Crucial Tech: Recent Episodes
Lou Covey
Unraveling the technology that affects us all but that few of us understand, in a format to give you a basic understanding in the time it takes to drive to and from the grocery store. Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
An article in CNN began this podcast and connected story. What we found out about elder fraud kinda blew our mind. Like the fact that in the U.S. it is three times bigger in scope and cost than ransomware. And who are the most vulnerable was a real surprise.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
The problem with election security is not a failure of the technology to keep the vote honest, it's the lack of technology available to individual voters to reduce fraud. We talked with YouMail CEO Alex Quilici about how some SPAM-mail technology can help, but also what kind of dangers there are that voters should be aware of.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
I went to a high school graduation for the first time in decades. What I saw and heard filled me with compassion and concern for the next generation.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
This week we talked to SlashNext's CEO Patrick Harr and Field CTO Stephen Kowski regarding a study about the growth of criminal activity using generative AI
SlashNext’s State of Phishing Report claimed a 1,265% increase in malicious phishing emails and a 967% increase in credential phishing between Q4 2022 to Q3 2023. . While ransomware attacks get all the publicity, the reality is phishing is a much bigger problem for a much larger portion of the populace.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
Cyber Protection Magazine gets a lot of marketing materials described as studies, surveys, and reports. The flow of those documents increases as major trade shows approach. For example, in the two months leading up to the RSA Conference, we received 56 before we stopped counting. More have come in since but it is now a trickle. We read each one. Luckily, our chief editor can read at 6,000 words per minute. He still grits his teeth whenever he reads the email pitch.
That doesn’t mean all turn into content on our pages because, for the most part, the information contained within is not news. Much can be expressed in a few sentences like, “C-level executives are concerned about data breaches” and “Cybercrime to cost more than $9 trillion by 2025.” In the first instance, our response is, “No kidding?” The second instance is just wrong with no evidence to support it. As often as we tell company representatives, they still produce the same banal and inaccurate assumptions.
About half the time, the “study” was not done by the company pitching the document, but by someone else with a specific twist highlighting the pitching company’s capabilities. For example, we recently received a copy of a “report” about the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog. It is a monstrously large document, remarkably distilled by a private company into a report that, wondrously, pointed to the company’s products as a solution to the problems notated in the report.
Because these documents rarely provide insight but are meant to validate product claims, they are little more than advertising masquerading as information and that puts them in the junk pile. That, however, is not always the case.
Occasionally, we get truly independent research that, for the most part, says nothing new. But buried in the obvious and the inaccurate, is a nugget of truly interesting data. It’s not enough to make an entire story, although it makes for an interesting LinkedIn post. In our review of the bland cornucopia of data received over the past two months, we saw enough nuggets to see a larger story. There is more to come in the next weeks, but we want to start with this interview with Metomic CEO, Rich Vibert. Their recently released survey on CISO opinions in the UK and US had a lot of obvious statements, but we found a couple of nuggets… and what could be an interesting vein for future discussions.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
A few people know that I am something of a political junkie. I did some presidential campaigning in high school, then I got into journalism and covered national politics during Watergate. I'm less focused on it now but anyone can drag me into a conversation about it
A few weeks ago I got a call from the press secretary for Madison Horn, who is running for the US Congress out of the 5th Oklahoma congressional district, asking if I wanted to interview her.
Really? Why does a candidate in Oklahoma want to talk to a cybersecurity journalist in California. I was intrigued, so “sure.” Ms. Horn, who also ran for the US Senate a couple of years ago, is optimistic about the state (which is a positive thing) and, to the point, she’s a white-hat hacker who founded a pen-testing company. So there is the hook.
We talked for about 30 minutes and she educated me on some of the more positive things about her state and, in particular, the political leanings of her district. More importantly, we talk about how our legislators need to be tech-savvy.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
The RSA Conference was a firehose of information, some of it good, some of it absolutely false, but always a good way to get perspective on the industry. I met with Rohit Ghai, CEO of RSA to get his particular take and he did not disappoint. More to come next week on Cyber Protection Magazine.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
Had a disappointing two weeks trying to cobble together an interview for this week, and had no luck for a variety of reasons. Plenty of content, just little worth reporting. But as I head off to the #RSAC in San Francisco this week, I thought I'd give a history lesson about the relationship of public relations, the press, and technology companies, and explain our policies about press releases, embargoes, and interviews.
Thanks for listening to by LOU talk.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
Last week, Google started removing California-based news sites from search results in retaliation for the legislature advancing the California Journalism Protection Act. The act requires Google to pay the sites when they provide links to news coverage that people are searching for. (See article in Cyber Protection Magazine)
Google has tried to strongarm governments in Australia and Canada when they passed national "link taxes" designed to keep publications financially stable and both times Google has backed down and came to an agreement.
We talked with veteran award-winning journalist and publisher Marty Weybret about his personal experience with the devastation caused by Google to local news. He establishes some reasoning why the financial model for news may need to change but acknowledges that laws like this are a necessary first step, especially since Google seems to think they are more important than local news .
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
We are neck-deep in politics here in the US, but did you know that by the end of this year, two-thirds of the planet will be making some sort of political decision about their country? That means election interference will be at a historical high. We will have a larger story on this next week in Cyber Protection Magazine but today we talk with Crystal Morin, the cybersecurity strategist for Sysdig about the ethical use of AI and social media and how we can all play our part in keeping all of us safe.
We also discuss how a group of teacup aficionados took on a scammer group and sent them packing. And if you want even more context, check our Ireland's Classic Hits where Lou Covey talked about #sextortion and cyber security,
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
We have written several articles at Cyber Protection Magazine under the title of Defense Against the AI arts and this interview today falls into that category. The company’s name is Enkrypt and the CEO is a nice guy named Sahil Agarwal. What the company does, among other things is it provides a red-team service for companies integrating a new AI, either homegrown or third party, and tells the company if the AI has any security holes or other common flaws.
Also check out the book review, mentioned in the intro
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
A very, special episode providing some perspective, without offering an opinion on the legislation, about the TikTok controversy,
The debate over the appropriateness of the Congressional action against TikTok can be debated for a long time and probably will until the Senate takes action—which could be weeks. What is less debatable is TikTok’s, and pretty much all of the social media industry’s contribution to the situation. In essence, social media has been hoist on its own petard.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
With the exception of people in insurance, nobody like to talk about insurance. That's why, three years ago, few people felt sorry for the insurance industry as it reeled from claims due to multiple natural disasters, rising costs of automobile repairs and, more specifically, data breaches.
Last year, however, was a banner year for cyber insurance while cyber criminals took the financial hit. The size of the global cyber insurance market is predicted to see rapid growth the total market size increasing $20 billion (U.S.) by 2025. That turnaround is largely due to insurance companies requiring heavy prerequisites for cyber awareness, basic cyber hygiene an mandatory, ongoing audits.
One of those companies is Upfort, providing a variety of services to the insurance industry to vet potential clients and make sure they stay secure through training, unique firewalls, and red teaming services. We talked to their CEO XingXin about how companies like his are turning the tables on criminals and making insurance affordable.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
It has been a bad month for cybercrime. Yes, attacks are on the way up. Yes, they are still extorting money and causing infrastructure chaos. But there is a massive, shadow-busting spotlight on them right where they live and defense technology is advanced enough that they are hearing footfalls of law enforcement behind them.
Recently a faked call from "President Joe Biden" to New Hampshire Democrats urged them not to vote in the state’s primary. It only took a few weeks using AI-detection tools to not only identify what company provided the technology but also the user himself.
For today’s episode, we followed this theme and called one of our favorite technologists, Vijay Balasubramaniyan, CEO of Pindrop, whose technology can reliably identify AI-generated video and audio tech. Vijay would not confirm whether his product was used in this investigation.
You will hear him demur that “we can’t comment on an active investigation.” But he said it in such a way that I’m pretty sure it was. Also, he was interviewed for articles in Wired where he said his tool identified the call as a fake with a factor “north of 99 percent.” Independent researchers at first claimed that number was hard to believe, but after running their own tests grudgingly admitted, “Yeah, that's pretty close.”
BTW, this episode is sponsored by Safety National Insurance
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
Biometric multi-factor authentication is all the rage in security. And yet it is also the cause of terror for security-minded folk. For every breakthrough we get a news story about how it has caused harm.
Some systems can’t identify people of color as well as it can caucasian people, which has been a problem of photographic technology for decades. Police using the systems have ended up surveilling if not arresting the wrong people. Using DNA to get an AI to develop a suspect’s face has similar weaknesses.
Most recently in Southeast Asia, thieves set up a video call employing deep fake videos to pose as a CFO and financial team and get an employee to transfer $25 million to the thief’s account. In Thailand and Vietnam, hackers stole biometric data to drain accounts in local banks.
The last example demonstrates the need for industrywide cooperation in establishing safeguards. The theft was facilitated by the banks using their facial ID recognition software, not that has been developed to industry standards or even state-of-the-art software from companies like Apple. Two organizations have taken the lead in securing the use of biometrics in payment cards (credit, debit, and gift): The PCI (Payment Card Industry) Security Standards Council and the Fast Identification Online (FIDO) group. Both are separate but have worked together for about a decade. We talked with Dennis Gamiello, executive VP for identity products and innovation at Mastercard, about their involvement with FIDO and what it means for all of us.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
Generally speaking, 70-90 percent of digital breaches in the world result from human error; someone just not taking proper precautions like not clicking on a link in an email from someone you don't know. But in the healthcare industry, human error is the least of their problems. A whopping 84 percent of breaches are the result of vulnerabilities in the network, both hardware and software. One of those vulnerabilities is in how a clinic or other provider collects and stores that data, so we talked with Hari Prasad, CEO of Yosi Health, about that particular problem and how we can protect that important information.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI has infamously said the goal of AI companies is to build AI without concern for application or safety. The safety stuff can be figured out later, he thinks. Luckily there are multiple industries popping up to take care of the application and safety issues concurrently with AI development. Companies like Centific are prt of that effort making sure the data used in training AIs is "clean." In other words, it is both accurate and safe. That's a tough job, according to CEO Venkat Rangapuram, but doable.This interview was conducted in October and my apologies for the delay. If it is true that we have a certain number of things to finish before we die, then I am so far behind I may live forever.--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
Every year, Wired Magazine publishes an article naming the most dangerous people on the internet and, quite frankly, who gets chosen is fairly obvious, but not altogether accurate. At least that is what we think at Cyber Protection Magazine. So this year, we took our shot at naming the most dangerous people. Give a listen and tell us what you think.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
Harri Hursti is an internationally recognized expert on election security and was a focal point in two HBO specials on the subject: Hacking Democracy (2006) and Kill Chain: The Cyber Wars Against America's Elections. So when we decided to do a special issue on election security at Cyber Protection Magazine this year, getting an interview with him was high on our priority list. We didn't expect it to happen so early, but it's a great start.
Hursti runs the Voting Village program at DefCon every year in Las Vegas, under the sponsorship of the Election Integrity Foundation
In this longer-than-normal interview we got deep into whether the world's elections are secure (they aren't but it is getting better), what companies are producing secure technology for voting (they aren't), and how good intentions make voting insecure. Forget the coffee, get an adult drink and listen.
This is also the first episode of many this year to be sponsored by Safety National Insurance, providing protection for large organizations. Visit www.safetynational.com for more details.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
In a world awash in AI-generated, intentional misinformation and urban myths, would you bet your job on the reliability of the information you want to share? You might be betting someone's life on it.Disinformation (intentional misinformation) has become a major support for both sides of all conflicts in the world. Once called propaganda, technology, mostly social media, has turned state-controlled information into a virtually immortal beast that can end up turning on its creator.--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
Two years ago we interviewed Jen Caltrider, head of Mozilla foundation's Privacy Not Included group and got an earful about how bad Meta's privacy was in its products. This year we caught up to Jen and she said they are still bad, but in two years they've been surpassed by Amazon and Google. Before you head out to buy those IoT gifts for Christmas, you might want to listen to this podcast and then check out the site.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
Synthedia, a data research company focused on generative AI and synthetic media markets, dropped a study recently on awareness of deep fake and voice cloning technology that raised some interesting numbers. We are doing a deeper dive on the subject at Cyber Protection Magazine next week, but we sat down with Vijay Subramaniyan, the CEO of PinDrop, a study sponsor, to talk more generally about the findings and what the dangers of the technology are.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
The bulk of this episode is about the importance of updating your software no matter how painful it is, and we learn some valuable information about the FREE services of Trackd from its CEO Mike Starr that will help you do that with minimum fuss.
But the REAL reason I did this interview is that in their pitch to me and in Mike's interview, they used some statistics about the problem of cybercrime and its effects that are not based on truth. They've just been repeated over and over again.
That is an inherent problem in technology companies in particular: nobody checks their "facts" and, eventually, the customers learn that the vendors don't know what they are talking about, which kills sales. That is at the heart of the SEC lawsuit against SolarWinds. What the company thought their services and tools could do was not accurate. They weren't trying to fool the customers, but they did fool themselves.
For the next few months, I'll be digging into the theme of "Lies, damn lies, and statistics" in this podcast and on Cyber Protection Magazine. This is the first shot. That's why people like me exist...and there aren't many of us left, which explains why mis/disinformation is so widespread.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
Instances of LinkedIn users having their accounts hijacked are a familiar occurrence on social media. Reddit has multiple discussions about the nightmare of trying to restore access to this crucial business tool. So when a friend called me in a panic about having it happen to him, I knew it would be a great opportunity to test out the advice I give to others who have been hit.
It isn't easy. It requires patience. And you need all the help you can get from friends. But it can be done.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
The breach of the Las Vegas casinos in August has been the subject of a lot of news and commentary, but one thing that hasn't been discussed is what went on in the 15-minute call to the help desk. This interview with Ryan Healey-Ogden of Click Armor, and Bojan Simic of HYPR takes two completely different takes on that conversation and what can be done to prevent similar breaches.--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
The rise of generative AI products for commercial use is probably the fastest and most controversial of any technological advance in history. Governments are scrambling to understand and regulate its use. Billions are being invested in development. At the same time, the general public’s interest in the technology has waned and industry pioneer OpenAI announced a potential bankruptcy in 2024 unless significant new investment is forthcoming.
But there is apparently no putting the genie back in the bottle and it is left to all of us to figure out what we can do with it without causing outright disaster. So, for this episode, we have brought this panel of experts to talk about how we can defend against the malicious use of the technology while we mine the benefits. Hyrum Anderson, co-Not With a Bug But a Sticker and an accomplished data scientist with a historical understanding of the tech going back decades; Haseeb Khan, Generative AI Ambassador and at Google; and representing the user base, Milan Lazich, a senior marketing executive, who will discuss concerns and best practices of generative AI.
The transcript of this discussion will be available in the AI special issue of Cyber Protection Magazine and will be distributed to attendees at the it-sa exhibition and conference October 10, and then available to the magazine subscribers in an electronic version after the conference
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
An August report from the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security said over the next two years, Canada is going to face significant threats from state-supported cyberattacks from Russia, China and North Korea.
Canada? What the heck did Canada do to earn the ire of those folks. Canadians are arguably the nicest people in the world. So we called up our favorite Canadian “cybersleuth”, Ian Thornton-Trump, Cyjax’s CISO. to get the skinny.
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
Most people don't think about accessibility when it comes to the internet. We think of ramps and braille signs and audiobooks. But physical and developmental issues are much more complex than being able to get into a restaurant, especially when it comes to security. I talked with Justin Merhoff, chief of security for Deque (pronounced Dee-cue) Systems in Virginia about the need to make software and digital systems usable for all people, not just most people. And there is an action item for all you in the audience. The National Institute for Science and Technology is working on the first draft of NIST SP 800-50, a standard for cybersecurity and privacy learning, but this draft contains virtually nothing related to people with physical and learning disabilities. If you or people you care about fit that category, now is your chance to give feedback for that standard≥ Go to the site and download the form for comments. Make your voice heard now.
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
There are several reports indicating that the gravy train is about to come to a screeching halt in the cybersecurity industry. Fortune 1000 companies are freezing or cutting back on purchasing budgets for tools and services, which will hit the majority of private and start-up companies that have focused on that segment for 10 years. It's not all bad news. 80 percent of the potential market is all blue water, but it comprises small to medium businesses (SMB) that are not cyber-savvy, and are ready to buy... as long as you can explain what you do in their terms, and demonstrate it works. We talked with Richard Stiennon, founder and chief analyst for IT-Harvest, and Grant Wernick, CEO of Fletch that is enjoying remarkable success and growth by serving the smaller customers.
While you are listening, drop us a line and we will send you information about how you can sponsor our special edition to be distributed at it-sa365 in Germany this year.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
As generative AI (GAI) platforms become more commonplace, concern over their security issues is growing. As with any digital product, security relies on four arenas. User responsibility, corporate accountability, government regulation and industry standards. The first two are unreliable because users feel put out by having to protect themselves and corporations don’t like to spend money on security upfront. That leads to the third arena, legislation produced by people who don’t know the difference between a thumb drive and a thumbtack.
That put a lot of the load on industry standards and one of the most active is the European Telecommunications Standard Institute (ETSI). Cyber Protection Magazine’s (CPM) editors Lou Covey and Patrick Boch sat down with Scott Cadzow, chair of ETSI’s Specification Group for Securing Artificial Intelligence about the progress and problems of standardizing safe GAI.
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
One of the major points of contention in the SAG-Aftra/Writers Guild strike is over ownership of the image and voice of performers. Bob Iger said allowing actors to control the use of the image is disruptive to the current paradigm. But my conversation with Anna Bulakh of Repeecher revealed what the studios want is actually the disruption. Anna is the head of ethics for Respeecher. Yes, you heard that right. The HEAD OF ETHICS. Blows my mind.
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
Most of the discussion about generative AI is either focused on how good or bad it is, without ever discussing that it is JUST a tool. We talked with Anurag Gurtu, chief product officer of StrikeReady, about how the technology can enhance, not replace human involvement.
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
It's hard to stay positive about the state of the world as long as you listen to everyone complain about it. One truth overrides that for me: Nothing is as bad as it seems nor as good as some people might tell you. The trick is to focus on the goal. When you see progress... anywhere... take heart.
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
The team at Cyber Protection Magazine doesn't just look at cybersecurity technology. Sometimes we just argue about tech in general. Chief editor Lou Covey and co-founder Patrick Boch have been talking about the Apple Vision Pro headset since it was first announced and still don't agree on it, but we thought the discussion would help others make up their mind on whether to invest $3500 now or wait until the price comes down, So we recorded our last discussion.
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
Generative AI is BIG business. Maybe too big. In the rush to commercialize and cash in on billions of dollars of investment, Big Tech is letting security slip through the cracks again. Adversaries are weaponizing AI to supercharge phishing attacks, destabilize governments and blackmail innocent people. This episode is the first entry in a months-long series of storeis, podcasts, videos and panels on "Defense Against the AI Arts (with Apologies to Harry Potter". Our first subject Vijay Balasubramaniyan, CEO of Pindrop.
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
Telesign is part of a growing security niche market dedicated to providing the infrastructure companies need to keep customer data safe. We talked with company CMO Kristi Melani about how the industry needs to educated not just corporations but the users in what is available to them.
Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
This episode is our very first book review. I edited Data for All late last year and had my eyes open to both the massive amount of customer data collected by almost every corporation in the world, and the amount of digital waste produced by the effort. There is also a mini-review of Not with a Bug, but with a Sticker. These are two books that if you read them (and they are both easy reading) will make you sound like an expert in AI and data science in any gathering of people. That may not be a good thing but I enjoy it.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
GenerativeAI was front and center at the RSA Conference 2023 in San Francisco. Companies were either promoting it as a means of improving security or warning against it as a security weakness. It was even the keynote on Tuesday by RSA CEO Rohit Ghai, who took a neutral position that leaned positive on its potential.
But as he spoke, for the most part, glowingly about the AI age we are entering there were some questions that arose. So we contacted him through his PR agency and he graciously accepted an interview appointment to answer those questions. Our focus was, primarily, on the ethical use of generative AI and the failure of the tech industry to live up to its own stated ethics. The conversation was frank and illuminating.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
You cannot spit without hitting a news story about generative AI (AKA ChatGPT, Bard, etc.). Some of the news is good, some of it bad, and all of it fairly confusing. Cyber Protection Magazine has been digging through the detritus and find what really is good or bad about it and today we continue that with an interview with a very smart man: Dr. James Norrie, a full-time professor in the Management, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship department at York University and founder of the cybersecurity company CyberconIQ. He holds advanced degrees in cybersecurity and intelligence analysis, copyright law, and project management. And he has a very specific take on generative AI.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
TikTok has been in the news for quite a while, but at Cyber Protection Magazine, we are pretty sure we aren't getting the whole story, so we are starting a series of articles and podcasts to get to the bottom of the issue, starting with this episode.
We talk to Ian Thornton-Trump -- raconteur, iconoclast, cyberwarrior, and CISO for Cyjax -- and he, as usual, has a lot to say. As you listen you will find that the real problem is not in the app, but in ourselves... and in bad algorithm design.
Also, this is an ad-free episode. If you want to support the work we are doing, go to Cyber Protection Magazine and donate to the cause. The button is on the bottom of the page.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
You can't talk in polite company about politics or religion, but everyone can talk about how they hate advertising. And for good reason. I take a break from discussing technology to rant about what tech companies do to get you to buy their stuff, and why you don;t trust them.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
“Sextortion” is a popular theme in media and the news, but it may or may not be a big deal. No one can really come up with a consensus about what it is and how widespread it is. It’s even difficult to pin down whether it is a crime. We talked with Ken Kuglin from Digital Forensics Corporation, a cybersecurity firm in Ohio, about how to deal with the attacks and their free services to educate people about how to avoid or deal with sextortion.
--- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support
Cybersecurity has a healthier and older relationship with artificial intelligence (AI) than pretty much any other industry niche. That’s because the information available on cyber threats is better vetted than 90 percent of what is fed into ChatGPT and the Google and Microsoft versions of generative AI. But putting that data to use in security is not that easy… yet.
Cyber Protection Magazine has been tasing with companies for several weeks as we study the constructive uses of AI in security, and try to find a way through the hype. We interviewed the CEO of one company recently, Gopi Sirineni of Axiado. They are about to launch a security co-processor driven by a unique AI that will be based on the Sirineni calls a “data lake” of attack schemes. This information is a “living” database that will constantly be updated. But to make sure it is as comprehensive as possible, they are enlisting the help of the worldwide cybersecurity community. To participate, you can contact Axiado through their website, on the corporate Linkedin page, or to Sirineni directly. More will be available at the magazine in the next two weeks.
--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Vishing, short for "voice phishing," is on the rise again. But then, it’s been rising almost exponentially for the past two years. Last summer various organizations were reporting anywhere between 500-650 percent increases over the previous six quarters. Now, as US citizens prepare their tax returns, the scam is getting another bump. We had a chat with Brian McDonald, director of product development and Mutare, about their technology and the problem of vishing.
--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Being a security company that gets hit with a data breach or malware attack is embarrassing, besides the fact that it scares the hell out of your customers. But the current tech fad of "decentralization" has a pretty good lesson for anyone thinking about establishing a security operations center, virtual or otherwise. We talked with the CEO of Dispel about how they've been decentralizing security operations in infrastructure clients for years now.
--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
If you're like us, #dataprivacyweek snuck up on you and almost got by before you knew it. But we were still busy. This podcast includes an interview with Brandon Rogers, a senior security engineer at Halo Security, an attack surface management company, who discusses the rash of data breaches at T-Mobile over the past couple of years and what they SHOULD be doing about it (Note, T-Mobile has not responded to requests for input), and then we have our first All Hands discussion with the team at Cyber Protection Magazine as we talk about the larger issues of data privacy.
--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
It's Martin Luther King day today, which is an important holiday for me. This interview was incredibly satisfying because it demonstrates how far we've come since Dr. King Spoke in Washington DC in 1963. We have a long way to go, but this is a celebration of what is being accomplished.
--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
To kick off the new year and our seventh season, Joe Basques and I tackle the conundrum of distrust in media and why marketing doesn't work the way it's supposed to in the technology world.
--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
For the second year we are publishing predictions for 2023 in Cyber Protection Magazine by asking people and organizations to submit a brief, one-paragraph statement. Our friend and Cyjax CISO sent an entire presentation. And it was fun and scary all at the same time.,So we went with it. Check out the other predictions on the magazine and let us know what you think.
--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
A personal bank account was hacked this week, but because I was getting regular alerts from my bank we kept the damage at a minimum. As luck would have it, I had scheduled this interview with Bruno Farinelli of Clearsale who explained how even when you do everything you can to keep your finances safe, criminals have a way to get around your protections.
--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/messageSupport this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Guess what? Black Friday doesn't give you good deals and the ones you may be looking at may be scams. Take 15 minutes and get smart.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
A few weeks ago I was on a panel at San Jose State, #yesyoucan, about the future of democracy and how it intersects with technology and media. It went over an hour, which twice longer than what I normally do, but it included Harry Hursti speaking on election security and Sari Stenfors regarding a "hopeful future." After what we've been through the past few months, it might help.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
You've read the headlines about the stock market and the tech sector in particular. Self-proclaimed genius tech bros are hemorrhaging wealth, portfolios are crashing. But while the cybersecurity industry isn't completely unaffected, it is still attracting billions in new investment and private equity acquisitions. We talk to Brad LaPorte of Lionfish Advisors about why investments are falling in tech and why cyber is the new darling.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
I'm working on a story about some interesting numbers regarding the state of cyber crime. The number seem to indicate that, overall, we might be making progress on reducing it, though not eliminating it. But to be sure I've spent the past two weeks talking to experts about the numbers who are totally pessimistic and doubtful. One of them is Gerry Kennedy, CEO of Observatory Strategic Management, an organization that advises industry and governments about insurance issues. In our discussion he recommended other sources, which will be included in the article on Cyber Protection Magazine.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Want some good news about technology? Stay tuned
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
I was pleasantly introduced to a non-profit cybersecurity company this week. Quad9 was established 6 years ago with the goal of reducing human error as the source of breaches, which makes of more than 90 percent of all successful cyberattacks. And they do it for free. Their website (www.quad9.com) has a lot of easy to understand and use tools to block malicious actors from accessing your systems and data. Check it out.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
The most innocuous things can be open invitations to criminbals to hack your data, or infiltrate your company. Adam Levine, cybersecurity podcaster and founder of Credit.com talked with Crucial Tech about "office phishing" and the "three M's" of personal cyber protection.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Quantum computing is often in the news, mostly about how it's going to destroy the world as nation states bust the hardest encryptions around so they can steal national and corporate secrets. However, there are no quantum computers available today that can actually accomplish the task and, thankfully, there are whole industries popping up to deal with the worst aspects of the tech while encouraging some good things. We talked with Eric Garcell of Classiq, one of the companies dedicated to protecting quantum computing intellectual property, about why quantum computers are a good thing and that, in some cases, are doing good things now.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
I get a new report from a different research company almost every week about the state of cybersecurity. Most of them say the same thing, but I do read them all the way through. Recently received a report from a company called HelpSystems, a cybersecurity services company that works with some pretty big name companies and they issued a report that got me yawning almost immediately. But their research subsidiaries, Agari and PhishLabs, buried a couple of items that perked up my ears so I said yes to an interview. What follows is a 30-minute discussion about the report focusing on a couple of areas, hybrid vishing, and vulnerabilities criminals are using to target Office 365 users. John Wilson, senior fellow for threat research went on to talk about which email platforms are most popular for criminals and how criminal activity using cryptocurrency is on the rise. You can get a copy of the report here.big-name
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Period and ovulation trackers have been around for quite a while but they are not, for the most part, privacy forward. In fact, according to the Mozilla foundation, only a few even have privacy policies. That is problematic for women in states that are criminalizing abortion where they are subpoenaing records of women even searching for options. Virtru, a security software company decided to fix that problem at and Def Con 2022 the demonstrated a concept app that put complete control of access to the data in the hands of the user. In preparation for Women's Equality Day on August 26, we talked with the team leader that developed the app, Cassandra Bailey, and the senior vice president of product strategy, Rob McDonald about the process. Unfortunately, they have no plans to make the app available to the public but have put the building blocks on Git Hub for app developers to run with. You can see a demonstration of it here. Maybe somebody out there will make a secure app.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
As a journalist, I am morally bound to be objective. That's why, because I'm not a big fan of cryptocurrency, I have made an effort to give enthusiasts of the technology every chance to defend their positions. But I got a chance to interview Bruce Schneier about the subject and had to take it. I tried very hard to be supportive of the innovative uses of blockchain and its primary application in this interview. It didn't go well. But, boy, was it entertaining.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Quantum computing has been in the news for some time but most people don't know why they should care. They should. Jack Hidary, CEO of SandboxAQ explains why.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Even the promising announcements from Apple and Google about the end of passwords is going to take a long time to spread through the user base. But the technology exists to make them disappear if only we weren’t so stubborn about using them. We talked to Boian Simic, CEO of HYPR, a company making true passwordless tech… that is yet available to anyone but the wealthiest among us.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
The wildly popular massive-multiplayer online games don't make the news much for big security breaches, but it appears they are vulnerable to lateral attacks that can steal data and abuse children. The companies that run these platforms tend to blame the users for breaching security. We spent some time with Raj Dodhiawala, CEO of Remediant, a cybersecurity SaaS company that defends networks against lateral attacks. He was pretty hard on companies that expect users to protect the network. Look for a larger article on game platform breaches in Cyber Protection Magazine
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
One of my favorite security gurus, Ian Thornton-Trump sent me a text recently about the top-five security failures in recent history that we have yet to learn from. So I decided to call him and ask what he meant. It's worth listening to.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
The Metaverse can be used for immersive education that can engage students and enhance the experiential aspects of education. It certainly makes for more interesting field trips. But the potential for disaster looms. Luckily there are some, while recognizing the upsides of the technology, who take a very realistic view of the potential downsides. One of them is Jaime Donnelly.
Donnelly is an author, and speaker on immersive technology for education. She’s also the engagement director for Identity Automation, a company dedicated to identity and access management tools for K-12 and universities. She is also a great promoter for the future of immersive technology for education.
We sat down to chat about her extensive collection of VR goggles and her realistic expectations. She makes an old curmudgeon feel a bit better about the future.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
The week after #RSAC2022 seems to be a good time to start a new season of Crucial Tech, so here we go.
I talked to a lot of people at the conference about how to keep foreign agents out of your network and some of what I learned is in a larger article in Cyber Protection Magazine, but.I went to someone who wasn't there -- Grant Wernick, CEO of #Fletch -- to chat about the problem, how to find them and how to stop them from doing real damage. Grant gave me a view into how you can find them and root them out once they infiltrate.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
I'm going to the RSA Conference in San Francisco this week, so I didn't do a full episode yet. This is a preview of what's to come so stay tuned.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
The realities of cyberattacks are not going away. Based on what we know, we have no idea how big the problem is because a lot of individuals and organizations just don’t report attacks. Conservatively, Cyber Protection Magazine estimates that half of all the attacks are unreported. More knowledgeable people than us say it's more like 90 per cent. As we have reported in past podcasts, that is likely due to a combination of complacency and just not knowing what to do.
We talked to Emil Sayegh, CEO of Ntirety, a company that helps small to midsize organizations reach security compliance with best practices and new privacy legislation. Ntirety is one of dozens of similar companies that are doing quite well. Sayegh claims they have 2400 customers, which is impressive in and of itself. But 2400 customers is a long way from any one industry being protected. Even 240,000 would be a drop in the bucket. That doesn’t mean you have to be their customer, or a customer of any competitor to get started. Sayegh outlined a five-point plan in our discussion. Grab a coffee and have a listen.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Joe Basques and I took our time to talk about personal priorities in cybersecurity and in the process we ended up talking about secure browsers, privacy, abortion, state surveillance and recalling recent podcasts with Chase Cunningham and Supreet Manchanda. The upshot is we are entering a time where personal responsibility remains the single biggest determinant of vulnerability. Don't skip over and don't ignore this episode. Your finances, personal privacy and the fate of the nation is is your hands.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Most individuals and businesses know they need to address cybersecurity, but they don't know where to start. That's understandable because the digital world is like a sieve with thousands of holes. You may patch most of them but there are always a few for criminals to slip through. The question is, what are the most important holes to plug. The Zero Trust approach is proving to be the most comprehensive solution to security, but even then there are dozens of ways and companies dedicated to achieving a Zero Trust paradigm. Where should you look? Well, Dr. Chase Cunningham, Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) at Ericom Software, has created something that might help. It's an online market map listing the applications and solution providers for Zero Trust. We spent some time talking about how he developed it and how it can help people and organizations navigate the Zero Trust rapids.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
The SEC is considering requiring corporations provide a board seat to the CISOs. It's something I've seen as long overdue especially considering how security illiterate most boards are. And in the start-up world that literacy needs to start with venture capitalists. I decided to talk to one of my favorite entrepreneurial investors, Supreet Manchanda, and ask him what he thought an investor's role in security would be.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Woke up this morning to the news that high-flying quantum cryptography company, Arqit, is being hit with fraud lawsuits in the UK and US throwing shade on the viability of its technology. In preparation for an article on the news for Cyber Protection Magazine I had a chat with Gerry Kennedy, CEO of Observatory Holdings, about the importance of the case not only for future standardization but to companies looking to keep data safe when quantum computing becomes a thing.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Much of the West has feared Russian aggression since the Cuban Missile Crisis 1962. Then it was their technologically superior military. Most recently it’s been their vaunted cyber warfare capabilities. This podcast episode is about the one positive coming out of the Ukraine war: the Russians are not as scary as we thought they were. Oh, they are still scary, but scary like a feral, rabid house cat, rather than a man-eating tiger.
The genesis of this interview was a Linkedin post by Ian Thornton-Trump, who is something of a celebrity in the cybersecurity world. Ian is a certified IT professional with 25 years of experience in IT security and information technology.
His post in Linked in, essentially said, “Russian cyber warfare? Meh.” That intrigued me so I sent him a private message and asked him to elaborate, and boy did he. So I invited him on the podcast. Turns out he’s a fan. Who knew?
Be prepared to be encouraged.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
This is the day you should not just THINK about backing up your data, but actually DO it. It really isn’t that hard. It can be done while you re getting a cup of coffee. It can be done automatically, and it can be done for free for most people. We spent a bit of time outlining all ways it can be done without muss or fuss.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
If you aren't a regular reader of Cyber Protection Magazine, shame on you. But this podcast might change your habits. We've created a list of secure messaging apps for you in the accompanying article with this podcast. And because we started with the article instead of the podcast, the details are there. But we decided to call Gerry Kennedy, CEO of Observatory Holdings and get a reality check on our qualifications for the list. He said we were on the right track but got into some detail. Gerry's company advises companies and insurance firms on how to mitigate liability and security is a big focus for them.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Cyber warfare has been an open secret for many years, but the conflict in Ukraine has brought it out into the open and includes more than government-sponsored hacking. Anonymous took out the broadcast network, Russia Today (RT) with a massive DDoS attack, and the Russian Duma and several military servers were similarly hit within the past 48 hours. Meanwhile, Ukrainian hackers aligned with Russia have been attacking the Ukrainian infrastructure, hoping to get on the payroll of the GRU.
We talked with Dr. Pano Yannakogeorgos of NYU’s Center for Global Affairs about the relative preparedness of NATO countries for attacks from Russia and it's surrogates as well as the extent of guerrilla-type warfare from unaligned hackers on both sides.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
The security of our schools is always a concern. Many have been targeted by criminals with ransomware, so when a PR rep talked me into an interview on "What teachers need to know about cybersecurity?" I thought it was a good idea. That interview didn't work out but I remembered I knew a guy. Kyle Brumbaugh is the Director of Technology and Innovation at the Redwood City School District and has been an educator for decades. We had a great talk about how his district had prepared for the pandemic lockdown without actually knowing it was coming. More importantly, they took steps to make sure that the teachers didn't need to worry about security. It's a message of hope for the future.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Social Media companies have no real incentive to reduce the vitriol that fills their servers. The fact is that content that makes people angry is what drives engagement... and engagement means advertising revenue. It also makes a profitable hunting ground for cybercriminals. But that might not be the case over the next few years. Joe Basques and Lou Covey sit down to consider the sea change that is coming for social content. They look at the social media companies claim they are nothing more than telecommunication companies and court cases that may change how libel laws are applied.
This conversation happened before the New York judge dismissed Sara Palin's libel suit against the New York Times, but in his dismissal, he set up an appeal that could go to the Supreme Court, exactly what Lou and Joe are predicting.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Biometrics is something of a broad topic because it relates to any piece of information about you connected to your body that can be used to identify you. That includes fingerprints, DNA, eyes, voice, faces, and even medical and dental records. As a result, biometrics are a hub for personal security, identity theft and government surveillance. Protecting that stuff is kind of important. The problem is that companies tend to keep their data in just one or two places and that makes it attractive to criminals. The bigger it is the bigger the potential payday.
Last October we talked about Upheaval's approach to decentralization and this week we are talking to Frances Zelazny of the startup Anonybit which takes a different approach to the problem but for biometrics alone.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Personal data isn’t just about your name, phone number, credit cards and social security numbers. It’s also about your online habits. All that stuff is recorded, filed and analyzed by various companies, including your employers. That data can identify who you are and are as much a part of your digital identity as your user name and password. In fact, that data might be more accurate than your password. But whether a company is employing that kind of protection is a question that needs asking.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
This was one of the scarier interviews I’ve done on this podcast. I’m talking with Paul Smith, country manager for Sweeft Digital, a UK agency helping companies manage their digital presence, including compliance with UK and Europe privacy regulations in the UK and Europe. He confirmed many of the concerns I have about the US versions of the GDPR, which do more to regulate whether users can stop companies from selling personal data than they do the companies collecting it. Bottom line is, each of us has to take care of ourselves. Our governments are not going to.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Welcome to the first episode of our fifth season and the first of 2022. Last year ended in a flurry of announcements, disasters, progress and new technology designed to keep us more secure and our last two interviews tied well into each other. We talked separately with Matt Morris, CISO at 1898 & Company, and Will Ruby, COO of FortifyIQ, and found that what Matt predicts is, in essence, the business model of Fortify IQ. So we glued them together. Patrick Boch handled the talk with Matt and Lou Covey spoke with Will at a live event, fully masked, in December (hence the muffled voices). Altogether we think this is a positive way to start the new season. Happy New Year.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
At the 58th annual Design Automation Conference in San Francisco, it seemed, at long last that the semiconductor industry is considering making their products secure, if only because they are being forced to. Standards organizations, not the least being the National Institute of Science and Technology, are creating mandatory minimums forcing hardware companies to force their chip suppliers to consider closing gaping holes before they go to manufacturing rather than create patches. At one of the technical sessions, your reporter asked a question that got the conversation going in a direction we all need to hear. And so we end our fourth season of Crucial Tech. See you in the new year.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
A few weeks ago we did a video demonstration of the Fletch.ai on the Cyber Protection Magazine Youtube channel, but wanted to share just the audio portion in this week's podcast because it's a solid tech gift for Christmas. Check it out.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
For the past five years, the Mozilla Foundation has published reviews of products rated on their relative privacy aspects. The least private products are labelled "Very, Very creepy. We interviewed Jen Caltrider, Mozilla's lead in their Privacy Not Included Division and found what makes a product or service creepy. Hint: the better the price, the creepier it becomes.
This will be available on Spotify in video or on all other platforms in audio only.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
We interviewed Jen Caltrider of the Mozilla Foundation about the fifth annual Privacy Not Included list the foundation publishes annually and if you are thinking of buying some electronics as gifts or for yourself, you might think about referring to the list at www.privacynotincluded.org. Let us know if you ever consider privacy features when you are gift shopping.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Quantum computing is one of those technologies that causes hyperbole, confusion, and concern. A lot of the discussion is not much more than wishful thinking or uninformed fear. For most people, it will not affect them in their lifetime. That’s not to say it isn’t something to completely ignore.
We talked to Alan Grau, VP of business development for the startup company PQShield in this week’s episode of Crucial Tech to get an overview of where we are in quantum security and what their company has to offer.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
It is a rare thing when a company claims to be the first to do something and actually is the first. Rarer still is when that company is actually solving a significant problem with their product. Upheaval (upheaval.io) appears to be among those rarities with a data security platform that prevents data theft, intrusion and could solve the problem of social media privacy. This interview may be the most encouraging thing that has happened in data security in a long time and has earned them membership Cyber Protection Magazine’s “Holy Grail of Cybersecurity” rolls.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
The tech world sees marketing as a necessary “evil” and does it poorly. The cybersecurity industry sees it as a mystery but duplicates what the tech world does, so their efforts are generally poor and clueless.
Good marketing explains the reason budgeting a particular product is a good idea and where that product is most useful. Mediocre marketing looks for the lowest hanging fruit when the ripest fruit is at the top of the tree. Journalists have to cut through mediocre marketing to make that reason clear to the customer. This is why I don’t like writing about product introductions. What is more interesting is the process of discovering why the product exists and who can best use it. That’s why I decided to take this interview with XM Cyber. They have good technology. They have mediocre marketing like pretty much everyone else in the tech world. I thought it might help to see how the sausage is made.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Had a fun conversation with Tim Callan, chief compliance officer at Sectigo on the un-fun topic of phishing, smishing and whether social media platforms even want to stop allowing criminals to scam their users. There is hope... just not from Facebook. See more at www.cyberprotection-magazine.com
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
I've spent some long, frustrating hours trying to convince realtors to adopt proven technology. I can't imagine how difficult it must be, then, to convince them to practice good digital hygiene. David Moffat is trying to. We spent few minutes talking about how the industry's attitude can make everyone less safe.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
I few weeks ago I was mercilessly cajoled by a PR firm to talk to the chief marketing officer of Sepio Systems, Bentsi ben Atar about their products and services. I don't do product announcements but I do talk about the problems the products were created to solve. So Bentsi and I talked for a while about how prevalent the potential for hacking modern vehicles is. And, apparently, public EV charging stations are a slam dunk for hackers. I hope this doesn't ruin your weekend.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
The term “slippery slope” is applied to a lot of hypothetical outcomes of everything from legislation to technology. In the case of Apple monitoring the use of products and services for distributing child pornography it appears there are more than one or those lubricated hillsides.
At Cyber Protection Magazine we are internally debating the benefit/risk ratio of this decision and decided to air our thoughts in real time in this episode of Crucial Tech. US editor Lou Covey thinks the GDPR, CCPA and a host of other potential legislation has already begun a slide toward government control of technology. On the other hand, EU editor Patrick Boch thinks Apple’s decision in the impetus. In either case, one has to decide whether making it difficult for child abusers to pursue their kink is worth the potential loss of privacy, or if privacy is an absolute right.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
I attended Black Hat 2021 virtually again this year and wrap it up in this grab bag of issues including #AI ethics, #cybercrime legislation, #ransomware growth and control, and building #cybersecurity community to compact the organization of cybercrime. Grab a coffee and take 25 minutes to get up to speed.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
I interviewed George Finney, chief information security officer for Southern Methodist University, a couple of weeks ago for a Cyber Protection Magazine article about the state of ransomware. It wasn't encouraging. But George is a very nice guy who also helps people and companies get their act together regarding good security practices. The entire conversation was illuminating, even though I had to do it over my iPad due to a tech glitch. Ah the modern digital age....
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
I'm being bombarded with companies trying to get me to interview them about product announcements. If I can figure out a theme to put them in context I will do it. The past couple of weeks though, it's been almost impossible. But I needed to get a podcast out and this is it.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
This episode of Crucial Tech is the beginning of a search for Holy Grail of cybersecurity: Products and services that actually make us safer without breaking the budget. There is no one company that delivers everything, but we found one that provides the crucial service of penetration testing that can give a small business a starting point for securing their data with both automated tools and enhanced with professional services cost below $100. Ronin Pentest offers an automated, web-based tool that can be used by anyone to go through the top 10 vulnerabilities as listed by the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP).
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
For a journalist to decide what to cover and when takes some discussion and this week we decided to do our editorial meeting in a public setting so you can see how we pick what to report. In this episode, Joe Basques, Patrick Boch and Lou Covey look at the changing paradigm of Ransomware, the ethics of paying ransoms, Webscraping, Amazon Sidewalk and the state of security jobs.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Cybercrime has been with us for a while, but the business world saw it as a minor annoyance. Luckily, the criminal world kept the cost low, requiring small ransom amounts and cash cards as a delivery mechanism. #Cryptocurrency kicked the demands up because it was easier to demand more money and easier to hide the money trail. Big ransomware demands hit the news and infrastructure was threatened. But in 2020 and 2021, law enforcement figured out some ways to track those criminals down. Extraditions began and ransoms were recovered. The gloves are coming off and CEOs find themselves squarely in the crosshairs of regulators and stakeholders along with the criminals. In September 2020, Gartner Research predicted that CEOs would be held criminally and fiscally liable for cyberattacks that harmed people physically if the company had not taken basic precautions to prevent it. We talk with Mathieu Gorge, CEO of VigiTrust and author of the Cyber Elephant in the Boardroom, about what CEOs need to be investing in to keep themselves out of jail.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
This week the WomenTech Global Conference ( #WTGC2021 ) is happening on the web and we thought it would be a good idea to interview a leader in the security industry, Revital Libfran of OdiX about her career and opportunities in #cybersecurity. Plus it gives us a chance to plug this great conference. Sign up at www.womentech.net and learn more.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
After several decades working in and with marketing professionals we've learned a couple of things about how marketing is done. One of the more important lessons is that marketers make their jobs much harder than it needs to be. And maybe one of the worst offenders is in the world of #cybersecurity. Patrick Boch, my cofounder of Cyber Protection Magazine, share some of our frustrations insights on how companies can promote their products and services more effectively. It really isn't that hard.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
I had two conversations this week about spoofing attempts that turned into educational moments. There will be more to learn at Cyberprotection-magazine.com but this revealed a lot.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
The potential of nuclear warfare is being eclipsed by the potential of cyber warfare as the ender of civilization, so I guess their is that upside. No, seriously, it's becoming apparent to rogue nations that cyber warfare is more effective, cheaper and has less chance for retaliation than a nuclear strike. We talk to cyber warfare experience Pano Yannakogeorgos from New York University about the potential devastation from cyber attack. A more in depth article on the subject is coming next week on Cyberprotection Magazine
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
When you peel back all the layers, digital marketing and consumer tracking on social media apps presents the most significant security flaw in our digital world. Apple's giving individual IoS users control over that decision is a big step forward into making us all safer. It also removes a lot of the hype and fraud that comes from unrestricted tracking. Joe Basques and Lou Covey answer a user question about the significance of the new feature.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Lithium-ion batteries are in almost all electronics, all electric vehicles and are expanding through the power grids worldwide to store energy during system outages. They are crucial to continued operation of “green” data centers. When you talk about renewable energy, you have to talk about where lithium-ion batteries fit in the discussion.
That’s not necessarily a good thing.
Lithium-ion technology is fraught with social, environmental, and security downsides. Forced child labor, the lack of effective recyclability, potential poisonous fires and explosions and complex, imminently hackable control systems are all aspects of the industry that just won’t be going away soon. But there is hope. There are alternatives.
This is the subject of this episode of Crucial Tech. We talk to Jack Pouchet, Vice President of marketing for Natron Energy, a company manufacturing a sodium-ion battery that lacks all the downsides of its lithium cousin and offers significant upsides that we need. The good news is that it looks like this technology will be going into large-scale production just before the Lithium-ion technology collapses under its own weight.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
This interview with Warren Savage, guest researcher t the University of Maryland in IoT security is a follow up to an interview I did with him last year at the @DesignCon conference in Santa Clara. In the interview and his keynote at the show, he talked about how vulnerable the electronics supply chain was. A year later we are stuck in a semiconductor supply chain slowdown and one of the reasons is the inability to secure it. Things haven't gotten much better but Savage sees progress. This is part two of a series on supply chain.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
2021 is quickly becoming the year we realize that supply chains are what make the developed world. SolarWinds, the Suez Canal, the worldwide semiconductor shortage, and the “snowpocalypse” in Texas has shown us that one glitch can wipe out our standard of living for weeks, months and years. With that in mind we start a series of podcasts and articles in cyberprotection-magazine.com on the supply chain, with special focus on semiconductor security. Stay until the end. You will learn something and get pissed off.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
We talk to Harry Haramis, GM of Prime Key, about public key infrastructure (PKI) and certificate authority (CA), which may be the most boring technologies you come in contact with, but are foundational to keeping you secure on the internet and even in your car. The problem is that few companies will let you know what they are doing about managing those things and if it is done badly, you are screwed. Time to start tasing questions.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
We started looking into insurance coverage for cyber attacks a few weeks ago and contacted analyst Maxine Holt of Omdium about it. And then more questions came after the talk. So this episode is a part of additional coverage you will see in Cyber Protection Magazine and additional podcasts. It's the complex, but we are going to try to make it understandable.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Securing an organization's data isn't easy, or cheap, but relatively tiny section of the cyber-protection industry, known as content disarm and reconstruction (CDR) might be a solid beginning. If only they would spend enough on marketing to build awareness. We open the fourth season on Crucial tech with Taeil Goh, CTO of OPSWAT, about his companies threat detection and removal technology and why he ain't rich yet. Read the full story of Cyber Protection Magazine
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Season 3 concludes with Joe Basques interviews Lou Covey and Patrick Boch, co-editors of the recently launched Cyber Protection Magazine (www.cyberprotection-magazine.com), an international joint project between the Footwasher Media in the US and Fabogi in Germany. The new publication will focus on practical implementation of cybersecurity for businessmen and the non-technical among us.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
If you are a small business hoping for a grant from California to stay alive during the COVID-19 lockdown, you need to listen to this podcast. The state has chosen to work with third-party financial institutions to transfer the funds to banks, but those organizations are asking applicants to violate basic good practices for maintaining security. Moreover, some business banks have internal security mechanisms that prevent the connections being made between the state and the banks. You can do this safely, but you need to take precautions. We give your those precautions in this podcast.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
There is important stuff in tech, and then there is stupid stuff. And lately the stupid stuff has been a bit more interesting. We take a look at four or the more interesting stupid stories.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
For about 10 years the conventional wisdom about #ransomware was to just pay it and start improving your security. According to John Flory III, CISO for Harbor Networks, that just doesn’t work anymore. In our interview with Flory he explains why it is absolutely necessary to go on offense now and hunt the hackers down. He gives us a preview of a case he worked on with international law enforcement that resulted in the arrest, extradition and prosecution of a ransomware ring. We will hear more from Flory in the coming weeks but his recommendations can bear fruit as hackers become more brazen.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
As soon as the SolarWinds breach hit the news, press releases started pouring out of the cyber security industry with claims that their products or services would have prevented the breach, but talking to people in the trenches, that is a dangerous claim to believe. The truth is, human error and intention can defeat any security protocol or technology. We talked to Matthew Rosenquist and Steve Hanna about the only way to deal with security: vigilance.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
We were going to do this after the first, but the queue is getting long with 2021 interviews and articles for Cybersecurity-Magazine.com so here's our Christmas gift to you.
Legislation, litigation, public opinion and technology are combining in 2021 to put the breaks on #disinformation and #Trumpism next year and the foreseeable future. It looks bad for social media but good for print journalism. That makes this a happy Christmas as fare as we are concerned.
Thanks for the support this year. We've grown 400 percent in listenership a engagement. Looking for great things in the coming year.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Before we get into be thankful of stuff on Thursday we need to get one thing off of our chest, namely the wasteful use of time and money spent on corporate awards programs that are nothing more than a naked attempt to build valuable mailing lists and take money from startups that they can't afford or leave them vulnerable to a corporate raider. And there are no more blatant efforts than the Red Herring 100.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
President-elect Joe Biden has been catching flack for stating that we will transition out of fossil fuel in favor of green energy, but that has less to do with government regulation and more to do with market forces. And in the case of hydrogen, we cannot decouple that clean energy from fossil fuel extraction. We look at this in a short podcast because it is that simple.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
In part three of this series, we take a look at the debate over Section 230 in Title II of the Federal Communications Act that is targeting social media political bias and discuss why it is a misdirected controversy, and how it might restore the fortunes of and trust in #MSM. We will conclude the series with a couple of tools to help you create your own mental filter on what you see online.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
In part two of our miniseries on journalism in a digital world, we take a look at the causes of bias in the press. Some of that is legitimate, but a lot of it is just personal perception and crowd think. The bias most of us see is actually a mirror image of our own. We talk about some of the ways you can combat bias but we admit it may be beyond one's desire to seek balanced news. THERE WILL BE A PART THREE! In the meantime, consider becoming a sponsor so I can get rid of the ads
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
It is popular to say you don't trust the news media. Some of that distrust is valid, but few people can actually identify why. Joe Basques and I decided to do a deep dive into the subject in this episode... that went so long we had to make it a multiparter. There may even be a part 3. In this day and time we need all the help we can get to find the truth and randomly cutting off reliable sources of information is self-defeating.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Next week, on Crucial Tech, more about journalism and digital content than you've ever known.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
I have talked to a lot of companies developing digital security devices and systems. Virus scans catch about 50 percent of the attacks at best but don't stop them from happening. Network equipment and software services are way too expensive and do very little to protect against people doing stupid things behind the firewall. It has really seemed hopeless for a while and very frustrating.
Then I ran across Airgap.io. Holy crap. Is this what I've been searching for? It's affordable, scalable from a home network to a #Fortune100 company, and it stops ransomware from spreading throughout all connected devices in the network.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Bob Frankston is an e engineer whose work has arguable been more responsible for how most people interact with the internet. You probably have never heard of him... but I have. After following Bob Frankston's IEEE column off and on since 2013 we were thrown together earlier this year on social media and was absolutely star struck when he agreed to this interview about 5G networks. As I suspected, 5G is more about marketing than technology, but it is also about getting around net neutrality. Listen and learn.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Even the most security-conscious people and organizations get hacked, so it's not always something you can stop. We go back to talk with #Sectigo's VP of IoT security, Alan Grau to talk about how a security training from got hacked through a common phishing scam, how deep the flaws in our technology are and finally, how Sectigo is helping companies make secure technology.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Between January 1 and August 23, The number of phishing sites detected by Google rose by more than 200,000 to 1,892,980. Three years ago there were less than 560,000.
“When you get that all too familiar barrage of spam emails, social engineers are betting that if you’re a MAGA supporter who received spoofed emails pitching progressive candidates or causes, you’ll click unsubscribe about as fast as a progressive will if they’re on the receiving end of a MAGA blast,” says Adam Levin, founder of Cyberscout. Levin explained that the emails are rigged to download malware, ransomware, or access your accounts when you click unsubscribe."
The dramatic increase is giving rise to an entire sub-industry dedicated to #zero-trust technologies that are slowly coming to market. Maybe too slowly for the 2020 election cycle. We talked to two of them: Zero Fox and Airgap Networks
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
We have a few episodes this month talking about drastic changes in advertising and marketing and until this week, it looked like everything was under control... until Facebook admitted this week that the changes are going to severely hamper their ability to send those creepy targeted advertising posts your way. And that's going to affect their revenues.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
You have probably seen notifications during web searches the tell you that the website you are visiting will use “cookies” to “give you a better search experience.” or some sort of nonsense, and you click “OK” just to get on with it. You might know what cookies are, other than a delicious snack, but most people don’t. In this episode, we are going to tell you what they are, how they work, and why you should pay more attention to them. We also interview Content marketing specialist Adam Helweh of Secret Sushi regarding how the digital marketing industry is adapting to the changes in technology and legislation.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
You may have heard of quantum computers. You may actually think they are mostly hype. They are. We won't see them come into real use for a decade. In the meantime, people are freaking out over how they can be used to makes us all less safe. The good news is some companies, like Sectigo, are working on ways to make sure we are all safe when they actually become a reality. So grab a coffee and listen to our take on quantum computer security.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
We have the means and ability to take this pandemic down to nothing, but we all need to cooperate, be smart about it, and be ready to give up things that don't really exist, like #privacy. #Contact_tracing needs the cooperation of companies like #Google and #Apple even if it means they let us know exactly how much data they are collecting on us. Let's face reality and get out of this alive
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
In our last episode we reported on presentations at BlackHat USA 2020 about election interference. In this second part, we look specifically at the Russian and Chinese approaches to disinformation campaigns and how it is less technology hacking and more about strategic use of social media.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Our first re-run of the season is going back to our report on election hacking, a two-parter, that doesn't dwell on the technology of elections as much as how they can be influenced. For several years we have heard about how technologically vulnerable our elections systems are, but it turns out that physically hacking a system is a lot harder and yields insignificant fruit in national elections. It is much easier to sway voters with disinformation.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Are you concerned about how social media seems to know exactly what you are thinking about? Are you’re that they are listening to you and your friends on mobile devices? Well, they don’t and they aren’t. You’ve been freely telling them what your concerns are and what you want to buy. But all that may be coming to an end. Find out how in the next episode of Crucial Tech.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
We thought we would be able to wrap up the last three episodes featuring Tim Bajarin and Matthew Rosenquist, but then life happened and more AI disasters occurred. This is yet another launching point for our coverage of surveillance technology.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Last week, we had @TimBajarin give a fairly pessimistic view of the future of #AI and #facial recognition. This week we bring in the positives (sort of) with security and AI guru @MatthewRosenquist. This technology is probably inevitable but to make it a global issue we are going to either have to give up some freedom and privacy, or we are going to have to work hard to fix the deficiencies. either way, the combination of this and the last two episodes will make you well informed enough to be the expert in most conversations even if you aren't an engineer.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
By the time we finished last week's episode on security settings a lot happened. So I started making some calls to those who know what was going on. This week, we talk to the Analyst di tutti Analysts, Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies about ethics, facial recognition and AI, why it's so hard to do any of that well, and how Apple's announcement of iOS 14 is so earth-shaking.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
My business partner, Joe Basques called me up and started asking questions about #Facebook security, which morphed into #AI, which moved into #facial_recognition. So we decided to start from the beginning of the conversation and record it. You will find out some tricks about how you can make your Facebook experience safer, what Facebook can actually track even when you think you are secure, and what the future holds for you in a corporate surveillance state.
However, the subject got even more interesting in the days following our talk so this becomes part one of a broader discussion with industry luminaries. So, get ready. It's going to be an interesting ride.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
I'm deep into writing a book with Richard Bach, a security guru from the UK, on the ethical development of #AI technology and have found that there are really not a lot of books offering practical guidelines for ethical thought in engineering. There are lots of books about why it's important and about ethical lapses, so maybe it's time for an Ethics for Dummies (Boy, am I qualified). In my research, I came across Jamais Cascio, a general futurist who does a lot of work with the Institute for the Future (www.iftf.org, @iftf) and who has a lot to say about the subject. Out of a very long conversation I culled these 30 minutes. The rest is going in the book. I imagine your brain will hurt by the time it's over.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Last week I talked about the importance of tracking apps to help do contact tracing for the #Coronavirus epidemic and after I did that podcast I signed up for a study to get tested myself and I signed up for one of the apps (I chose one from Johns Hopkins University.) You can also see this podcast on Youtube so you can see what I am using and how I set it up. I am a big believer in controlling what you allow to go out on the internet but I'm also a big believer in being a responsible citizen. Sharing personal data during this time is a responsible act. I'm sure this will make you a bit nervous and have comments, which you can leave on www.Anchor.fm or wherever this shows up on social media. Let's have a civil discussion.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
In the last episode, we looked at changes in how tech media and businesses are changing during the #COVID19 #pandemic and how @FootwasherMedia has been predicting these changes for decades. We've also had our thoughts about entertainment and #venturecapital are going to change, but we kept that to ourselves because we aren't entertainers nor are we investors. But we do know some people who are and in this interview with Fabrizio Capobianco of @MinervaNetworks we take a look at how the current crisis is changing that, as well.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Joe Basques and I have been working in the tech world and media for several decades. We have often warned clients of what was to come and that they should be ready for it and almost universally we have been ignored or ridiculed. The funny thing is within 3-5 years things we warned of have come true, like the slow death of tech media and the rise of social media to replace it. Each time companies have raced and struggled to adapt. the #COVID19 #pandemic has rushed even more of our predictions to the forefront, including #videoconferencing, #telemedicine, and #digitalmigration of the #economy. We are taking a moment to gloat but also to remind you that everything has changed and probably for the better. Part 2 will look at changes in #venturecapital, #investment and #entertainment
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
In this episode, we talk to Steve Hanna from the Trusted Computing Group (@TrustedComputin) to talk about the organization's work in making computing secure. You probably haven't heard of them, but their standards form much of the #security basis for the #IoT. Steve is VERY accomplished and a very nice guy. In fact, it was kinda like talking to Mr. Rogers about technology so it was knowledgeable and comforting all at the same time.
Remember, if you'd like to leave a comment, listen to this podcast at Anchor.fm and record your question or comment in the app. You might be a star guest in a future episode or have the right suggestion for one.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
When searching the web, do you ever get a request to renew or accept a certificate? Yeah, you have but you probably had no idea what it was about. It's kind of important, it should be more widespread and there are a few companies involved in the process. One of them is @Keyfactor. They would like to be more widespread, I can assure you. Listen in and maybe you can push your providers to look into them. #security #authenticatiion
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
I hope that headling caught your attention. It should. We hear a lot about how the US government is watching us, but the information that Edward Snowden said was being collected on us pails in comparison to what Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft are allowing other corporations and foreign governments to collect from us. And those companies are getting paid to allow them that access even if they aren't saving and sharing that data for themselves. What's more, there is little you can do to stop it except for eliminated digital devices from your life. But there are things you can do to limit it. This commercial-free episode may be the most important information you need right now.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
This week I found opt that is it probably less likely that the government is watching you than Amazon is. More importantly, to law enforcement you may not exist at all. Check out how tech firms are helping the good guys catch the bad guys.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
The title is a bit melodramatic but history shows us that nothing devised by man lasts forever and, thanks to state, national and international laws as well as new technology, the hegemony of Amazon, Facebook, Ebay and Google over retail may be coming to an end. We talk to the CEO www.maikeinc.com and look at the increasingly hostile environment facing online behemoths.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
The Internet of Things (IoT) is growing faster than the original internet. Cisco Systems predicts that internet-connected devices will represent 75 percent of all the internet traffic in less than 10 years, and Gartner predicts that there will be five times more IoT devices in use than there are people on the planet. But more than 90 percent of all those devices are easily hackable and will remain so for the foreseeable future. There are some companies working hard to fix the problem but until manufacturers decide to start designing for security, it's going to be a long road, indeed.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
You've probably heard of the data privacy laws in the EU and California but you might not know what they do for you. A lot. We talk to an international expert, Patrick O'Keeffe on the subject of privacy and regulation, You need to meet this guy. He's the real deal.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
It has been a bad couple of years for Facebook and it isn't getting easier. This week, we look at social networks that do not have advertising and don't sell your information to anyone. In fact, they don't even collect it. Both ways that all social media platforms have traditionally made their money. We talk to David Glassco, CEO of one of those networks, Neone (nay o nay) and their pay-for -play paradigm. Will it work? Only you have that answer.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Happy New Year and welcome back after the holiday break. This season on Crucial Tech we will be looking at changes in social media, consumer privacy laws, new security challenges for the common man and more, but today we kick-off the first in a random series on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology with two friends, Joe Basques and Matthew Rosenquist. As always, donations will help us eliminate advertising and you can make audio comments on the Anchor.fm platform that could make you a star on a future episode
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
After two months of holiday partying, travel, illness and unavailable interviewees I'm ready to kick off the new year with a big portfolio. We'll be looking at Cryptocurrency, social media, renewable energy, security, threats to the 2020 election, Russia, private social media and a bun ch more. Here's a short preview. And check out my book, The Stupid Side of Renewables now available on Amazon. You can leave a message here.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
I'm starting to to do something I have long dreaded: start talking about cryptocurrency. We introduce the concept and the problem about talking about it in the opening and then we get into something that explains why companies are moving to automation... and it is more than just greed. I'd like to hear from you about this episode. you can leave a message here.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
I had a chance to interview a handful of Finnish tech start-ups at the 2019 TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco and was m,ore then pleasantly surprised by what I heard. There are many reports about how Finnish publlc education is exceptional but exporting all the techniques are difficult for a variety of reasons. The technology I saw changes that.
You m ight want to be ready to turn up the sound in a couple of the interviews, because the Finns are often softspoken and there was a lot of background noise and electronic interference in Moscone Hall, but it is all worth the listen, especially if you care about education.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Josel L:orenzo, VP of product development for Axiado and an AI guru talks about the different levels of autonomous vehicles and whether humans can have any actual presence in controlling them. This is the last of 4 parts
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
We went to San Jose to talk to Chet Babbla, vice president for automotive technology for Arm Ltd., about a new consortium focused on autonomous vehicles. Cooperation in a multi-faceted and challenging technology like autonomous vehicles is a good idea. But in this case, do we have enough knowledge about the components needed to make a dent?
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Besides the difficulty in getting the technology to work, we still have a significant problem in making autonomous vehicle safe from hackers. We talk with Matthew Rosenquist, cybersecurity guru.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
We're starting this three part series with Rik turner, principal analyst at Ovum, a british analysis firm, to get a history of how long vehicle automation has been with us, where it is today and how far we have to go before we have what we think is just on the horizon.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Friday, September 27 we will start a three-part series on the state of autonomous vehicles. Tune in and find out the 411
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Catfishing is the biggest scam on the internet. It is not easy to get out of it once you fall into the trap and it is very embarrasing, but it can be done with a minimum of effort, some patience and honest self-reflection., But avoiding it is very easy. Thism episode is brought to you without commercial interruption. So chip in at https://anchor.fm/crucialtech.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
It’s the biggest problem on the internet and it affects 1 in 7 people. Find out how you can defend yourself
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
We are starting season two of Crucial Tech with a look at security-conscious culture. A few months ago I met Jarno Limnell (@jarnolim), CEO of Tosibox (https://www.tosibox.com) to talk about cyber security . This seemed like a good time to trot out the interview considering the increasing occurrence of cyber attacks around the world. So why is Scandanavia, and Finland in particular so secure. You might be surprised that it isn't just technology.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
This week we talked with Ugan Naidoo who, besides having a pretty neat name, is the CTO of Inetco, a Vancouver, BC company that monitors financial transactions for banks and large retailers worldwide. This is a pretty technical discussion, but once you hear it, you will understand how not paying attention to this ussue is costing you and everyone else, money.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Hackers can appropriate you computer system to make money on cryptocurrency without you knowing it's happening. It's annoying but not bad for individuals like you and me. For big corporations and governments it can be lethal.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
I wrote a column in EEWeb.com a few weeks ago talking about the security issues developing in open source software, Linux in particular. And old friend popped up in the discussion. Meet Bill Weiberg. We will probably be hearing more from him in the future/
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
In this episode we learn about certificates, securing Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), botnets, DDOS, secure boot... It's jam packed. We interview Alan Grau, CTO of the Icon Labs division of Sectigo.
Thanks to the late, great Alfonso Bedoya for the headline
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
I've been aware of a marketing technology for sometime and have been thinking about doing a podcast on them, but recent issues in the European Union over the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and similar legislation in a dozen states in the US made it crucial to all of us now. Businesses rely on telemarketing to deliver "qualified leads" to them. But they don't actually work as claimed. This technology could make telemarketers obsolete and end the annoying calls without regulation.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
This episode is packed into 40 minutes with news of the week, an interview with the director of Global Platforms and much more. This is stuff you need to know.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
This is an interview I did a few months ago with Matt Rosequist, former senior security analyst for Intel. It's a wide ranging interview that cov ers a lot of issues you may not be aware is affecting you.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Yes, you read that right. The biggest threat to our infrastructure are cute, furry rodents. We interview the CEO of Critter Guard who is saving the world one pole at a time.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Government hearings are all the rage now for tech CEOs trying to justify massive breaches in privacy, security and basic trust within their markets. The discussion on how to make sure development of new tech, especially in artificial intelligence is bubbly to the surface. Maija-Riita Ollilie, an ethics scholar in Finland, was our guest this week with a view on how ethics will develop naturally with adoption of technology.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
A few weeks ago I met Lisa Jiggetts, founder and president of the Women's Society of Cyberjutsu, dedicated to helping young women start careers in cyber security. A fascinating and important effort. Check out the website at https://womenscyberjutsu.org.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Julian Assange was arrested last week in London. Some call it the death of free journalism, but it might be something else. And what it reveals about your personal security is probably more important.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
While you won’t get into the guilt or innocence of the man, what he is accused of is important to understand. So stay tuned.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
A few weeks ago I interviewed Forresters senior analyst Amy DeMartine about her predictions for cyber security in 2019. Now that I have a chance to publish it, two of those predictions have already come true and it is just mid April. And the reasons for the growth of cybercrime are sitting in out pockets.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
The Green New Deal in Congress is going to be debated for at least two years and I thought it was worth tying in a tech angle to the debate. We interview Evan Johnson, CTO of Hytech Power in Redmond, Washington about how his technology can actually make this happen with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of results.
BTW, If you listen to this podcast on Anchor.fm, you can leave messages, ask questions and make recommendations for inclusion in future episodes. Otherwise you can contact me on the Footwasher Media Facebook page, on my Linkedin page, or on Twitter @newtechpress.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a major theme in technology news, investment and science fiction and the conventional wisdom is that it can be very dangerous. Is that true? Maybe not. In this episode we talk to Axel Kloth, CTO of Axiado Corporation, about the potential dangers of AI and the potential benefits.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
It's been a busy week with ransomware at the top of the list. How can we stop it? Maybe with artificial intelligence (AI) applied directly to hardware. We are back with Axiado's CEO Ashok Babbar for the second in three episodes about AI
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
Dr. Prasad Calyam at the University of Missouri is working with a team of researchers to create a novel way of stopping hackers from staling data or installing malware in cloud-based systems.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
The European Unions General Data Protection Regulations and the California Consumer Protection Act do not apply to the hardware manufacturers that suppy equipment to the companies that collect and store our personal data...yet. Eventually someone is going to figure out that our data is vulnberable in the hardware and will want to sue the hardware companies. We talked to Axiado Corporation CEO Ashok Babbar about how difficult it is to secure data on current hardware, and what we have to do to secure it.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support
The last week of February was a bad one for digital security and we thought it would be a good time to start this podcast, focusing on the biggest news of the weeK: The Cloudborne vulnerability in cloud servers... all of them.
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/crucialtech/support