Hacker Valley Studio Digital Clutter and the Death of Passwords with Collin Sweeney & Chase Cunningham
Passwords are the original digital clutter—messy, overstuffed, and way too easy to forget. Like a junk drawer full of old keys and cables, we keep tossing more into them, hoping they’ll somehow keep working. But what if it’s time to throw the whole thing out?
In this episode, Ron Eddings is joined by Collin Sweeney of ZKX Solutions and Dr. Chase Cunningham, a.k.a. “Dr. Zero Trust,” for a bold conversation on the future of authentication. From the failures of MFA to the promise of zero-knowledge proofs, the crew breaks down how we got stuck with broken access systems—and what it’ll take to finally fix them. Whether it’s SIM swapping, face IDs, or security keys on the battlefield, this is the real talk on identity security you don’t want to miss.
Impactful Moments:00:00 – Introduction
03:45 – ZKX’s origin: voice verification breakthrough
06:45 – Collin’s “oh crap” SolarWinds realization
09:15 – Why MFA still fails in practice
13:15 – Zero-knowledge proofs explained with a coin
15:30 – How ZKPs reduce identity attack surfaces
17:45 – Making MFA faster, smarter, more human
20:00 – MFA fatigue and ice skating uphill
24:00 – Why people still cling to passwords
30:54 – Quantum fears vs real-world encryption limits
Links:
Connect with Collin Sweeney: https://www.linkedin.com/in/collin-sweeney-6ab6a5176/
Check out ZKX Solutions new product, Helix:
Connect with Chase Cunningham: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-chase-cunningham/
Grab a copy of Chase Cunningham's book “vArIable: A Novel in the gAbrIel Series” here: www.amazon.com/vArIable-gAbrIel-Dr-Chase-Cunningham-ebook/dp/B0DVMWCWCD?ref_=ast_author_mp
Check out Hacker Valley’s upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams
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