Crucial Tech

Lou Covey
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Unraveling the technology that affects us all but that few of us understand, in a format to give you a basic understanding in the time it takes to drive to and from the grocery store.

  1. 12/10/2025

    Episode 11.16 - California Press Foundation: Saving journalism with tech

    Last week I attended the most honest tech conference I can remember. The ironic thing was that it wasn’t a tech conference at all. If was the California Press Foundation (CPF) annual conference. The CPF traces its history back to 1878 when it was formed originally as the California Press Association to represent the journalism industry in the state. It morphed and partnered with different journalism groups over its existence, and today it operates independently as a statewide nonprofit supporting the next generation of journalists. At its core, it works to keep the shrinking industry alive. Journalism is crucial to the survival of democracies worldwide, and this organization is doing yeoman's work in pushing it into the 21st century.

    14 min

  2. 12/02/2025

    Episode 11.15 - How to make proper predictions

    Every year at this time I start getting pitches from PR folks offering client's predictions for the coming year. Lots of publications put out their annual predictions articles in December with their own, plus a few selected from these pitches. At Cyber Protection Magazine we do it a bit different. Our predictions don't come out until January so we can give equal review to the stuff that comes in after Christmas. So you're welcome. But in this podcast with Ian Thornton-Trump, CISO of Inversion6, we start the process early. We not only give out a few predictions but we also talk about what makes a good prediction. Hint: It doesn't start with "In 2026 we will see a continuation of..." Anything that says everything will go on as it is is not a prediction worth reading. This is a longer than normal podcast, but when Ian and I get wound up, it's hard to stop.

    46 min

  3. 11/25/2025

    Episode 11.14 - Cheap marketing gets poor results

    The technology industries run penurious marketing programs. Most spend half as much of their budgets as most of the S&P, and then complain that customers don't respond. They also blame the marketing and PR folks for the bad results of their cut-rate budgets. It doesn't have to be that way. We sat down with Beth Trier of Trier Company, a successful and well-considered agency in San Francisco, and talked about how inadequate budgets and, frankly, C-suite ignorance is damaging the process of communications. While most people may not think this is important, the lack of customer education is at the core of most technology failures, and that's because of poor marketing.

    28 min

  4. 11/20/2025

    Episode 11.13: Prediction failures, dysinformation, and affordable marketing

    Joe Basques and I were having a conversation about the state of the tech world and decided to hit the record button. There was a lot of ground covered in 20+ minutes. First off, it's that time of year when publications do stories about what can be expected in the next year, which means journalists get swamped with pitches from companies about their executives' predictions. Most of them aren't worth considering but I will still respond. We talk about what we are looking for at the magazine. Next, dysinformation. You may wonder what that is. That's what I call the subject that includes disinformation and misinformation. We will do a special issue on the subject in December, so if you have something to say, now's the time to get it in. Finally, we often hear from companies that they can't afford to do marketing. In truth, it can be expensive, that's why Cyber Protection Magazine will launch a new affordable sponsorship program for 2026. You will be surprised at how affordable it really is.

    24 min

  5. 11/12/2025

    Episode 11.12 - The will to market is weak in cyber training niche

    The genesis of this podcast was a convoluted pitch that was three steps removed from the client. A marketing company working for the client hired a PR agency to distribute a press release, who then farmed out the pitching to a freelancer. I tried to get some clarity on the pitch from the freelancer and it became apparent that she had never talked with the client. Luckily, I had already met with the CEO of the client company a couple of times so I bypassed the rep and went directly to the source. She explained she had never heard of the rep or the agency she seemed to work for. All of this culminated in a story about how the cyber training industry, AKA human risk management, was trying to change and expand the scope of training so it would actually work... and how they are working against themselves.

    22 min

  6. 10/30/2025

    Episode 11.11 - The problem with proxies

    Proxies are the largely hidden lubricant of the internet. They both protect us and make us vulnerable. The AWS and Microsoft Azure outages in the past few weeks were examples of what happens when proxies are correctly maintained. But as they protect our privacy they also protect the identities of bad actors luring us with their own malware. We talked with Sarah Ralston, CPO of Proxyware about how they are turning the tables on the bad guys.

    21 min

  7. 10/22/2025

    Episode 11.10 : Bolaji Ojo explains why companies should support journalism

    The journalism industry is in trouble and has been for most of the 21st century. But the advent of AI generated content has made professional journalists absolutely crucial not just to democracies but to business success. One of the most prolific and successful technology journalists is Bolaji Ojo. He has headed editorial efforts for the EETimes, AspenCore Media, the recently closed Ojo-Yoshida Report and the now-defunct EBN. Some of those titles may be foreign to people in the cybersecurity world, but not to executives in the electronics world that cybersecurity rests upon. This brief conversation is packed with information that most people don’t think about including how technology impacts all industries, expanding scope of coverage. Traditional ad revenue has shifted to platforms like Google and Met allowing companiesto reach customers directly, but this now creates credibility challenges for companies. AI-generated content is causing markets to distrust marketing message more than ever before. That has established the need for experienced journalists to provide context, analysis, and trusted perspectives. Ojo describes how his new ventures are getting financial support from companies like Microchip, NXP, Infineon, Siemens, ST Microelectronics not to drive sales but to establish credibility. The challenge is justifying sponsorship to CFOs/boards vs. SEO. The value proposition of tech journalism, he said, is providing context and "what it means and offering trusted, independent analysis and future insights. This episode may be the most important we’ve had this year. It provides a roadmap to effective marketing for cybersecurity companies in the near future.

    27 min

  8. 10/07/2025

    Episode 11.9 - Can AI survive? (Part Two)

    Our expanded coverage of the viability of the AI industry, and how it could affect the cybersecurity industry, continues with this episode. We've blown out our time limit of 30 minutes because we are talking with three entrepreneurs with less dependence on AI as a product feature. We talk with Tony Garcia, CISO of Infineo; Luigi Caramico, CEO of the innovative encryption company DataKrypto; and Chris Schueler, CEO of Cyderes, an automated MSSP. TL;DL they are all sanguine about the success or failure of AI. Full story can be found at CPM

    51 min
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About

Unraveling the technology that affects us all but that few of us understand, in a format to give you a basic understanding in the time it takes to drive to and from the grocery store.

Information

  • Creator
    Lou Covey
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2025
  • Episodes
    247
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Lou Covey
  • Show Website
    Crucial Tech