Crucial Tech

The tech industry is more than technology. It's also marketing. Underfunded, questionably productive, and often plagiarized marketing. The job of a journalist is to poke through the piles of news releases, reports, studies, and other assorted verbiage like a scatologist on safari and find something valuable. That has gotten more difficult as the number of journalists have dropped since the turn of the century by close to 50 percent. But the mountain of information has grown by orders of magnitude. There simply are not enough of us to do what must be done. So Cyber Protection Magazine is launching a media training service to help teach marketers, PR folks and, mostly CEOs how to better communicate with their market and what journalists there are left. This podcast explains the reasoning behind this program and offers a glimpse at the kind of knowledge we will pass on. We will be taking a couple of weeks off as we gear up for our it-sa coverage. Time to get your sponsorship packages in --- Support this

The English riots this past week provide a Dickensian “best of times…worst of times.” context to politics in the United Kingdom and possibly the United States later this year. They highlight the fact that digital security concerns reaches far beyond the confines of corporate CISO offices. We spoke with Cyjax CISO Ian Thornton-Trump about the English riots and the potential for that to come to the US in November, --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support

i was surprised at how many people responded positively with the question of this podcast and am working on a larger story about it for Cyber Protection Magazine. One respondent was surprising, however: Heather Clauson Haughian, founder and managing partner for Culhane PLCC. Having a non-techie view of the situation was illumiinating. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support

This podcast will be the kickoff to a larger article about the Crowdstrike failure, which is the current obsession with technology. We talked with Action1 founder Mike Walters about the complexity of current technology and whether the problem is fixable. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support

In the first part of this series we provided a potential solution to the out-of-control growth of data theft, for individuals that could be most at risk. Today we talk to John Meyer, senior director at Cornerstone Advisors, to help us understand just how bad the situation is. For example, ner the end, John states quite flatly that everyone whould just assume their social security number is being sold en masse by criminals. And there is nothing we can do about it. Think about that. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support

To answer the question, yes, it seems so. There are announcements of data breaches at least weekly and the amount of data exfiltrated affects all levels of society. But before we get into how desperate the situation is, we met with Mike Britton, chief information security officer for Abnormal Security, one of a growing number of companies that will search our text, phone, and email communications, scan them for likely criminal intent and lessen the potential damage to individuals. This is a two part series. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/support

I was absolutely livid watching the presidential debate last night, and not because of the performance of the debaters, who did exactly as I expected. I was severely disturbed by the lack of professionalism of the moderators, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. I was relieved to find today, that several other journalists were equally concerned about their failure to moderate a debate. But this came as a capper to another interesting result: The release of Julian Assange, ersatz journalist. We -- and I mean my profession -- need to seriously consider effective certification of journalists, just like we do with doctors, lawyers, plumbers and pretty much everyone else, which can be revoked for incompetence of ethicaly failures. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/crucialtech/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/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/message Support 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/message Support 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/message Support 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/message Support 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” wa

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 legisla

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/message Support 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/message Support 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. 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/message Support this podcast: https://p

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/message Support 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/message Support 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/message Support 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