Below the Surface

Yonesy Núñez
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Technology

On Below the Surface, six-time CISO Dr. Yonesy Núñez sits down with leading security experts to get past the buzzwords and into the real work of defending an organization. Candid conversations on the threats, tradeoffs, and decisions that shape modern cybersecurity and risk.

Episodes

  1. 4d ago

    Episode 3 - PHP2Shell Special

    On October 20, the PHP security team warned that fixes for two critical vulnerabilities would ship the next day, with no details and no versions. The details leaked within a day. Governments across Europe took websites offline on purpose, and Amazon’s honeypots had already logged an exploitation attempt on October 17, four days before anyone outside the embargo was supposed to know. In this solo episode, Yonesy Núñez walks through what happened with PHP2Shell (CVE-2026-109618 and CVE-2026-109619), why it deserves more attention than the usual patch cycle, and the sequence he’d run this week as a CISO, architect, or operations lead. He also looks at what it means for the job over the next few years, as finding and exploiting bugs like this gets more automated. It closes with a solo lightning round. Advisories and sources PHP security announcement: https://www.php.net/archive/2026.php#2026-10-21-5CVE-2026-109618 (NVD): https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/cve-2026-109618CVE-2026-109619 (NVD): https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/cve-2026-109619CISA advisory, Oct 21: https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/2026/10/21/critical-vulnerabilities-php-require-immediate-patchingCISA adds both CVEs to KEV, Oct 26: https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/alerts/2026/10/26/cisa-adds-two-known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalogNCSC-NL vendor and product status list: https://github.com/NCSC-NL/php2shellAmazon on exploitation four days before the patch: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/amazon-says-php2shell-exploitation-began-4-days-before-patches/Cloudflare on WAF protection: https://blog.cloudflare.com/php-vulnerabilities-waf-protection/NetScaler zero-day and PHP web shells: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hackers-exploit-citrix-netscaler-zero-day-to-deploy-web-shells/

  2. Oct 19

    Episode 2 - Sanjeev Bhasker from K&L Gates

    What happens when cybersecurity, AI, and government policy collide? In this episode of Below the Surface, Yonesy Núñez sits down with Sanjeev Bhasker, Partner at K&L Gates and former Acting General Counsel for the White House’s Office of the National Cyber Director. Drawing on his experience across two presidential administrations, Sanjeev shares an insider’s perspective on AI governance, post-quantum cryptography, regulatory risk, and the evolving responsibilities of security leaders. From preparing for Q-Day to separating real AI innovation from the hype, they explore what CISOs and boards need to be thinking about today to stay ahead of tomorrow’s threats.

  3. Sep 14

    Episode 1 - Pete Chronis from CyberStarts

    Yonesy Núñez sits down with Pete Chronis — Operating Partner at Cyberstarts and a two-decade CISO at Paramount, WarnerMedia, Turner, and EarthLink — on how things change when attacks turn machine-speed and bespoke, hitting one company at a time rather than blasting everyone at once. Pete argues that buying more tools won't help: the real enemy is the status quo, and the CISOs who pull ahead build innovation into the way their people, process, and technology work together. They close on a gap Yonesy sees widening — founders build for the demo, while operators buy what survives the Tuesday afternoon when everything's on fire.

  • 3 Episodes

About

On Below the Surface, six-time CISO Dr. Yonesy Núñez sits down with leading security experts to get past the buzzwords and into the real work of defending an organization. Candid conversations on the threats, tradeoffs, and decisions that shape modern cybersecurity and risk.

Information

  • Creator
    Yonesy Núñez
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    3
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Yonesy Núñez
  • Show Website
    Below the Surface