster-to push products into the market place. 

Chunga is highly skeptical of most new IOT devices. He doesn't have a Ring Doorbell, he's not a fan of Apple products and his Alexa "creeps him out".  Tom has some strategies to help with "digital fatigue and show everyone how to avoid IOT hype and save you a ton of money at the same time.

Tom also gets philosophical and as everyone if its IOT that's a mess or is it actually the consumer?

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Out of all the episodes Chunga and Tom have recorded, this is the one Chunga is afraid to record. It's the one he and Tom can't afford to screw up! The entire podcast is about SaltStack Enterprise and Salt Open. Tom can't really figure out why he's so worried.  After all, Tom is the guy who created both of them!

So... What's the difference between the two? Sure, one is an open source program and the other is enterprise-based, proprietary software but are they really that different? Actually, they are. Listen now to find out just how different they actually are.

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https://www.saltstack.com/resources/community

https://www.saltstack.com/company/about

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Throughout history, there have always been certain groups that - for whatever reason - can't or won't get along. There are several that come to mind. The Red Sox and the Yankees, Republicans and Democrats, cats and dogs... The list goes on and on. Sadly, IT Operations and Security teams would have to be included in this list. There's not a good history there.

In this episode of The Hacks, Tom and Chunga talk about the natural friction that takes place between these two groups of professionals. At the end of the day, everyone on each side of the fence is hard working and well intended. They're all trying to do the best job they possibly can! 

If something goes wrong and the infrastructure gets hacked, which one of these groups is responsible? Tom has some thoughts about individual responsibilities. He also has some ideas and opinions on how organizations can help lower the tension between the two sides.

To learn more about this episode:

The Secret To Winning IT Security Roulette / Part -1

The Secret To Winning IT Security Roulette / Part -2

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Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. In 2020, these two terms just may be the most trendy terms in tech but are they really as revolutionary as people say they're going to be? 

Historically speaking, the AI and ML hype machine revs up and comes around every 10-years or so. Alan Turing was the first innovator to talk about AI in 1950 and by his standards, the computer industry has completely accomplished Artificial Intelligence.

Tom Hatch has some very strong and wide-ranging opinions when it comes to AI and ML. In this episode, he talks with Chunga about the future possibilities and whether or not AI and ML are deserving of all the hype. 

Are Chunga and Tom on the AI and ML revolution bandwagon? Listen now to find out!

To learn more about this episode:

AIThority Interview With Thomas Hatch

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SecOps. It's something that Thomas Hatch is very passionate about. What exactly does that term mean?

SecOps is the practice of automating IT and security operations in order to get the two departments to work more efficiently with one another. There's always been varying degrees of friction between security and IT operations teams. Why is that?

It's the security teams job to find and vulnerabilities within an infrastructure. Once they do, those risks are reported to the IT operations teams so they can be fixed. IT operations teams are under tremendous pressure to move quickly and maintain "up-time". Fixing infrastructure vulnerabilities requires an uncomfortable amount of both time and money which slows down the entire operation. Oftentimes, these problems never get fixed for that reason. Unfortunately, if the problem doesn't get fixed and there's a breach, it's the security team that is held responsible.

This is where SecOps becomes the solution!

To learn more about this episode:

What Is SecOps - Thomas Hatch

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In today's world, cyber threats are constant and the criminals are getting smarter.  At the same time, companies are being pressured in a variety of ways, to grow and create more, faster! Unfortunately, the faster they move, the more vulnerable they become.

It's not just companies that are at risk. We all are! So... how safe are we really? Is our Government actually secure or do we just want to believe it is? What about our power grid? The cybersecurity vulnerabilities stretch way beyond the nations largest corporations

Tom Hatch fills Chunga in on the overall risk of a cyber meltdown in the United States and offers his best tips on how to keep your home and business from being hacked.

To learn more about this episdoe:

"The Secret To Winning IT Security Roulette" - Part 1 

"The Secret To Winning IT Security Roulette" - Part 2

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In 2011, Thomas Hatch created an open-source program called Salt. In the years since Salt has become a program that's used by millions of people.  It's gotten big... Very, very big.

As software grows, it becomes more brittle and less flexible. It's because of this that Tom created a brand new program called POP. POP stands for "Plugin Oriented Programing". It's brand new and revolutionary in the way a person can build new software on top of it. Simply put, all programs written in POP are compatible or "pluggable" with each other!

While Tom was in the testing phase of POP, he created 3 additional products just to see how pluggable POP could be. Those the products are called Heist, Umbra and Idem. 

In this episode, Chunga and Tom talk about all of these products. What do these products do? How do they work? Listen now to get all the details.

To learn more about this episode:

https://www.saltstack.com/open-source-projects

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The open-source community is interesting. It's massive and made up of brilliant men and women. It's also incredibly transient. What is it about open-source that makes people flock to it the way they do?

Tom initially went to open-source so that he didn't have to re-build his work every time he switched jobs. Even though he wasn't well connected to people within the open-source community, his work quickly gained popularity. Why did this happen? Tom thinks it happened because found they could use his program Salt to solve their own individual problems. 

Most people in the open-source community are there for completely selfish reasons which is actually a great thing! This selfishness leads to community contributions, those contributions help each piece of software evolve and get better. Tom and Chunga each have a favorite piece of open-source software.  What are they? Listen now to find out!

In episode #2 of The Hacks, Chunga talks with Tom about the evolution of the open-source environment and whether or not Tom created a monster in his own open-source program called Salt.

Back in the '70s and '80s, open-source was (for most developers and engineers) the standard way of doing things. As software larger and more complex, we started to see the introduction of proprietary software.

Before that happened, people created software with the intent of it being consumed by others in the same way someone would write a book for compose a song. They wanted to get it in the hands of as many people as possible.

In today's world, open-source has become a fantastic environment where engineers and developers can experiment and create programs that receive community input, evolve, become monetized and change the world. Tom's open-source program Salt is used by millions of people around the globe!

It's gotten very big over the past few years which has created some unique challenges. Tom & Chunga discuss the challenges related to managing a massive program like Salt. 

Did Tom create a monster? Listen now to find out!

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https://www.saltstack.com/resources/community/

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Welcome to the inaugural episode of a brand new podcast called "The Hacks" and it's hosted by 2 guys that make an unlikely team! 

Thomas Hatch obsessed with computers and is the creator of a world renown, open source program called Salt. He's also the Co-founder and CTO of SaltStack

Jimmy Chunga is a writer and media personality who loves video games but knows almost nothing about computers!

Every week, Tom and Chunga will discuss a wide variety of topics, ranging from cybersecurity and infrastructure automation to current events and history.

In this first episode, Chunga interviews Tom to find out more about his life, how he became so obsessed with computers, coding, the open source community and why he created Salt. He also talks with Tom about his love of video games and his history in the U.S. Intelligence community.

To learn more about this episode:

www.saltstack.com

Salt Open Source Community

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