The Cyber Ranch Podcast

This week's show is exciting because Allan has been waiting for Andy's book on leadership to come out for quite some time. The book is called “1% Leadership – Master The Small, Daily Improvements That Set Great Leaders Apart”, and it consists of 54 chapters - each of which presents a specific facet of good leadership in a nearly "buffet style" manner. You can pick and choose topics that resonate with you and dive right in. Allan picked 6 chapters that resonated with him in particular and got Andy to elaborate: The book is amazing, these particular chapters are amazing, and Andy's expounding upon them is amazing as well! Y'all be good now!

This episode is a bit scary. Adrian Sanabria, who on an earlier show busted many cybersecurity myths, is back again, this time analyzing the impact of Large Language Model Artificial Intelligence on a hypothesized skills gap on the bad guy side. Premise One: Given how many organizations that are vulnerable and that have NOT been breached, the bad guys are suffering the same skills gap we are. Premise Two: Exploit attacks (think of exploits as ransomware, data hostage situations, threats to publish breached data, etc.) can benefit from LLM AI. It's really that simple a connecting of the dots. Adrian and Allan deconstruct the steps of an exploit attack, analyze the capabilities of LLM AI and cross-reference the two. If they are right, then we have a burden of leveraging and learning LLM AI ourselves, as quickly as possible... Sponsored by our good friends at Dazz: Dazz takes the pain out of the cloud remediation process using automation and intelligence to discover, reduce, and fix security issues—lightning fast. Visit Dazz.io/demo and see for yourself.

This is Part 1 of an incredible series of interviews Allan conducted live at RSA 2023. Guests include: I ask my guests several questions: There is also a VERY special interview with James Stanley, Chief of Product Development at CISA at the end. Don't miss it! Sponsored by Semperis & AttackIQ. Semperis provides the industry's most comprehensive Active Directory and Azure AD cyber resilience platform, supported by specialized AD incident response expertise. https://semperis.com AttackIQ offers a new fully managed breach and attack simulation service. They are the premier provider of MITRE ATT&CK-based security control validation. https://attackiq.com

Leadership skills, technical skills, cybersecurity skills, pluck, drive and determination are all on display as Allan interviews Merav Bahat, CEO @ Dazz and Mickey Bresman, CEO @ Semperis. Dazz has completed a Series A investment round. Semperis a Series C. It turns out that the skills each CEO needs are still remarkably the same. Saddle up for another episode, where Allan asks his guests: Sponsored by our good friends at Dazz: Dazz takes the pain out of the cloud remediation process using automation and intelligence to discover, reduce, and fix security issues—lightning fast. Visit Dazz.io/demo and see for yourself.

What is security chaos engineering? You may remember Kelly Shortridge, our very first guest, who came on the show to talk about behavioral economics and cybersecurity. Well Kelly is back to talk about her new book, "Security Chaos Engineering: Sustaining Resilience in Software and Systems". Security chaos engineering is derived from chaos engineering, a relatively new discipline in software development that seeks to test distributed computing systems to ensure that they withstand unexpected disruptions. It's all about resilience, in other words. Security chaos engineering seeks to do the same for the security of such software systems. Kelly breaks down her book during a lively conversation featuring an opinion or two her cat, Link (yes, a Zelda reference!): Note that the book is peppered with references and quotes from other disciplines. We would expect no less from Kelly. Sponsored by our good friends at Dazz: Dazz takes the pain out of the cloud remediation process using automation and intelligence to discover, reduce, and fix security issues—lightning fast. Visit Dazz.io/demo and see for yourself.

Bryan Liebert is one smart cookie. Who bakes cybersecurity cakes. But seriously, Bryan has been a CISO, consultant, architect, and has served many other roles in cybersecurity. His specialty is creating simple to digest (we could not help it, sorry!) models for managing and reporting on cybersecurity programs and practices. Join Bryan and Allan as they serve up (we're still doing it!) a lively and informative episode! Sponsored by our good friends at Dazz: Dazz takes the pain out of the cloud remediation process using automation and intelligence to discover, reduce, and fix security issues—lightning fast. Visit Dazz.io/demo and see for yourself.

Adrian Wright, "The Cynical CISO" of LinkedIn fame, joins Allan to discuss four areas where cybersecurity is perhaps getting it wrong: Allan and Adrian dissect cybersecurity practice in this great episode! Sponsored by our good friends at Dazz: Dazz takes the pain out of the cloud remediation process using automation and intelligence to discover, reduce, and fix security issues—lightning fast. Visit Dazz.io/demo and see for yourself.

Join us for a SPECIAL EDITON! episode of The Cyber Ranch Podcast LIVE! from CISO XC in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas! The topic is data security: its challenges and how to overcome them. Joining Allan are Cecil Pineda of R1 ("Cecil the CISO") and Gene Moore of Securiti. The conversation is live and lively, recorded as-is and delivered to you. Enjoy! Sponsored by Securiti - https://securiti.ai/

We always think of cybersecurity startups as companies who contribute to the tech stack in an organizational environment - usually the enterprise. We also think of personal cybersecurity in terms of protecting Grandma or our kids from the bad guys. But these two worlds intersect far more than you would think, and the techniques for addressing these problems intersect as well. This week Allan is joined by Leigh Honeywell, CEO at Tall Poppy, to discuss these intersections. Leigh is uniquely qualified, as her non-traditional startup addresses "personal security outside the firewall", which includes executive protection... Sponsored by our good friends at Dazz: Dazz takes the pain out of the cloud remediation process using automation and intelligence to discover, reduce, and fix security issues—lightning fast. Visit Dazz.io/demo and see for yourself.

Emily Heath is a well-known and well-respected figure in cybersecurity. She has been a CISO three times in a variety of industries, including software and a major airline. She has been in law enforcement, is a partner at a VC firm, and serves on boards of directors as well. With this wealth of experience she has come to value design partnerships - working with small startups to help craft their solutions to meet hers and their needs. But what are some of the challenges in design partnerships? Allan and Emily tackle the following questions: Sponsored by our good friends at Dazz: Dazz takes the pain out of the cloud remediation process using automation and intelligence to discover, reduce, and fix security issues—lightning fast. Visit Dazz.io/demo and see for yourself.

This week Allan is joined by Karla Reffold, COO at Orpheus Cyber. Yes, that makes her a vendor, but, yes, she follow's the show's rules: She is a friend, not a sponsor; she is not all vendory; and most importantly she is a subject matter expert on this week's topic: advisory boards! In fact, Karla has written an ebook on the subject which is available here: https://karlareffold.co.uk/advisory-boards-guide-book Topics covered in the show: - The ethical entanglements of being on an advisory board - Paid vs. unpaid advisory board roles (and cash vs. equity) - Advisory board roles as kickbacks (yes, it happens) - Advisors who are customers vs. advisors who are not - Do advisory board roles help or hurt a CISO's career? Enjoy! Y'all be good!

Becoming a CISO means changing a lot of perspectives. Individual contributors need to learn this, and the CISO is the best one to teach them. "They're never going to get it!" is a mantra used by both sides of that dialogue, and that is not a solution. Will and Allan discuss: - What precepts really are "obvious" - How does one onboard leadership and business perspectives? - What should CISOs do to ensure their teams gain those perspectives? - What can individual contributors do to ensure that they gain those perspectives? - The value of self-teaching and mentorship - Beliefs we should get rid of It's a great conversation! Ya'll enjoy it!

This episode is a story about an entire vendor encounter gone horribly wrong. Allan is joined by Paul Moreno, VP of InfoSec at Catawii, formerly SVP of Cybersecurity at Adyen, investor and advisor. Paul found a cybersecurity vendor. Paul found good references. Paul got referrals from peers. Paul did a PoC. And after that, it all went downhill. Paul was kind enough to share his story as he and Allan pick apart the failings and deliberate on ways we can all avoid such encounters. Topics covered are: - How to spot lies - Vetting the vendor's internal security landscape - ISO 27001 Statement of Applicability - Breaches and whistleblowing - GDPR violations in charging to delete data It is a story you will want to hear, and the analysis just might save you some pain down the road... Sponsored by Allan Alford Consulting https://allanalford.com/about

Join Allan and Dr. Mike Brass (whose degree is in archaeology!) as they jointly explore the technical side of the house vs. the GRC side of the house, noting that GRC can be a great path to CISO. Hear Mike's journey from IT technician to GRC to CISO. Topics Allan and Mike cover: You also get to hear Mike's journey, which has spanned small and large companies, government think tanks and more! Sponsored by Allan Alford Consulting https://allanalford.com

We have this idea that we can be perfect. And we know that idea is unsound. So we settle for imperfection. But are we doing that purposefully? Do we have a conscious plan for embracing imperfection? How can we, as cyber professionals, embrace our imperfection meaningfully and with intent? Join Allan and Robin Sundaram as they explore this topic, covering areas such as: It's a great conversation and you are sure to learn a thing or two! Sponsored by Allan Alford Consulting: https://allanalford.com

In this episode, Allan is joined by Omkhar Arasaratnam, a force in the industry and an expert in the intersection of software and security (you may remember Omkhar from an earlier show about supply chain security). They challenge each other to a game, "Technical Case vs. Business Case", where they must provide both arguments for a given technology deployment. The real subtext here is that whenever these two get together, they always lean towards a technical conversation, so they are challenging themselves. Topics Covered: It's a lively conversation and we hope you will find value in it! Sponsor Links: Thank you to our sponsor TrustMAPP for bringing this episode to life! The TrustMAPP solution gets you out of spreadsheets and slide decks and into managing, measuring and reporting on your cybersecurity with an all-in-one solution that combines cybersecurity frameworks, maturity, risk and business objectives and cross-references them to remediation costs. Find out more at https://trustmapp.com

Join Allan, Shaun Marion (CISO of McDonald's) and ChatGPT itself for a lively conversation about the implications of this new tool, AI in general, and nuances about ChatGPT's usage. Even after controls were put into place to prevent ChatGPT from helping the bad guys, Allan and Shaun were able to trick it into giving up details on hacking, authoring phishing emails and more. Shaun and Allan explore the potential for abuse and the positive promise and excitement that this new era of AI is ushering in. What are the societal implications of ChatGPT? What are the positive advances of AI? Should we be cautious with what we feed ChatGPT? Hear answers to these questions and more on this week's lively episode. Sponsor Links: Thank you to our sponsor TrustMAPP for bringing this episode to life! The TrustMAPP solution gets you out of spreadsheets and slide decks and into managing, measuring and reporting on your cybersecurity with an all-in-one solution that combines cybersecurity frameworks, maturity, risk and business objectives and cross-references them to remediation costs. Find out more at https://trustmapp.com

How important are communications after your company has been breached? They can make or break customer perception, and the perception of the world. Bad communications are perceived as bad intent. Joining Allan this week is Heather Noggle, owner of Codistac - a company that specializes in cyber communications, advocacy and awareness. She studied communications in college, and takes this stuff very seriously. The pair cover LastPasss, Okta and Reddit breaches, comparing the bad to the good. Topics covered: It's a great conversation and a great show. Sponsor Links: Thank you to our sponsor TrustMAPP for bringing this episode to life! The TrustMAPP solution gets you out of spreadsheets and slide decks and into managing, measuring and reporting on your cybersecurity with an all-in-one solution that combines cybersecurity frameworks, maturity, risk and business objectives and cross-references them to remediation costs. Find out more at https://trustmapp.com

Do you want to be a CISO one day? Are you a CISO today who wants to strengthen your ties into the rest of the business? The Business Information Security Officer (BISO) role is one you should explore. The role can vary quite a bit, as you will hear on this episode with not one, not two, but three BISOs joining Allan Alford to discuss the role and its nuances: where it fits, what is required, how it is best positioned and managed. Allan has been a BISO himself and has managed BISOs as well, so the conversation is rapid and productive. Join Allan along with Ann Hines (BISO @ USAA), James Binford (BISO @ Humana) and Matt Winkeler (BISO @ Equifax) as the explore the BISO role. Sponsor Links: Thank you to our sponsor TrustMAPP for bringing this episode to life! The TrustMAPP solution gets you out of spreadsheets and slide decks and into managing, measuring and reporting on your cybersecurity with an all-in-one solution that combines cybersecurity frameworks, maturity, risk and business objectives and cross-references them to remediation costs. Find out more at https://trustmapp.com

Joining Allan today are two folks who are passionate about leadership – not just practicing good leadership, but instilling good leadership in future generations. Joey Rachid is CISO in the ecommerce and financial services industry, is on advisory boards, has worked for the Big Four, and more importantly is a former US Marine (although all the Marines will tell you there is no such thing as a former Marine!) Scott Moser is SVP and CISO at Sabre Corporation, has also been a CISO for Caesar’s (the gaming and hospitality company), and has held some very interesting military roles of his own. In a joint branches capacity, Scott has been a CIO in Alaska. For the US Air Force, Scott has been a Commander and an IT Director, all over the world. He has also worked for the Joint Staff in Washington, DC as a branch chief. These two gentlemen speak about leadership holistically - how to exhibit excellent leadership yourself, how to train for good leaderships, and how to foster it in others. Sponsor Links: Thank you to our sponsor TrustMAPP for bringing this episode to life! The TrustMAPP solution gets you out of spreadsheets and slide decks and into managing, measuring and reporting on your cybersecurity with an all-in-one solution that combines cybersecurity frameworks, maturity, risk and business objectives and cross-references them to remediation costs. Find out more at https://trustmapp.com