Behind the Shield - A Virtual Guardian Podcast

Behind the Shield February 2025

Expert panelists and host Marco Estrela bring you behind our shield to discuss current cybersecurity topics ripped from the headlines.
In this special episode, the team interviews one of Virtual Guardian's top SOC managers Tommy Koorevaar. Their discussion dives into what a day in the life of a SOC manager entails and common misconceptions about the inner workings of SOC teams. Our panelists also share their hot topics including how the new presidency in the US is affecting the cybersecurity landscape and how AI is increasing the effectiveness of social engineering attacks.
 
Sources:
Topic 1: Bill
Article title: What A New Presidency Means For Global Cybersecurity—And For SMEs
Source: https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbestechcouncil/2025/02/19/what-a-new-presidency-means-for-global-cybersecurity-and-for-smes/
 
Topic 2: Patrick
Article title: AI-Powered Social Engineering: Ancillary Tools and Techniques
Source: https://thehackernews.com/2025/02/ai-powered-social-engineering-ancillary.html

Behind the Shield - January 2025

Happy New Year Behind the Shield listeners! This month we welcome back guest Tom Tovar, CEO and Co-Creator of our sponsor Appdome to reflect on the biggest cybersecurity headlines of 2024 and share predictions for 2025! Our guest is joined by host Marco Estrela and expert panelists Patrick Naoum, Bill Strub, and Jason Williams.

Behind the Shield November 2024

This month we welcome guest Tom Tovar, CEO and Co-Creator of our sponsor Appdome to chat about this month’s biggest cyber headlines with our panelists Marco Estrela, Patrick Naoum, Bill Strub and Jason Williams.
 
To learn more about Appdome's consumer survey on mobile security mentioned in this episode visit: https://www.appdome.com/mobile-consumer-cyber-security-survey-2024/
 
Hot Topics:
 
Topic 1: Jason
Article title: 5 BCDR Oversights That Leave You Exposed to Ransomware
Source: https://thehackernews.com/2024/11/5-bcdr-oversights-that-leave-you-exposed-to-ransomware.html
 
Topic 2: Tom
Article title: FTC Announces Crackdown on Deceptive AI Claims and Schemes
Source: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/09/ftc-announces-crackdown-deceptive-ai-claims-schemes
 
Topic 3: Patrick
Article title: November 2024 Patch Tuesday: Four Critical and Three Zero-Days Among 158 Vulnerabilities Patched
Source: https://www.crowdstrike.com/en-us/blog/patch-tuesday-analysis-november-2024/?srsltid=AfmBOoq9S5iR8ldC-N4ax9j6Unz_18KPZZAuzULZHlnG8iqQt6YiuZAU
 
Topic 4: Bill
Article title: Rethinking Cybersecurity From Cost Center To Value Driver
Source: https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesfinancecouncil/2024/11/18/rethinking-cybersecurity-from-cost-center-to-value-driver/
 
Topic 5: Jason
Article title: New Google Pixel AI feature analyzes phone conversations for scams
Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/google/new-google-pixel-ai-feature-analyzes-phone-conversations-for-scams/
 
Topic 6: Patrick
Article title: Autonomous Discovery of Critical Zero-Days
Source: https://zeropath.com/blog/0day-discoveries

Behind the Shield - October 2024

This month we're joined by Mike Melo, CISO of Ontario’s Life Labs, for a Q&A about his CISO role, what keeps him up at night and the pitfalls of trying to achieve cyber-resilience. If you’re interested in having a sneak peek into the daily life of a CISO, you won’t want to miss this interview.
Hot Topics segment includes: Utilities getting attacked (again!), is quantum computing threatening Bitcoin, vulnerable API headaches and we will see if collaboration is achievable in the face of rising cyberthreats. 
 
Sources:
Topic 1: Jason #1
Article title: Vulnerable APIs and Bot Attacks Costing Businesses Up to $186 Billion Annually
Source: https://thehackernews.com/2024/10/vulnerable-apis-and-bot-attacks-costing.html
Topic 2: Bill #1
Article title: America's largest water utility hit by cyberattack at time of rising threats against U.S. infrastructure
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2024/10/08/american-water-largest-us-water-utility-cyberattack.html
Topic 3: Jason #2
Article title: Chinese researchers crack military-grade encryption: is bitcoin safe?
Source: https://cybernews.com/crypto/quantum-crack-military-grade-encryption-bitcoin-danger/
Topic 4: Bill #2
Article title: Escalating Cyber Threats Demand Stronger Global Defense and Cooperation
Source: https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2024/10/15/escalating-cyber-threats-demand-stronger-global-defense-and-cooperation/

Behind the Shield - Sept 2024

This month we welcome guest and sponsor Lisa Jones-Huff of Elastic to chat about this month’s biggest cyber headlines with our panelists Marco Estrela, Patrick Naoum, Bill Strub and Jason Williams.
Hot Topics: 
Topic 1: Jason
Article title: Microsoft summit plots end of kernel access for EDR security clients
Source: https://www.csoonline.com/article/3523753/microsoft-summit-plots-end-of-kernel-access-for-edr-security-clients.html
 
Topic 2: Patrick
Article title: Mastercard acquires Recorded Future: How will threat intelligence transform the payments industry?
Source: https://www.csoonline.com/article/3518765/mastercard-acquires-recorded-future-how-will-threat-intelligence-transform-the-payments-industry.html
 
Topic 3: Bill
Article title: TfL directs 30,000 employees to verify identities and reset passwords after data breach
Source: https://www.techmonitor.ai/news/:~:text=Transport%20for%20London%20(TfL)%20has%20directed%20all%20employees,measures%20to%20secure%20the%20organisation%E2%80%99s%20systems%20and%20data.
 
Topic 4: Lisa
Article title: N/A – Lisa wants to talk about “all the acquisitions and mergers in the SIEM|Analytics space, will the Platform Story drive more organizations to consider consolidating their spending and move away from purchasing best of breed solutions?”
Source: N/A
Extras: 3000 pagers kill several and injuring thousands in Lebanon; Spotlight from Lisa Jones-Huff on how AI is impacting the way cybersecurity analysts do their jobs

Behind the Shield - August 2024

Back from our summer hiatus, we have a brand new episode of Behind the Shield! This month we’ve brought back one of our favorite special guests, Chris Vincent, to chat about this month’s biggest cyber headlines with our panelists Marco Estrela, Patrick Naoum, Bill Strub and Jason Williams.
Hot Topics: CrowdStrike’s global blue screen of death debacle, splitting the CISO role, Oracle’s NetSuite woes and, the largest password leak of all time?!?

Behind the Shield - June 2024

The Behind the Shield team is back with the latest in cybersecurity! This month is a Hot Topics only show with panelists Patrick Naoum, Bill Strub, Jason Williams and your host Marco Estrela. 
Hot Topics: Fortigates get breached, Do you recall when Recall was recalled?, medical-related ransomware breaking all kinds of records (Recorded Future study), arrests in the Desjardins hack, update on the Snowflake debacle, and another Microsoft flaw causing headaches via WIFI.
 
Sources:
Topic 1: Jason #1
Article title: Medical-Targeted Ransomware Is Breaking Records After Change Healthcare’s $22M Payout
Source: https://www.wired.com/story/change-healthcare-22-million-payment-ransomware-spike/?utm_brand=wired&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_social-type=owned&mbid=social_twitter
 
Topic 2: Patrick #1
Article title: The Snowflake Attack May Be Turning Into One of the Largest Data Breaches Ever
Source: https://www.wired.com/story/snowflake-breach-advanced-auto-parts-lendingtree/
 
Topic 3: Bill #1
Article title: Recall Recalled: Is AI On Windows 11 Already Doomed?
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/barrycollins/2024/06/14/recall-recalled-is-ai-on-windows-11-already-doomed/
 
Topic 4: Jason #2
Article title: Chinese hackers breached 20,000 FortiGate systems worldwide
Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/chinese-hackers-breached-20-000-fortigate-systems-worldwide/
 
Topic 5: Bill #2
Article title: Urgent Windows security flaw lets hackers infect your PC over Wi-Fi — update right now
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/malware-adware/urgent-windows-security-flaw-lets-hackers-infect-your-pc-over-wi-fi-update-right-now
 
Topic 6: Marco #1
Article title: 5 arrested and 3 on the run in Desjardins hack case
Source: https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/2080454/principal-suspect-vol-desjardins-arrete
 
 

Behind the Shield May 2024

Expert panelists and host Marco Estrela bring you behind our shield to discuss current cybersecurity topics ripped from the headlines.
This episode's Hot Topics include: Do bounties for ransomware work? Black Basta, wreaking havoc again! Google accidentally wiping out a huge account and APT28 cybercrime group updates. Stay tuned to the end of this episode for some bonus insights from some of the biggest cyber conferences including RSA 2024, IBM think and, ITSec.
 
Sources:
Topic 1: Patrick #1
Article title: 10M$ Bounty
Source: https://www.clubic.com/actualite-525003-les-etats-unis-mettent-la-tete-de-4-hackers-iraniens-a-prix-avec-a-la-cle-10-millions-de-dollars-de-recompense.html
 
Topic 2: Jason #1
Article title: Black Basta Ransomware Strikes 500+ Entities Across North America, Europe, and Australia
Source: https://thehackernews.com/2024/05/black-basta-ransomware-strikes-500.html
 
Topic 3: Patrick #2
Article title: Google Cloud accidentally deletes UniSuper’s online account due to ‘unprecedented misconfiguration’
Source: https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/may/09/unisuper-google-cloud-issue-account-access
 
Topic 4: Jason #2
Article title: Microsoft Outlook Flaw Exploited by Russia's APT28 to Hack Czech, German Entities
Source: https://thehackernews.com/2024/05/microsoft-outlook-flaw-exploited-by.html

Behind the Shield - April 2024

Behind the Shield host Marco Estrela and panelists Patrick Naoum and Jason Williams are joined by Bruno Germain of this episode's sponsor: Zscaler. 
 
This episode's hot topics include:
Sources:
Topic 1: Jason
Article title: Hackers Deploy Python Backdoor in Palo Alto Zero-Day Attack
Source: https://thehackernews.com/2024/04/hackers-deploy-python-backdoor-in-palo.html
 
Topic 2: Patrick
Article title: Email scam drained $814,000 from Just for Laughs' coffers: report
Source: https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/email-scam-drained-814000-from-just-for-laughs-coffers-report#:~:text=The%20Montreal%20company%20that%20operates,it%20seeks%20to%20avoid%20bankruptcy
 
Topic 3: Jason
Article title: Roku cyberattack impacts 576,000 accounts
Source: https://cybernews.com/news/roku-cyberattack-impacts-576000-accounts/
 
Zscaler spotlight: Bruno (and panelists) discuss the topic: “SDXCentral reports: “SASE is future, ZT is past, but SSE is right now”; The many ways this is wrong!”

Behind the Shield - March 2024

Expert panelists (including our new panelist Jason Williams) and host Marco Estrela bring you behind our shield to discuss current cybersecurity topics ripped from the headlines.
This episode's all Hot Topics format includes: The Volt Typhoon announcement, Cyberattack on US healthcare payment system, SEC Cybersecurity Disclosure coming into effect, Lessons from the Microsoft's Password Spray Hack, and Why Companies Are Bringing Data In-House.
Sources:
Topic 1: Patrick #1
Article title: CISA and GOV Volt Typhoon announcement
Source: https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/2024-03/Fact-Sheet-PRC-State-Sponsored-Cyber-Activity-Actions-for-Critical-Infrastructure-Leaders-508c.pdf
 
Topic 2: Bill #1
Article title: Cyberattack paralyzes largest US healthcare payment system         
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/05/health/cyberattack-healthcare-cash.html
 
Topic 3: Jason #1
Article title: Cybersecurity Disclosure by the SEC coming into effect
Source: https://www.sec.gov/news/statement/gerding-cybersecurity-disclosure-20231214
 
Topic 4: Bill #2
Article title:  Key Lesson from Microsoft's Password Spray Hack: Secure Every Account      
Source: https://thehackernews.com/2024/03/key-lesson-from-microsofts-password.html
 
Topic 5: Jason #2
Article title: The Rise Of Cloud Repatriation: Why Companies Are Bringing Data In-House
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2023/04/18/the-rise-of-cloud-repatriation-why-companies-are-bringing-data-in-house/?sh=3af3d57358f7