Safe Mode Podcast

Josh Corman and Beau Woods, the founders of I Am the Cavalry, join CyberScoop Senior Editor to discuss the ten-year anniversary of their grassroots hacking group and their efforts to address the crisis in computer security. CyberScoop reporter AJ Vicens joins the podcast to talk about sanctions against the Trickbot hacking gang. And a mystery will be revealed: how a sensitive Microsoft encryption key was likely stolen by hackers based in China

It’s been called the cybersecurity poverty line. Many organizations just don’t have the money to afford a skilled cybersecurity team to protect themselves from hackers. But there’s a movement afoot to change that dynamic through cybersecurity clinics that can support organizations in need. The Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity at the University of California, Berkeley, is at the forefront of developing cyber clinics and its executive director, Ann Cleveland, talks about the center’s approach with Safe Mode host Mike Farrell. CyberScoop senior editor Elias Groll also joins the show to discuss his recent trip to DEF CON where he witnessed hackers competing to outsmart AI models as well as a parade of furries.

A string of breaches involving Microsoft infrastructure has left many within the security community frustrated with the company’s approach to securing its systems. CyberScoop Senior Editor Elias Groll sat down at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas with Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade, a principal threat researcher at SentinelOne, to discuss the key role Microsoft products play in the computing ecosystem and why breaches involving its infrastructure have such devastating consequences. Also on the episode, CyberScoop reporter talks about a newly active hacker group calling itself Kitten Sec.

Chris Inglis led the Office of the National Cyber Director until February of this year and helped steer national policy on some of the most pressing national security issues. He talks with CyberScoop senior editor Elias Groll from Black Hat in Las Vegas. CyberScoop reporter Tonya Riley joins the show to discuss how the White House may attempt to curtail the “surveillance economy.”

Sean Vitka, senior policy counsel at the tech advocacy group Demand Progress, joins the show to discuss the debate over Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and how law enforcement can use the controversial tool to spy on Americans. CyberScoop senior editor Elias Groll talks about two big cybersecurity conferences this week in Las Vegas – Black Hat and DEF CON.

Writer and researcher Bilyana Lilly breaks down how private sector and government assistance to Ukraine has helped stop many Russian cyberattacks targeting Ukraine. CyberScoop reporter Tonya Riley and Safe Mode host Mike Farrell discuss kids online safety legislation moving forward in the U.S. Congress.

Thinking like a hacker means finding creative solutions to big problems, discovering flaws in order to make improvements and often subverting conventional thinking. Bruce Schneier, a cryptographer, security professional and author, talks about the benefits for society when people apply that kind of logic to issues other than computers. In an interview with CyberScoop Editor-in-Chief Mike Farrell, he talks about the need to hack Democracy to rebuild it, how to get ahead of the potential peril from AI and the future of technology – both the good and bad. Elias Groll joins the show to discuss the story of a Chinese hack and why it has put Microsoft under a microscope in Washington.

Cyberattacks have played a significant role in the war in Ukraine. Officials in Washington and Kyiv have blamed Russian hackers for targeting satellite systems and using digital assaults to execute disinformation and psychological warfare campaigns. Victor Zhora, the deputy chairman of the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine, is actively involved in defending against those attacks and talks to Safe Mode about the evolution of cyberwar in Ukraine. CyberScoop reporter AJ Vicens also joins the show to talk about his reporting on the cybercrime underworld and hacker forums such as BreachForums.

There’s growing concern about the existential dangers of AI. At the same time, there’s boundless optimism about its potential for good. Anne Neuberger, White House deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology, sits down with Elias Groll, CyberScoop senior editor, to talk about how the administration thinks about the best approaches to limit AI harms without getting in the way of innovation. CyberScoop reporter Tonya Riley joins Safe Mode host Mike Farrell to discuss a recent lawsuit involving OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, as well as White House cyber priorities and an approach to regulating AI that borrows from post-war arms control schemes.

When the FBI seized the website earlier this year operated by the Hive ransomware group, it was the result of the bureau's efforts to infiltrate the infrastructure that cybercrime groups rely on to carry out their attacks. The bureau has set out to get inside these group’s networks, destroy them from the inside, help victims and prevent ransomware. Cynthia Kaiser, deputy assistant director within the FBI’s Cyber Division, joins Safe Mode to talk about the Hive takedown and what else the bureau is doing to fight cybercrime. CyberScoop reporter Tonya Riley joins Safe Mode host Mike Farrell to talk about the digital privacy implications of the Dobbs ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade last year, a fascinating story about an Iranian hacking group and some ways that people are misusing open-source AI models.