In this episode, we brought back our good friend Lenny Zeltser. Lenny is Chief Information Security Officer at Axonius. He's developed a mindset of looking at security components as building blocks to create a holistic security environment. To this day, even while operating as an executive, he has wisdom that anyone can learn from. Quite often, the less sexy aspects of information security are ignored, when in reality, you need to understand what resources you're supposed to protect, which asset...
May 18, 2021•35 min•Season 6Ep. 142
In this episode of Hacker Valley Blue, we brought in a guest who has been on a journey of transformation of self and technology. Our guest is Chani Simms, managing director of Meta Defence Labs. We talk about what is essential for cybersecurity. If there was a magic box that could solve an issue, what problem would Chani want solved? “People!” They need to be trained, and care, and have buy in. They must be devoted to what they’re doing. They need cultural awareness and support – it isn’t easy a...
May 18, 2021•30 min•Season 6Ep. 141
Know thy organization is key! Wise words from the powerful Marcus J. Carey. Don’t be afraid to admit the bad stuff and be honest about the situation. Most of the time people get fired because they are scared to admit the failure. You have to build a tight network of people you trust who will be brutally honest with you. You need those people who are going to tell you the truth. Other people will see your superpowers before you do. Superman didn’t know he was different, but others saw the differe...
May 18, 2021•36 min•Season 6Ep. 140
Welcome to Hacker Valley Blue Season 2 “Know Thyself”. Instead of focusing on the enemy – threat intelligence and environment, we are focusing on knowing yourself and security stack. You need to know the business, but also the fundamentals of security landscape. Without the fundamentals, you cannot reach the level of success you desire. Getting laser sharp on computer networks and how computers speak to each other. Without understanding how each of the pieces work together, you cannot make strat...
May 18, 2021•34 min•Season 6Ep. 139
Imagine, for a moment, you’re driving for Uber, and one of your riders changes your life forever! That’s the story we are sharing with you. It's all about Kendrick Trotter, the entrepreneur that has had an incredible journey in technology. Kendrick talks to us about that and the relationship between sales and engineering. Ron and Chris are glad to be back with Kendrick Trotter who is helping diversify technology through partnerships with top technology firms. He is excited and humbled to be part...
May 17, 2021•34 min•Season 5Ep. 138
In this episode, we have the powerful Tamas Henning, Director of Security Engineering at Marqeta and also Trust and Safety Advisor for XR Safety Initiative. Tamas got started in technology at a very young age and that is credited to his dad. In the Early 90s his dad built a software company, and he was a super curious kid. By 6th grade, he learned trigonometry just so he could recreate Tetris. Take a listen to this incredible origin story and passion project of securing XR. Key Takeaways 0:00 In...
May 10, 2021•32 min•Season 5Ep. 137
In this episode, we welcome Chani Simms, Managing Director of Meta Defence Labs as well as Founder and Chief Architect of She Ciso Exec. Chani tells us the story of her rise from tragedy during childhood to being triumphant today. 0:00 Intro 1:03 In this episode with Chani Simms 2:22 Chani shares a bit about her background 3:35 Exposure to IT 5:24 First cold call experience 6:24 Chani’s early years in Sri Lanka 12:25 How did Chani recover from the trauma 13:08 What gave Chani hope 16:24 How a sp...
May 04, 2021•32 min•Season 5Ep. 136
Vote here: https://www.hackervalley.com/vote It might seem impossible... but we need an incredible amount of votes to have a shot to win this People's Choice Webby. Who would have thought that two black cybersecurity professional with home studios, would have a shot against these huge media companies. But this prize is more than the trophy or the title. We are representing cybersecurity. We are representing the independent creators. We are representing the underrepresented. The audacious part......
May 02, 2021•10 min•Season 5Ep. 135
In the studio today is Jimmy Sanders, a mentor, technician and all-around leader. Jimmy is the head of information security at Netflix DVD where he secures data and systems from cyber threat while building resilient compliance programs across technology, financial services, and healthcare organizations. Jimmy is here to talk about what we are worth in technology and cyber security. He is always full of advice and knowledge and is always promoting positive change in our community. To start this p...
Apr 27, 2021•30 min•Season 5Ep. 134
In this special announcement, we talk about the Webby's, the incredible honor it is, and the stiff competition we are up against. Vote and help make our dream become reality here: https://hackervalley.com/vote
Apr 26, 2021•5 min•Season 5Ep. 133
In this episode, we welcome Gabriela Ariza, a cybersecurity practitioner, influence, and wealth builder. We talk about her incredible story and how she got into social media influencing. Gabi started her IT journey in web development and then decided to transition to cybersecurity. She now works in protecting and analyzing government infrastructure for state and county governments across the United States. In addition, Gabi has founded a non-profit called HaITian Common Space. 0:00 - Intro 1:04 ...
Apr 21, 2021•26 min•Season 5Ep. 132
In this featured episode of Hacker Valley Studio podcast, Ron and Chris are joined by Sarah Groen, founder and CEO of Bell & Bly Travel, a luxury travel advisory firm. Bell & Bly Travel helps executives, entrepreneurs, and their families take a holistic view of their vacation planning, allowing them to save time, enjoy amazing experiences they can't plan on their own, and make lasting memories with loved ones. Sarah is a contributing columnist for the CEOWORLD magazine and is the host fo...
Apr 15, 2021•31 min•Season 5Ep. 131
Anne Marie Zettlemoyer is Vice President of Security Engineering and Divisional Security Officer at MasterCard. She’s a mentor to many cybersecurity practitioners and a visiting fellow at the National Security Institute at George Mason University As far back as elementary school, making sure everyone was treated properly and respected was important for Anne. In college, despite not knowing the first thing about cycling Anne’s determination to do the right thing led her to participate in a 600-mi...
Apr 07, 2021•35 min•Season 5Ep. 130
Saam Motamedi is a General Partner at Greylock, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Saam has always found joy in finding individuals with the ideas and perspectives needed to become leaders and seeing them grow. As a student, Saam built student led organizations and nurtured the talent in his peers so they could grow as leaders. Saam started his professional journey on the product side of the industry working for a startup company, BladeIQ. The organization was an early adopter of machine lea...
Apr 01, 2021•37 min•Season 5Ep. 129
Ashish Rajan is a Cloud Security leader, podcaster, investor and fashion expert. He’s the Melbourne chapter leader of the OWASP Foundation and the Head of Security & Compliance. Ashish makes full use of his expertise and shares his knowledge as founder of a Cloud Security academy as well as in his weekly Coffee with Ashish which streams on Twitch, linkedin and YouTube. Ashish shares that while doing his weekly cloud security livestreams from the streets of Melbourne he became a recognizable ...
Mar 24, 2021•32 min•Season 5Ep. 128
Paul Rivera is the president and CEO of Def Logix, he built his own company from the ground up. Paul was born in the Bronx, NYC and grew up in both Queens, New York and Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas. The two areas he grew up in couldn’t be more different and he faced a lot of social anxiety. In middle and high school Paul felt there was a difference between the things he worried about and the concerns of his peers. Young Paul would rather figure out how to improve himself than impress others w...
Mar 17, 2021•21 min•Season 5Ep. 127
In this episode we continue our conversation with Lee Kemp, a three time World Champion in Wrestling (1978, 1979 and 1982 all in the 74 kg weight class) and held the record for being the youngest World Champion. In addition to being a champion wrestler, Lee is a father, a wrestling coach, a public speaker, and an author. He learned many of the skill sets needed to navigate his life on the mat. A child of the 60’s, he was adopted at the age of 5, before adoption learned how to find his own conten...
Mar 12, 2021•24 min•Season 5Ep. 126
Our special guest this episode is Lee Kemp, a three time World Champion in Wrestling (1978, 1979 and 1982 all in the 74 kg weight class) and held the record for being the youngest World Champion. In addition to being a champion wrestler, Lee is a father, a wrestling coach, a public speaker, and an author. He learned many of the skill sets needed to navigate his life on the mat. A child of the 60’s, he was adopted at the age of 5, before adoption learned how to find his own contentment in the sit...
Mar 09, 2021•37 min•Season 5Ep. 125
Introducing the Cyber Ranch Podcast and Allan Alford! Allan Alford is currently the Chief Technology Officer/Chief Information Security Officer at TrustMAPP. Allan Alford is a member of the Hacker Valley family and has launched a new show called the Cyber Ranch Podcast. Allan has been a CISO at a number of different companies and has a wealth of knowledge in Cybersecurity. Has about 20 years of Cybersecurity and has a background in product security. Allan is a tinkerer and a second generation in...
Mar 02, 2021•32 min•Season 5Ep. 124
Lindsay Lee is the founder and managing member of Authentic Ventures. Authentic Ventures is an early stage VC firm based in Oakland CA. Lindsay has worked many years in the investment industries as well as venture capital and ran a direct investment fund. Authentic ventures is a new kind of firm focused primarily on women and under-represented minority founders. Authentic Ventures is focused on building its own network of women founders of more diverse backgrounds and entrepreneurs who really wa...
Feb 25, 2021•41 min•Season 5Ep. 123
Hacker Valley Studio presents: We Are Here - an audio journey and series exploring black excellence in technology and cybersecurity. In part three of this series, Ron and Chris interview Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, serving as the U.S. Representative for New York's 9th congressional district since 2013. Congresswoman Clarke’s parents immigrated to Brooklyn, New York in the 1950s from Jamaica. Being born from immigrant parents and witnessing the transformation of the country during the civil righ...
Feb 23, 2021•37 min•Season 4Ep. 122
In this episode of Hacker Valley Studio podcast, Ron and Chris are joined by Chris Parker, creator of WhatIsMyIPAddress. His website now reaches six million monthly visitors and began as a necessity to solve a technical problem, which you can probably guess, determine his IP Address. WhatIsMyIPAddress predates Google and was often found through the search engine AltaVista. For years, the site was simple, straightforward and didn’t have any graphics or markup (HTML). At some point, Chris stumbled...
Feb 20, 2021•28 min•Season 5Ep. 121
In this featured episode of Hacker Valley Studio podcast, Ron and Chris are joined by Jeff Cook, Co-Founder, and CFO of ByteChek. Jeff has over 10 years of experience in both accounting and auditing and has set out a mission to “make compliance suck less” Jeff began his career at accounting firm, Arthur Andersen. In 2002, the firm surrendered it’s license to practice as a CPA which forced Jeff to consider working at other firms. This surprise turned out to be a blessing as it made him transition...
Feb 16, 2021•34 min•Season 5Ep. 120
Hacker Valley Studio presents: We Are Here - an audio journey and series exploring black excellence in cybersecurity. In part two of this series, Ron and Chris host a mastermind conversation with Tia Hopkins, Charles Nwatu, AJ Yawn, and Kelvin Coleman. In this special conversation, we discuss ExIST, a framework to promote excellence in the pursuit of human endeavors like hobbies, careers, and finding purpose. Explore As humans, we’re always on the brink of discovery. Watching a documentary, witn...
Feb 10, 2021•1 hr 28 min•Season 4Ep. 119
Hacker Valley Studio presents: We Are Here - an audio journey and series exploring black excellence in cybersecurity. in part one of this series, Ron and Chris interview Patrice Washington, one of the world's most popular podcasters and authors. This episode in the series is a story of ascension. As we begin the episode Patrice mentions although she has a background in education, she’s here because of the hard work she put in during uncertain times and stepping into the unknown. In 2009, Patrice...
Feb 08, 2021•33 min•Season 4Ep. 118
In this episode of the Hacker Valley Studio podcast, Ron and Chris are joined by Tia Hopkins, Founder of Empow(H)er Cybersecurity with the focus of empowering mentoring, educating, and providing opportunities for women of color. Tia is also VP, Global Solutions Engineering at eSentire. The episode begins by Tia describing her early interests in technology. She began exploring her interest by taking apart her family computer - After her mom found out that she disassembled the computer, she quickl...
Feb 01, 2021•30 min•Season 3Ep. 117
In this episode of the Hacker Valley Studio podcast, Ron and Chris are joined by Chris Castaldo, Chief Information Security Officer at Crossbeam and author of Start-Up Secure: Baking Cybersecurity into Your Company from Founding to Exit. Throughout his career, Chris noticed that the same cybersecurity related problems surface but there are many different ways to solve them. Chris has always been passionate about startups and has plans to one day start his own company. While going through lists o...
Jan 26, 2021•36 min•Season 3Ep. 116
The tables have turned on Ron and Chris this episode and they are interviewed by guest host, Carole Theriault! Besides being a two-time guest on the Hacker Valley Studio Podcast, Carole is producer and host of the Smashing Security Podcast and Sticky Pickles podcast. Carole put together 7 serious questions and 7 funny questions to interview Ron and Chris. Question #1 - How did you get into podcasting? Ron - describes his entry into podcasting as a surprise. Ron had set up a studio at his home in...
Jan 20, 2021•41 min•Season 3Ep. 115
In this episode of the Hacker Valley Studio podcast, hosts Ron and Chris interview Patrick Coughlin, Co-Founder and CEO of TruSTAR. Patrick began his career as a security analyst in Washington D.C. and the middle east. By working with government contractors, multinational corporations, and counter-terrorism units, Patrick learned that the biggest challenge that security analysts have is retrieving the needed information from disparate data sources. This discovery led Patrick to founding TruStar....
Jan 12, 2021•31 min•Season 3Ep. 114
In this episode of the Hacker Valley Studio podcast, hosts Ron and Chris interview Neil Bearden, storytelling expert and founder of The Story School and Plot Wolf Ltd. Neil originally started his career by teaching statistics and behavioral economics but had an astonishing introduction to storytelling by a stranger in San Francisco. The episode begins by Neil sharing that he began his career in academia by completing a PhD in psychology which led to him teaching statistics, behavioral economics ...
Jan 06, 2021•42 min•Season 3Ep. 113
