The Cyber Ranch Podcast

There Is No Such Thing As Security with Nathan Case

Howdy, y’all, and welcome to The Cyber Ranch Podcast!  Our guest is Nathan Case, who is a previous guest from a multi-guest show.  Nate has been a CISO, CTO, Strategist, consultant, CEO, and all kinds of other things.  His career is as colorful and varied as Allan's – maybe even more so.  Nat's chosen topic is “There is no such thing as security!”  So without further ado, let’s dive in!
What do you mean when you say “There is no such thing as security!”?
Nate outlines declares it as way to judge risk
If security is a way to judge risk, then what about the judging? There are metrics there, and some kind of end state, yes?
So you’re saying our feelings about managing the unmanageable is really where the sense of security comes from? That ‘security’ = ‘feelings about risk management results’?
How do I know what I don’t know? How does that relate to this definition of security?
Let’s get concrete – What changes are needed for tools and tech to get past this false sense of security?
If security is a description of a thing, or a specific action, where does this leave us?

21 Questions LIVE! at RSAC 2024 - 3 of 3

In this show, Allan interviews seven guests and asks them questions from a list of 21:
Omkhar Arasaratnam“How do we leverage LLMs for our own use in cybersecurity?”"How do you challenge your own precepts and assumptions to stay current in your role?"
Ofer Klein“How do you describe what you do in cybersecurity to someone at a cocktail party who knows nothing about cyber?""How do you explain to the business the value you bring and the risks you solve?"
Rick Doten"What message do you have for your fellow CISOs?""In this cybersecurity community there is hostility between vendors and practitioners.  What is your best moment with a vendor?"
Sahil Agarwal“How do you measure and articulate the risk that AI represents to the business?""Governance, Risk Management and Compliance - Where should the priority be?"
Roger Brotz"What would you like your fellows CISOs to know?""What are we still getting wrong in cybersecurity?"
Tyson Martin"How do we take on more accountability as business leaders?""How do we overcome our defaults, precepts and assumptions?  How do you get past your own biases and blind spots?"
Sponsored by our good friends at Semperis.
It's a great series of a guests, and a great series of answers.  Y'all be good now!

21 Questions LIVE! at RSAC 2024 - 2 of 3

In this show, Allan interviews seven guests and asks them questions from a list of 21:
 
Chris "Cpat" Patteson
“Why do so many CISOs think cybersecurity insurance is snake oil?”
 
Johann Balaguer
“People, process, technology - Which is the most important and why?”
"What do you want your fellow community of CISOs to know?"
 
Lee Krause
“What are we still doing wrong in cybersecurity?"
 
Ken Foster
“What are we still doing wrong in cybersecurity?"
"How do we articulate risk to the business?"
 
Marty Momdjian
"Walk me through how to solvie the nightmare of repeat incidents?"
 
Michael Calderin
“IA&M: Who should own it, and why?  CIO?  CISO?”
"What is the definition of progress in cybersecurity?  Is there an end state?"
 
Mike Britton
"People, Process, Technology: Which is the most important?"
"I&AM: Who should own it?  CISO or CIO?"
"What's your favorite part of the RSA conference?"
 
Sponsored by our good friends at Semperis.
 
It's a great series of a guests, and a great series of answers.  Y'all be good now!

21 Questions LIVE! at RSAC 2024 - 1 of 3

In this show, Allan interviews nine guests and asks them questions from a list of 21:
 
Dr. Deanna Caputo
“How do you measure and articulate risk to the business?”
“People, process or technology?”
 
Carlos Guerrero
“How do we foster community in cybersecurity?”
 
Elliott Franklin
“Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance – Which of the three is most important?”
“What does progress look like in cybersecurity?”
 
Corey Bodzin
“With regards to AI & LLM, what is the impact to infrastructure?”
 
Evgeniy Kharam
“How integral is Identity & Access Management to the cybersecurity mission?”
“How well is traditional DLP technology meeting its mission and what else can we do?”
 
Gary Hayslip
“What does RSA mean to you?”
 
Kelly Shortridge
“What does progress mean to you in cybersecurity?”
“What is the end goal of cybersecurity?”
 
George Kamide & George Al-Koura
“What are you getting out of RSA?”
 
Kevin Jackson
“What are we doing wrong in cybersecurity?”
 
Sponsored by our good friends at Semperis.
 
It's a great series of a guests, and a great series of answers.  Y'all be good now!

The Positives of Cybersecurity LIVE! at CISO XC with Dani Woolf and Guests

Howdy, y’all, and welcome to The Cyber Ranch Podcast… AND The Audience 1st Podcast!  What you are about to hear was recorded LIVE! at the CISO XC conference in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas (my very favorite conference!)  I am your host, Allan Alford, CEO of Alford & Adams Consulting.  I have co-host on this episode, Dani Woolf, of the Audience 1st podcast!    On her show, Dani interviews security buyers so vendors can more efficiently market and sell to them without ruffling their feathers (or piss them off).  What we’re doing on this joint endeavor is interviewing various CISOs and other folks about their roles in cyber.  This week’s show focuses on the pros of cybersecurity – we covered the negatives last week, and this week we cover the positives.  My listeners should know by now that I like to end on a positive note…
 
WARNING: Some naughty language

The Negatives of Cybersecurity LIVE! at CISO XC with Dani Woolf and Guests

Howdy, y’all, and welcome to The Cyber Ranch Podcast… AND The Audience 1st Podcast!  What you are about to hear was recorded LIVE! at the CISO XC conference in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas (my very favorite conference!)  I am your host, Allan Alford, CEO of Alford & Adams Consulting.  I have co-host on this episode, Dani Woolf, of the Audience 1st podcast!  On her show, Dani interviews security buyers so vendors can more efficiently market and sell to them without ruffling their feathers (or piss them off).  What we’re doing on this joint endeavor is interviewing various CISOs and other folks about their roles in cyber.  This week’s show focuses on the cons of cybersecurity – the beefs, gripes, grumps, complaints and fears about cybersecurity.  Next week we’ll end on a positive note, but this show as an opportunity for CISOs to scream into the void.  Without further ado, here we go…
 
WARNING:  Some naughty language this episode.

When It's Good To Deprioritize Security with Drew Simonis

Howdy, y’all, and welcome to The Cyber Ranch Podcast!  That’s Drew Simonis, CISO @ Juniper Networks, former CSO @ Hewlett Packard Enterprise, former CISO at Willis – you get the idea.  Drew’s posts on LinkedIn are pure fire – not in the hot takes way, but because of the quality of the thinking behind them.  Drew has also been on the show a couple of times now, and we keep inviting him back because he’s always worth hearing from.  Drew and Allan were chatting this afternoon about the idea that oftentimes cybersecurity does not matter – and that that’s okay!  So we decided to record a show on that topic.
 
Drew and Allan share some real-world stories where they put security on hold for the benefit of the business:
VP of R&D had been told he had to get a new product off the ground that was only quasi-planned for. He had properly allocated headcount, but realized his cloud costs were going to rise dramatically.  At the time Allan had a big security initiative he was pushing for out-of-bandwidth.  They met and talked.  His out-of-bandwidth need was stronger than Allan's in terms of benefits to the business.  Allan backed him AND also made sure that his extra cloud spend included a few more security features in AWS.  Win-win.  Drew has a similar tale.
Flat-out, Top line was declining and we could not figure out specifically why. New competitor explained some of it, but not all of it.  Market fatigue?  But that was not all of it.  CRO wanted more sales folks to throw at the problem.  CISO backed him and agave away project budget to support him.
Company had a mismanaged an expansion. Building was paid for, but nobody had thought about the IT costs and headcount.  CIO was trying to figure out where to get bodies to populate the new site.  Allan gave up 2 headcount for 2 more quarters.
Startup: CISO took on Marketing department temporarily when head of Marketing left. Slowed down the security focus, but Marketing needed some hands-on attention beyond what the CEO could give.  It paid off for the business.
CISO Joined forces with head of Pro Services to push through a security initiative that benefited key customers for him (contracts he could now secure), but also gave me some more generalized security comfort.
Spent huge amount of what could have been security operations time training sales teams on security as differentiator in the market. Benefited top line.
Drew and Allan share many more stories and break down why in each of these cases, deprioritizing daily security operations was the right thing to do!
Y'all be good now!

Driving Business Growth with Ankur Ahuja

Howdy, y’all, and welcome to The Cyber Ranch Podcast!  Our guest today is Ankur Ahuja, 2x CISO, Ted-X Speaker, Startup Investor, Board Advisor, etc. etc.  Ankur is currently SVP and CISO at Billtrust, and he’s got some Big 4 in his DNA too (ten years, in fact!).  Ankur wanted to chat about how CISOs can drive business growth, so I asked him to come on down to the ‘Ranch and have a chat with me.
 
It's more than attending sales calls.
It's more than security questionnaires
 
Listen for some clever new tips on driving business growth!
 

Properly Prioritizing Cybersecurity with Melanie Ensign

Melanie Ensign is a communications strategist and corporate anthropologist for cybersecurity, privacy, and risk organizations.  She is founder and CEO of Discernible, a multi-disciplinary Center of Excellence for security, privacy, & risk teams. Her team includes experts in communications, product development and management, compliance, security and privacy engineering, and behavioral science.
Melanie is here at the 'Ranch to talk specifically about the fact that so many CISOs feel they are in organizations that simply don’t care about cybersecurity.  She’s got some good insights into this one, and it’s the perfect topic for her expertise.
Allan asks Melanie:
Allan put up a LinkedIn poll asking folks “Do you feel organizations properly prioritize cybersecurity?” The results were pretty sobering.  What are your thoughts?
Is the problem really the organization or is it us? Probably a mix of the two, or maybe one or the other depending upon the environment and the individual CISO?
Assuming it’s the organization, how can a CISO avoid such organizations in the first place? How do you vet a company for its commitment to cybersecurity?
If you find yourself in a company that does not seem to care about cybersecurity, what should be your next steps?
Allan has emphasized over the years that all CISOs are salespeople times two. We sell the problem, then we sell the solution.  Is that a fair perspective in your mind?  How many other leaders have to sell their mission in general?  I think we all end up selling specifics…
What communication skills can improve the situation for CISOs?

Selling The Mission

In this episode, Allan tackles the idea of selling the CISO mission.
He deconstructs the types of CISOs and the "selling" they must do.  Sometimes you really are selling, but most of the time you should be solving business problems.
Allan speaks to:
Business objectives met
Business risks reduced
Maturity
And also deconstructs the art of selling itself.
Hint: Business Impact Analysis is a valuable tool in this whole process.
Special thanks to Helen Patton and Melanie Ensign for prompting this exploration.
Y'all be good now!

SecDataOps with Jonathan Rau

Our guest this week is Jonathan Rau, VP and Distinguished Engineer over at Query, and a proponent of what he calls "SecDataOps".  Jonathan is quite active on LinkedIn and his takes, though often spicy, tend to be spot-on.  Allan has come to enjoy following Jonathan's posts, and he was excited to have Jonathan come on the show and share his insights.
Allan asks Jonathan, in a VERY lively conversation:
What is SecDataOps?
What is its focal point?
Who should be in charge?
What skills are required to participate?
Who has those skills?
What about the trifecta of people/process/technology?
What is wrong in the community with our approach?
Y'all be good now!

Neurodiversity and Women in Cyber with 3 Guests

This is part two in our neurodiversity series.  Our guest roster this time also includes Dr. Ursula Alford, a psychologist who routinely works with the neurodiverse populace.
The lineup of guests covers ADHD, Autism, challenges unique to women with neurodiversity, how leaders should manage neurodivergent team members and more.
Y'all be good now!

CISO Communications with Geoff Hancock

Geoff Hancock is Deputy CEO and CISO for Access Point Consulting, Former Global Director and CISO over at World Wide Technology.  He’s also a Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor at George Washington University and has held various C-suite and executive roles at Verizon, CGI Federal Advanced Technology, Microsoft, and Advanced Cybersecurity Group.  He is back at the 'Ranch this week to talk about CISO Communications.
Allan asks Geoff:
You say the first step is prioritizing clarity in communication. What does that mean to you?
Your next step is developing strategic storytelling. Can you elaborate on that one?
How do we enhance crisis communication?
How do we engage stakeholders proactively?
What about data? How do we leverage it in decision making?
How does one bolster their leadership presence?
How do you implement a feedback loop?
What practical tools and strategies can be utilized for effective communication?
It's a fantastic show full of great insights, and you will thoroughly enjoy listening to it.
Y'all be good now!

What Does Zero Trust Mean to You? with 12 Guests

Join Allan LIVE! at Zero Trust World in Orlando as he asks 12 guests "What does Zero Trust Mean to You?" and a wide variety of other questions.
Conference highlights are discussed as well, including hacker activities, hacker demonstrations, incredible talks, etc.
Allan also learns all about The Tech Degenerates, and organization furthering partnership and comradery amongst cybersecurity vendors, MSPs, MSSPs, CISOs, etc. (Allan has since joined their Discord group!)
Another great highlight is a chat with Carlos Rodriguez about the vCISO life.
This show is sponsored by our good friends at ThreatLocker - visit https://threatlocker.com and tell them you heard about them down here at the 'Ranch!
Y'all be good now!

The 4 Horsemen & Zero Trust with Dr. Chase Cunningham

How does cybersecurity relate to the four horsemen of the apocalypse?  Famine, Pestilence, War, and Death?  In this episode, Dr. Chase Cunningham, renowned Zero Trust expert, author, instructor, Chief Strategy Officer, advisor, etc., examines the 4 conditions on our planet represented by the four horsemen, ties it all to cybersecurity, and then solves it all with Zero Trust.  It's quite a ride and an adventure you should listen to!
Allan tries to keep up in this episode that jumps from topic to topic, but all with a zero trust underpinning.
It's another LIVE! episode recorded at Zero Trust World 2024 in Orlando.
Sponsored by our good friends at ThreatLocker.
Y'all be good now!

Incident Response Done Right with James Keeler

Howdy, y'all!  Allan went down to Orlando, Florida and recorded three LIVE! shows at Zero Trust World, a conference sponsored by ThreatLocker.  This is the first of those three shows.
 
James Keeler of LMT Technology Solutions has a steady hand on the incident response wheel and a lot of experience under his belt as well.  After seeing James speak on a panel at Zero Trust World, Allan asked him to be on the show.
 
Join Allan as he asks James to walk us through his philosophy of incident response, the underpinnings, the steps and just about everything else about Incident Response as well.
 
This show is sponsored by our good friends at ThreatLocker - visit https://threatlocker.com and tell them you heard about them down here at the 'Ranch!
 

Neurodiversity in Cybersecurity with 3 Guests!

This week Allan is joined by Leigh Honeywell (CEO of Tall Poppy) Nathan Case (Federal CISO at Snyk), and Ryan Macababbad (Currently looking.  HIRE HER!), three cybersecurity professionals with broad backgrounds in cyber, and all three of whom are neurodivergent.
 
Allan in fact, has been recently diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum, albeit 'high functioning' (as the diagnosis indicates) or 'low support needed' (as the autism community prefers to call it).
 
With his recent diagnosis, Allan decided to reach out to friends in the neurodiverse community to discuss:
The positives of neurodivergence
Neurotypical responses and stereotypes about the ND community
Cybersecurity-specific benefits to being ND
Tips/Advice/Support for those who suspect or know that that they are ND
 

Below-the-OS Security with Yuriy Bulygin

Fun fact:  There are more vulnerabilities and exploits below the OS layer than above it!
CPUs, BIOS, Firmware, embedded Linux, FPGAs, UEFI, PXE...  The list goes on an on.  What are we supposed to do about that?
Allan asked Yuriy to come down to the 'Ranch to discuss this issue with him.  Yuriy is CEO at Eclypsium, member of the Forbes Technology Counsel, Founder of the open source CHIPSEC project, former head of Threat Research at McAfee, form Senior Principle Engineer at Intel…  He is uniquely qualified to discuss these issues.
Full DISCLAIMER: Allan is CISO at Eclypsium.  Note that he asked Yuriy to come on the show, not the other way around.  Nobody knows this space like Yuriy and his team.
Allan asks Yuriy about:
The history of CPU exploits
Unauthorized code in chips in network gear
The various hacks available at this layer
The role of SBOM in all this
The open source CHIPSEC project
It's an eye-opening show to say the least.
Y'all be good now!

Ownership of Risk and Accountability

In this episode, Allan flies solo, as he is finally willing to speak on an issue he has been mulling and fussing over for some time:  the two-fold CISO laments of:
"We have all the accountability and none of the authority!"
"We don't own the risk - we advise the business"
Allan is refuting both of these claims.
Allan calls up examples such as project managers, contract lawyers, CFOs in his argument.
He also demonstrates that we have far more authority than we think, and also that we can earn even more.
As to advising the business, and the business owning the risk, we have here two contradictions to one of the show's mantras: "BE the business!"
You will hopefully come away from this show with some different perspectives on these two claims.
Y'all be good now! 

Get That Seat at the Table! with Jim McConnell

We declared a while back that 'not having a seat at the table' was a tired CISO topic.  So we decided to solution the complaint.
Hopefully we pulled it off.
Join Allan and Jim McConnell, Principal at Ask McConnell, LLC and former Fellow in Corporate Security Protection Operations at Verizon, as they take on the challenge of solving this common lament.
There is a fierce round of "answer pong" as they throw out suggestions on how to earn that seat, but they also cover:
What does it mean to have a seat at the table?
Ownership vs. advising
Bridging the chasm between the two
Supplier/Vendor to the business - is that a good model?
BE the business (yes, that always comes up!)
How to become a business expert
And of course, the aforementioned game of Answer Pong as to how to earn that seat.
Y'all enjoy the show, and y'all be good now!

Getting a NACD Directorship Certification with Pat Benoit

Pat Benoit, CISO at Brinks, returns to the 'Ranch to visit Allan and to chat about his newest achievement - Pat got a NACD Directorship Certification!
Allan has often thought about doing this as well, so he got Pat on the mic to talk about his whole experience:
Why did you do it?
How hard was it?
What was involved?
What do you hope to get out of it?
Did you farm around for alternatives?
Is there more you plan to do?
As topics for shows go, this one is short and sweet.  But Pat, as always, spins a very human tale that will keep you engaged.
Y'all be good now!

Integrating with the Business with Ayman Elsawah

Howdy, y’all, and welcome to The Cyber Ranch Podcast!  Our guest is Ayman Elsawah, who, like Allan these days, is a fractional CISO and founder of his own security company.  He has done the fractional CISO thing many times.  He has also been a professor, a security consultant, and a cloud-specific security consultant.  His tenure includes eBay, NCC Group, Justworks and Masterclass.  Ayman and Allan are talking about how cybersecurity teams can integrate themselves with the rest of the business.
So we talk about the role of the CISO in business enablement all the time. Allan argues, based on the wise words of Scott McCool, a friend and mentor, that we are not here to enable the business.  Rather we are here to BE the business.  The distinction is that enablement still puts the CISO off to the side of the goings on.  Being the business means that the CISO is part of the process, in there with sleeves rolled up alongside CRO, CMO, CFO, CEO, COO, etc.  So let’s ask the question twice:
In a B2B context, what are three things a CISO can do to enable the business?
In a B2B context what are three things a CISO can do to BE the business?
Presumably one of these involves being part of the sales cycle?
Let’s drill in on the company’s products/services. Not talking about sales, but rather the products and services themselves, how can we as security practitioners be an integral part of products and/or services?  What are three ways we can be the business there?
What about the relationships? How do we strengthen being the business with regards to relationships with our peers?
What about customer-facing activities beyond sales? How do we be the business with regards to our customers?
Challenge round, what about B2C? Melanie Ensign in a panel she was part of said that one way Cybersecurity can help B2C is by reducing support tickets.  This is pure genius.  Any other B2C tips?
You have your own podcast, and a newsletter, book…. Tell our listeners all about what you offer the cybersecurity world...
Y'all be good now!

Leadership Conflicts with Tom LeDuc

This one was recorded LIVE! in Podcast Alley at the CyberMarketingCon 2023 put on by the Cybersecurity Marketing Society in Austin, Texas.
 
Marketing!?!!?  Say what!?!?
 
Yup!  Allan went down to Austin to catch up with industry players and to participate in the conference as a "creator", i.e., podcaster.
While there Allan ran into his friend Tom LeDuc, CMO at Semperis, and he got Tom to hop on the mic with him to discuss leadership challenges such as conflict, territorialism, jurisdictional disputes, startup mindset vs. bigger mindset...  The two of them cover quite a lot of territory.
Some of Tom's story is obviously CMO-specific, but Allan and Tom both universalize the topics and get to the heart of what matters for all leaders.
This show is not sponsored by Semperis, but Allan wants to clarify and be transparent about the fact that he is an advisor to Semperis.
 
Allan says: "Tom is just a great guy and is fun on the mic!"
Y'all be good now!
 

Alternative CISO Lifestyles with Andrew Wilder

Howdy, y'all, and welcome to The Cyber Ranch Podcast!  Our guest is Andrew Wilder, Retained CISO at Community Veterinary Partners, Member of the Board of Directors at Washington University in St. Louis, Advisory Board Member, former Global CISO, former Regional CISO... He's got a real history in this game.  What we're talking about today is retained, fractional, virtual, and part-time CISOing...
 
Topics addressed:
 
Challenge of vCISO - do i have a job 6 months from now?
Marketing and sales - building pipeline
OR work for someone else - they get a big cut?
Life insurance in the US is normally employment-based, and paid time off is a thing.  Allan's cancer scare brought all of those risks to light.
Tax benefits to 1099
Work/Life balance - or should that be life/work balance?
Two fulltime vCISO roles at the same time?  Possible...
Fractional, one-offs, consultations
SEC and SolarWinds - a vCISO is not an officer of the company
Andrew calls himself 'retained CISO' - he got that term from our friend Steve Zelewski
Fractional vs. virtual vs. retainers - everyone says retainer is the path to victory, but how does that really work?
 
 

A Zero Trust Case Study with John Checco

Howdy, y’all, and welcome to The Cyber Ranch Podcast! Our guest this week is John Checco, aka "Checco", who is overdue for being on the show we freely admit!  John is a presence on LinkedIn and in our industry.  He’s the author of “Zero Trust: From Aspirational to Overdue”.  He’s also involved, as you can imagine, in many other things – various advisory roles, ISSA roles, Infraguard roles…  He’s been resident CISO at Proofpoint, for example.  He’s also a fire instructor!  But we asked John to the show specifically to talk about what he calls “The Misfits of Zero Trust”.  John, thank you so much for coming on down to the ‘Ranch!
Questions Allan asks John:
Without revealing any secrets, what was your experience investigating the Zero Trust model for such a large organization?
What are the misfits of Zero Trust?
What’s are some examples of what you have dubbed as “2nd world affectations”?
What’s are some examples of what you call “3rd world affectations”?
Where do we go from here?
Where would you suggest highest priorities?
Is Zero Trust here to stay?
What comes next?
Thank you, listeners, for dropping by the 'Ranch!  Y'all be good now!