The Cybersecurity Defenders Podcast

LimaCharlie

An accessible but technical podcast about cybersecurity and the people who keep the internet safe. The podcast is built as a series of segments: we will be looking back at the last couple of weeks in cybersecurity news, talking to different people in the industry about areas of their expertise, we're going to break apart some of the TTPs being used by adversaries, and we will even cover a little bit of hacker history.

  1. 1D AGO

    Does the rise of AI mean human-led SOCs are obsolete? With Dr. Adeel Shaikh Muhammad [#322]

    Dr. Adeel Shaikh Muhammad, a cybersecurity strategist and global speaker with over 16 years of experience across information security, networks, and systems. Adeel brings a practical perspective on how organizations can adapt to evolving cyber threats and the growing role of AI in cybersecurity. Adeel, with an extraordinary portfolio of 40+ industry certifications, including CISSP, CISM, CISA, CCISO, PMP, CEH, ISO 27001 Lead Implementer & Auditor, and a robust suite of advanced Cisco, Microsoft, Fortinet, Barracuda, ITIL, PRINCE2, and AI-related credentials, he is a benchmark of technical mastery and visionary execution. His academic excellence includes a Master’s in Cybersecurity and a current Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) focused on the impact of AI in Security Operations Centers (SOCs) in the Gulf region. Adeel is the author of two acclaimed books—“AI-Driven Transformation of Security Operations Center (SOC)” and “AI and Us: The Ethical Choices”—bridging the critical intersection of AI innovation and ethical leadership. Support our show by sharing your favorite episodes with a friend, subscribe, give us a rating or leave a comment on your podcast platform. This podcast is brought to you by LimaCharlie, maker of the SecOps Cloud Platform, infrastructure for SecOps where everything is built API first. Scale with confidence as your business grows. Start today for free at limacharlie.io

    25 min
  2. AI: The Hero's Journey with Ken Westin from LimaCharlie / Defender Fridays [#320]

    6D AGO

    AI: The Hero's Journey with Ken Westin from LimaCharlie / Defender Fridays [#320]

    In this episode, Ken Westin maps AI adoption onto the hero's journey framework, drawing on two decades of security experience to explore how practitioners can move past early resistance, build real fluency with AI tools, and find a working model where humans and AI operate together. Key Topics: Why early AI tools left security teams skeptical and what has genuinely changed since thenHow Ken used AI to accelerate detection engineering without sacrificing analyst oversightWhy AI is best understood as an eager, overconfident intern that still needs supervisionThe importance of hands-on experimentation over passive observation when learning AIHow collaboration and shared prompting practices are shaping how practitioners learnWhy security analysts who engage with AI now will not be left behind as the field evolvesThe case for AI as a tool of empowerment, not replacementAt Defender Fridays, we delve into the dynamic world of information security, exploring its defensive side with seasoned professionals from across the industry. Our aim is simple yet ambitious: to foster a collaborative space where ideas flow freely, experiences are shared, and knowledge expands. About Our Guest Ken Westin is a Senior Solutions Engineer at LimaCharlie with nearly two decades in the cybersecurity industry. A former startup founder who built tools to track criminal activity, Ken has worked across SIEM, EDR, and detection engineering throughout his career. He also teaches at the college level, where AI and cybersecurity are increasingly intertwined disciplines. Register for Live Sessions Join us every Friday at 10:30am PT for live, interactive discussions with industry experts. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just curious about the field, these sessions offer an engaging dialogue between our guests, hosts, and you, our audience. Register here: https://limacharlie.io/defender-fridays Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the notification bell to never miss a live session or catch up on past episodes on our website! Sponsored by LimaCharlie This episode is brought to you by LimaCharlie, the Agentic SecOps Workspace (ASW), where AI agents operate security infrastructure using the same controls and authority as human analysts, with every action visible, governed, and auditable. Why LimaCharlie? Eliminate vendor sprawl and tool complexityDeploy and scale effortlessly on native multi-tenant architectureReduce costs with intelligent data routing and free 1-year retentionBuild custom solutions with 100+ security capabilities on-demandAccelerate response with agentic AI that acts directly within predefined workflowsTry the Agentic SecOps Workspace free: https://limacharlie.io Learn more: https://docs.limacharlie.io Follow LimaCharlie Sign up for free: https://limacharlie.io LinkedIn: / limacharlieio X: https://x.com/limacharlieio Community Discourse: https://community.limacharlie.com/ Host: Maxime Lamothe-Brassard - Founder at LimaCharlie Guest: Ken Westin - Senior Solutions Engineer at LimaCharlie

    32 min
  3. How AI adoption in enterprise infrastructure has expanded the attack surface with Katherine McNamara from Cisco / Defender Fridays [#318]

    MAY 4

    How AI adoption in enterprise infrastructure has expanded the attack surface with Katherine McNamara from Cisco / Defender Fridays [#318]

    Today on Defender Fridays, Katherine McNamara, Cybersecurity Technical Solutions Architect at Cisco, joins us to discuss how AI and ML adoption in enterprise infrastructure has expanded the attack surface for AI-driven systems. She'll walk through the security challenges unique to generative AI and ML-based architectures, and cover the four critical components: Model, Data, Application, and System, that organizations need to secure to maintain integrity. Katherine works for Cisco as a Cybersecurity Systems Engineer by day and by night, she's labbing and trying new things with the resources she has available. Katherine loves technology and getting her hands into the CLI or trying something new. She holds a Bachelors of Science and Masters of Information Security and Assurance from Western Governors University as well as several industry certifications. Register for Live Sessions Join us every Friday at 10:30am PT for live, interactive discussions with industry experts. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just curious about the field, these sessions offer an engaging dialogue between our guests, hosts, and you – our audience. Register here: https://limacharlie.io/defender-fridays Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the notification bell to never miss a live session or catch up on past episodes! Sponsored by LimaCharlie This episode is brought to you by LimaCharlie, a cloud-native SecOps platform where AI agents operate security infrastructure directly. Founded in 2018, LimaCharlie provides complete API coverage across detection, response, automation, and telemetry, with multi-tenant architecture designed for MSSPs and MDR providers managing thousands of unique client environments. Why LimaCharlie? Transparency: Complete visibility into every action and decision. No black boxes, no vendor lock-in.Scalability: Security operations that scale like infrastructure, not like procurement cycles. Move at cloud speed.Unopinionated Design: Integrate the tools you need, not just those contracts allow. Build security on your terms.Agentic SecOps Workspace (ASW): AI agents that operate alongside your team with observable, auditable actions through the same APIs human analysts use.Security Primitives: Composable building blocks that endure as tools come and go. Build once, evolve continuously.Try the Agentic SecOps Workspace free: https://limacharlie.io Learn more: https://docs.limacharlie.io/ Follow LimaCharlie Sign up for free: https://limacharlie.io/ LinkedIn: / limacharlieio X: https://x.com/limacharlieio Community Discourse: https://community.limacharlie.com/ Host: Maxime Lamothe-Brassard - CEO / Co-founder at LimaCharlie

    36 min
  4. Millions in crypto stolen, Vercel breach, Mastodon DDoS attack, North Korean IT workers at 100s of U.S. companies & ransomware negotiator pleads guilty / Intel Chat [#316]

    APR 27

    Millions in crypto stolen, Vercel breach, Mastodon DDoS attack, North Korean IT workers at 100s of U.S. companies & ransomware negotiator pleads guilty / Intel Chat [#316]

    In this episode of The Cybersecurity Defenders Podcast, we discuss some intel being shared in the LimaCharlie community. North Korea-linked hackers are believed to be responsible for a $290 million cryptocurrency theft targeting the Kelp DAO decentralized finance protocol.Vercel, the company behind the popular Next.js web framework and a frontend cloud platform for deploying and hosting web applications, has confirmed that it suffered a security breach involving unauthorized access to internal systems.The decentralized social media platform Mastodon experienced a major distributed denial-of-service attack that caused a significant outage on its flagship server, Mastodon.social.Two U.S. nationals have been sentenced for helping North Korean remote IT workers fraudulently obtain jobs at more than 100 U.S. companies using stolen American identities.A former ransomware negotiator has pleaded guilty to conspiring with the BlackCat/ALPHV ransomware group to conduct attacks against U.S. organizations in 2023.Support our show by sharing your favorite episodes with a friend, subscribe, give us a rating or leave a comment on your podcast platform. This podcast is brought to you by LimaCharlie, maker of the SecOps Cloud Platform, infrastructure for SecOps where everything is built API first. Scale with confidence as your business grows. Start today for free at limacharlie.io.

    32 min
  5. Real examples of AI-powered code scanning with Jeff McJunkin from Rogue Valley Information Security / Defender Fridays [#315]

    APR 27

    Real examples of AI-powered code scanning with Jeff McJunkin from Rogue Valley Information Security / Defender Fridays [#315]

    Jeff McJunkin, Founder of Rogue Valley Information Security, joins Defender Fridays to talk AI-powered code scanning for vulnerabilities. Jeff walks through real examples including using AI to find privilege escalation bugs in the Linux kernel. Jeff McJunkin is the founder of Rogue Valley Information Security, a consulting firm specializing in penetration testing and red team engagements. Jeff found the offensive side of cyber security very alluring during one the first penetration tests of his career. Feeling the challenge of host defenses like AV and centralized logging, and, at the time, knowing nothing about AV evasion or avoiding events that are likely to cause alerts, it was all very exciting. The challenge of successfully accomplishing the goal of that pen test, using essentially only native tools, was addictive for Jeff. He was hooked. Since those first penetration tests, Jeff has gone on to become an expert in the field, doing assessments for Fortune 100 companies, architecting two major versions of Core NetWars Experience, and contributing a vast amount of material to SANS Penetration Testing. Register for Live Sessions Join us every Friday at 10:30am PT for live, interactive discussions with industry experts. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just curious about the field, these sessions offer an engaging dialogue between our guests, hosts, and you – our audience. Register here: https://limacharlie.io/defender-fridays Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the notification bell to never miss a live session or catch up on past episodes! Sponsored by LimaCharlie This episode is brought to you by LimaCharlie, a cloud-native SecOps platform where AI agents operate security infrastructure directly. Founded in 2018, LimaCharlie provides complete API coverage across detection, response, automation, and telemetry, with multi-tenant architecture designed for MSSPs and MDR providers managing thousands of unique client environments. Why LimaCharlie? Transparency: Complete visibility into every action and decision. No black boxes, no vendor lock-in.Scalability: Security operations that scale like infrastructure, not like procurement cycles. Move at cloud speed.Unopinionated Design: Integrate the tools you need, not just those contracts allow. Build security on your terms.Agentic SecOps Workspace (ASW): AI agents that operate alongside your team with observable, auditable actions through the same APIs human analysts use.Security Primitives: Composable building blocks that endure as tools come and go. Build once, evolve continuously.Try the Agentic SecOps Workspace free: https://limacharlie.io Learn more: https://docs.limacharlie.io/ Follow LimaCharlie Sign up for free: https://limacharlie.io/ LinkedIn: / limacharlieio X: https://x.com/limacharlieio Community Discourse: https://community.limacharlie.com/ Host: Maxime Lamothe-Brassard - CEO / Co-founder at LimaCharlie

    33 min
5
out of 5
25 Ratings

About

An accessible but technical podcast about cybersecurity and the people who keep the internet safe. The podcast is built as a series of segments: we will be looking back at the last couple of weeks in cybersecurity news, talking to different people in the industry about areas of their expertise, we're going to break apart some of the TTPs being used by adversaries, and we will even cover a little bit of hacker history.

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