This week on Cyber Frontiers Christian and Jim catch up with Franz Payer, CEO of Cyber Skyline (related episodes: CF059, CF012). We explore the growth and development of the Cyber Skyline platform, which has evolved beyond cyber competitions to a suite of talent screening tools and skills-development capabilities. We get Franz’s perspectives on where companies are currently struggling to keep up with hiring and retaining qualified cybersecurity talent and how Cyber Skyline fills the void. ...
May 13, 2022•59 min
This week on Cyber Frontiers we are joined by special guest Ashton Webster. Ashton is now a software engineer at Capital One and has worked on several teams over the last 4 years that focused on fraud detection and prevention. We spend some time catching up with Ashton. We also look at a new rule in the United States that mandates that any company that is considered part of critical infrastructure would be required to report to the Department of Homeland Security within 72 hours of a data breach...
Apr 07, 2022•1 hr 5 min
This week on Cyber Frontiers Christian and Jim provide a 2021 replay of the headlines that captured the cybersecurity world by storm and look ahead to trends that will shape the direction of security in 2022. With wide-ranging commentary on incidents like the colonial pipeline attack, solar winds, and Log4j, to the mundane and rudimentary data breaches and ransomware attacks, we break down what areas the industry is improving in and where the industry still needs help. We also look at the techno...
Mar 03, 2022•1 hr 12 min
We sat down with Liviu Arsene, a Global Cybersecurity Researcher for Bitdefender, Liviu has a strong background in security and technology and talked with us about both the Bitdefender Box and Bitdefender Premium VPN as well as some general Cyber security topics. Get more information about Bitdefender at https://bitdefender.com.     Cyber Frontiers is all about Exploring Cyber security, Big Data, and the Technologies Shaping the Future!   Christian Johnson will bring fresh an...
Oct 19, 2020•56 min
This week on Cyber Frontiers Christian and Jim talk about the zero trust security paradigm and how COVID-19 has drawn this security model into focus for the enterprise. As corporations accelerate technology adoption timelines to meet the demands of a remote workforce, cybersecurity practices and investments are evolving to secure employees and corporate assets in remote work environments. After diving into key aspects of zero trust, we walk through the recent Twitter security incident and analyz...
Sep 05, 2020•1 hr 1 min
This week on Cyber Frontiers Jim and Christian explore how identity theft monitoring services continue to evolve in 2020 to include protection beyond traditional monitoring capabilities. We evaluate how effective these services have been historically, how the business model is shifting, and what the average consumer can expect in trying to increase overall security. We line up the discussion with historical anecdotes on social security, FTC litigations, and statistics on consumer theft at large....
Apr 23, 2020•1 hr 9 min
This week on Cyber Frontiers Christian and Jim tackle the technology shaping society amidst the Coronavirus (COVID-19). We dive into the health (and growth) of the internet backbone, working from home, and distance learning to name a few. We then switch gears into discussing how data and analytic capabilities behind the virus tricked into the mainstream and is now widely available to society at large to make well informed decisions. We specifically highlight the importance of accurate data visua...
Mar 26, 2020•1 hr 8 min
This week on Cyber Frontiers Christian and Jim dive into ‘jedi mind tricks’ of AI, better known as adversarial machine learning. We narrate stories that tell tales of fooling the common systems that humans have come to rely on today, from maps to self driving cars, to airport scanners and identification systems. We discuss the growing surface area for cyber physical attacks, and the lack of general purpose solutions and proofs needed to tackle securing machine learning algorithms. We tie togethe...
Feb 15, 2020•1 hr 4 min
This week on Cyber Frontiers Christian and Jim interview Franz Payer, CEO of Cyber Skyline (cyberskyline.com) to discuss their platform for training and developing the next generation of security professionals in the industry. We discuss the current challenges in the security education market and explore where Cyber Skyline fills a critical gap across three products that help first-time participants and security practitioners alike up their infosec ability. We also take a look at the growing mar...
Dec 17, 2019•1 hr
This week on Cyber Frontiers Christian and Jim recap the latest major development in quantum research with Google’s “Quantum Supremacy” milestone. We review the headline narratives and compare today’s quantum progress with where we and others expected it to be. We delve into the tangentially related topic of cryptography, quickly leading to a walk through time of where secure computing has been and where it could be heading looking forward. Scattered throughout we bring in what it all means for ...
Nov 10, 2019
This week on Cyber Frontiers Christian and Jim recap security highlights from the past six weeks. We take a dive into the latest security challenges facing Windows 10, review the buzz around the Capital One breach, and jump into a variety of new tech from cell phone apps to detect pump skimmers to IBM’s unusual announcement of a blockchain-based web browser. We pack interesting anecdotes on the security landscape into an hour you won’t want to miss. Cyber Frontiers is all about Exploring Cyber s...
Aug 22, 2019•58 min
This week on Cyber Frontiers we catch up on some of the latest exploitations and availability drops on the web. We kick off with a discussion of the release of the TCP SACK panic as a new mechanism for DDoS via TCP protocol. We then cover a spectrum of relevant security news with the Microsoft OS product line to round off our security deep dives. On the availability side, we recap the Target outage and the Google Cloud Outage and what it means for consumers. We round things off with some healthy...
Jun 22, 2019•1 hr 12 min
This week on Cyber Frontiers Christian and Jim catch up on cyber anecdotes from our listeners! We start with a deep dive on the data breach website haveibeenpwned.com — and discuss ways users can leverage the data and APIs to reduce their surface area and take advantage of security best practice. From here we tangent onto corporate reputations and polling data, IoT device security, and more! We thread a needle of seemingly disjoint anecdotes into a show that has something for everyone. Cyb...
May 04, 2019•1 hr 3 min
This week on Cyber Frontiers Christian and Jim dive into recapping some of the best content from RSA 2019! We pack in a lot of content this show — ranging from a deep-dive into the most pervasive attack techniques in cybersecurity today to a comprehensive review on the state of quantum computing. Whether you are a math nerd, physicist, computer guy, or generalist — there is something for everyone in the quantum content we cover. We bring you what the modern frontier looks like on the...
Mar 13, 2019•1 hr 11 min
This week Christian and Jim dive into the “doomsday” (dramatic much?) cyber event of 2019 — escaping Docker containers! Formally known as CVE-2019-5736, we dive deep on the technical research undertaken by Dragon Sector to take advantage of Linux namespaces in order to reveal the larger discovery and exploit and what it means for the industry. We cover it from the average guy angle as well, and include discussions on use cases for classic virtualization strategies compared to containerizat...
Feb 23, 2019•12 min
This week on Cyber Frontiers we catch up on the lingo defining the technology frontier word cloud in 2019. Everyday we increasingly hear the phrase “we can do this now because of artificial intelligence (AI).” It’s showing up in product literature, super bowl ads, you name it! But is it really AI? How did we get to the new hype curve so quickly? We parse out the journey of the buzz from the year of cyber (2017), to the year of machine learning (2018), to what is rapidly shaping up as the year of...
Feb 09, 2019•1 hr 9 min
This week on Cyber Frontier Christian dives into the state of affairs in the cryptocurrency battle for adopters and the ultimate future of blockchain. We discuss some of the origins of what made Bitcoin popular and misunderstood, while re-tracing how it enabled blockchain technology to gain stronger visibility in the eyes of technologists. From here we discuss the fundamental advancements in computer science that enabled blockchain to succeed, and discuss its future in shaping the internet over ...
Nov 17, 2018•1 hr 14 min
This week on Cyber Frontiers Christian and Jim discuss the computing industry without the bachelor’s degree (B.S.). We discuss the recently increasing trend of major tech companies doing away with degree requirements for top software engineering positions. We evaluate the pros and cons of university value propositions, co-ops/work studies, internships, and apprenticeships and discuss which jobs seem best tailored with-in the field for these backgrounds. As demand for these positions continues to...
Oct 17, 2018•1 hr 7 min
This week Christian is joined by Jim to talk about killing off password security on web and communication platforms, a.k.a. the era of the hardware authenticator! We dive deep into the release of the Yubikey 5, FIDO 2, and Webauthn standards and how these platforms and standards will usher in the next phase of improved cybersecurity for enterprises as well as the average guy. We talk about some of the historical implications of protocols that haven’t evolved over the last thirty years, and what ...
Sep 27, 2018•1 hr 3 min
This week on Cyber Frontiers Christian is joined by Jim to discuss common AI applications influencing everyday life. We take a look at the latest learning technology in discerning fake news, facial recognition at airports, and driverless cars in the Uber and Lyft fleets. We weigh in on what empirical methods are available for validating these use cases in AI, and the socioeconomic impacts that these technologies will create for the average guy in the next five to ten years. Cyber Frontiers is al...
Sep 15, 2018•52 min
This week on Cyber Frontiers Christian and Jim get together to talk about the highlights from DEFCON 26. We dive deep into how voicemails and SMS-unlocks are being used to bypass two-factor authentication on common technology platforms — and how simple attack surfaces are exploited to turn the old tech of voicemails into eye-candy for attackers. We also review the hardware and application based mechanisms used to avoid some of these commonly exploited vectors. We also take some time to dis...
Aug 21, 2018•55 min
This Week on Cyber Frontiers Christian and Jim jump back into the world of machine learning and AI — a comprehensive conversation started on show 045 for those who missed it. We jump back in time to 1950 with the introduction of the Turing Test and walk us through its evolutions into modern AI and machine learning. We also discuss some of the recent cyber buzz with Gmail privacy concerns and new security features coming to iOS 12. Oh, and, fortnite players get excited about llamas too. Cyb...
Jul 11, 2018•1 hr 5 min
This week on Cyber Frontiers Christian and Jim explore the commercialization of artificial intelligence and machine learning. We explain the overlapping use of terms that the buzzword industry has created and separate fact from fiction. As ML and AI continue to drive businesses and the next frontier of technological innovation, we explore how the buzzwords of the past five years (I’m looking at you big data and IoT) have paved the framework for the buzzwords of 2018 and beyond. We lay the framew...
Jun 27, 2018•1 hr 10 min
We’re back! This week on Cyber Frontiers Christian and Jim catch up on the avalanche of GDPR and separate fact from hype. We also take a dive into where we are with cryptocurrency security, weighing in on the recent Crypto Currency hack in South Korea and the overall maturity of the technology. We also relate the topics back to some of the big themes from RSA 2018 and provide a quick recap of the conference themes. Cyber Frontiers is all about Exploring Cyber security, Big Data, and the Technolo...
Jun 16, 2018•1 hr 5 min
This week on Cyber Frontiers we jump into and update on the public disclosures of the meltdown and spectre vulnerabilities. We also chat about the latest hardware hacking efforts with ATMs and JackPotting as well as get Christian’s take on Crypto Currency and the coin market. Cyber Frontiers is all about Exploring Cyber security, Big Data, and the Technologies Shaping the Future! Christian Johnson will bring fresh and relevant topics to the show based on the current work he does. Support the Ave...
Feb 10, 2018•1 hr 5 min
This week on Cyber Frontiers we jump into full coverage of the 6-day old public disclosures of the meltdown and spectre vulnerabilities. With some issues mitigated, the news is a gravitational force that has dominated cybersecurity early into 2018 and could continue to engage industry for years to come. We discuss the short and long term security implications and performance debacles, and provide technical and non-technical explanations for the two classes of vulnerabilities disclosed. We review...
Jan 09, 2018•1 hr 11 min
This week on Cyber Frontiers Jim and Christian discuss the upcoming predictions for where the cybersecurity and data science communities trend in 2018. What trends are new on the horizon, and which will only naturally accelerate trends already started? Will passwords finally bite the dust as MFA rules the day? Will AI march closer to the takeover of mankind? Will the repeal of net neutrality impact the way we consume the internet? We talk technology trends that impact security, data, and the tec...
Dec 22, 2017•1 hr 9 min
Christian is joined by Jim and special guest Kevin Schoonover to talk about mobile device security. Which predominant platforms are winning over consumer trust and adding value? What design and marketplace considerations should be factored in when buying a device that is reliable to use? What can the average guy do to better protect these increasingly valuable assets? We explore the evolution of cell phone security over the last generation of mobile device platforms, and dive into wearables and ...
Nov 29, 2017•1 hr 21 min
This week on Cyber Frontiers Christian and Jim recap some of the highlights from the DEFCON security conference. We discuss the overall statistics from this year’s conference, and call out a few defining characteristics for DEFCON’s 25th anniversary. We also discuss the legal drama surrounding Marcus Hutchins, aka MalwareTech, who has been lauded as the security researcher behind stopping the WannaCry ransomware while also facing federal charges for being the mastermind behind the Kronos malware...
Aug 17, 2017•50 min
Listen Mobile: Cyber Frontiers is all about Exploring Cyber security, Big Data, and the Technologies Shaping the Future Through an Academic Perspective! Christian Johnson, a student at the University of Maryland will bring fresh and relevant topics to the show based on the current work he does. Please leave a REVIEW (iPhone or iPad) – https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewContentsUserReviews?id=857124890&type=Podcast&ls=1&mt=1 Support the Average Guy Tech Schol...
Aug 05, 2017•55 min
