The Cloud Architects Podcast

Ever wondered what a SIEM is? How about SOAR? In this episode we have a fantastic conversation with ML who helps us understand what these are, how they are different and even how they can work together. We also cover a few other security-related topics and ML shares some great insights and recommendations. Mari-Louise (ML) is the co-founder and director of Port443 (Pty) Ltd. Focusing on platform based cyber security automation and orchestrations, Port443 democratizes security across all industries across MEA. Prior to starting Port443, she performed multiple functions for over 6 years at Internet Solutions (a Division of Dimension Data), most notably responsible for technical product development across multiple solutions. In 2019 ML took on the role of Head of Product & Technical development for Dimension Data Security (the MEA regions for NTT Security). Responsible for the deployment and development of Managed Security Services across Middle East and Africa. She has keen eye for identifying breakthrough technologies and a mantra that “everything is figoureoutable”, enjoys innovation and the pursuit of efficiency via software based platforms. You can connect with ML on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mari-loui...)

If you follow the Microsoft productivity space, you have no doubt seen or heard about the "Autodiscovering the Great Leak" research paper recently published by Amit Serper, a security researcher at Guardicore. The paper details more than five months' research into the Autodiscover service used by Microsoft Exchange. Amit's research was picked up and in many instances misreported by the tech press, which in turn caused a certain degree of panic. We're deeply passionate about Exchange and have been for a very long time, so we thought it would be a good idea to sit down with Amit to talk through his research and better understand his findings. During the episode, Amit talks about the following resources: * https://detectionlab.network * https://autodiscover-vulnerable-tlds.com Amit Serper is a security researcher that spent almost a decade in the Israeli intelligence community where he worked in vulnerability research, exploit development and designed the architectures of uniquely complicated, highly reliable, one-of-a-kind communication systems. During his 9 year tenure in the IDF and Israeli government, he received 4 certificates of excellence and two commendations. During his career he has been on both the red and blue sides, joined an early stage start-up to build EDR products from scratch on various operating systems, conducted low level operating system research, reverse engineered malware, performed countless IR engagements, helped build a global research team and brand, and stopped a few global attacks (NotPetya, BadRabbit, Operation softcell to name a few). Amit is a frequent public speaker at security conferences all over the world and shares his research and knowledge in various blog posts, conferences, and podcasts. You can find Amit on Twitter - https://twitter.com/0xAmit

We've often joked on the show that Microsoft is the world's largest security vendor and when you consider their massive investment in security-related R&D and innovation it really isn't far from the truth. We had a great time sitting down with Microsoft's Stephen Revel recently to talk about the security features and functionality available to customers in Microsoft 365 and hopefully debunk the myth that you can't be secure without having an M365 E5 license or additional investments in third-party solutions. Stephen Revel is a Modern Workplace Senior Technical Specialist for security at Microsoft with almost 18 years’ experience designing, implementing and migrating Microsoft based infrastructures. You can find Stephen on Twitter (https://twitter.com/technical_drunk) or connect with him on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenrevel/)

We've all heard the statement "Fast, Cheap or Good? Pick two" and it seems this continues to ring true. Does the current rate of innovation and change in technology come at the expense of quality? We recently had the pleasure of sitting down with our friends Martina Grom and Tony Redmond to discuss this and hear about what has been keeping them busy lately. Martina Grom is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional and Microsoft Regional Director. Martina loves Cloud technologies, social media & security and running. Martina is the co-founder & CEO of https://atwork.at You can connect with Martina on Twitter - https://twitter.com/magrom Tony Redmond has been writing about electronic mail since 1992 and is widely regarded as one of the foremost commentators on Microsoft collaboration technology. Tony has written 15 books and is the lead author of Office 365 for IT Pros which is the most practical and up-to-date guide to everything Office 365 related. I encourage you to follow Tony on Twitter - https://twitter.com/12Knocksinna

We recently had a lot of fun catching up with our old friend and possibly our biggest fan - Stephen L Rose. We talked a little about his passion for really listening to customers and some of the new innovations in Microsoft Teams. Stephen also as passionate about community and sharing knowledge through various platforms, including his own podcast "Inside Microsoft Teams" Stephen Rose works in IT Pro and Security marketing for Teams at Microsoft where he leads their efforts for IT pros worldwide around Microsoft Teams security, privacy, and management. Stephen is also the host of the popular Inside Microsoft Teams podcast - aka.ms/InsideMSTeams. You can connect with Stephen on Twitter - https://twitter.com/stephenlrose

Episode 52: Knowledge has a Price Tag by The Cloud Architects

After our recent 'reflections' episode, we felt it would be a great idea to catch up with our long-time sponsor KEMP to talk about how the load balancing world has changed in recent years. As we find ourselves moving away from the traditional fixed perimeter and rethinking 'castle and moat' principles an inevitable question arises, where does the humble load balancer fit into today's Zero Trust world? In this episode, Nic and Warren connect with KEMP's Jason Dover to talk about their recent Flowmon aquisition and discuss the concept of Zero Trust Network Architecture (ZTNA). Jason shares some great tip for organizations who are looking to embark on their journey to Zero Trust and as always, Warren also talks about Kubernetes. Did you know that KEMP provides free virtual LoadMaster VLM-5000 load balancers to Microsoft certified professionals? Visit https://kemptechnologies.com/microsoft-pros-loadmaster-license-request/ to find out more. Jason Dover is the Vice President of Product Strategy at KEMP Technologies. Jason is responsible for leading the direction of product portfolio, product marketing, user experience and defining KEMP's overarching market strateg. You can connect with Jason on Twitter @jaysdover(https://twitter.com/jaysdover)

Episode 50! In this episode we reflect on our journey to 50 episodes - thinking about the fun we've had, everything we've learned and the guests we've had the privilege to speak to along the way. This is definitely a more personal episode, but don't worry - we also discuss the much talked about Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities and the recent Azure AD outage.

It's 2021! Well, technically it's been 2021 for three months and it looks like many of the trends established in 2020 are continuing - not only in our daily lives but also from a cyber threat perspective. In this episode we sit down with Donovan Stevens to talk about account takeovers (ATO) - what it is, why it is something you may want to pay attention to and what you can do to help safeguard against it. Donovan Stevens is a Sales Engineer at SpyCloud where he spends his time performing breach data investigations and helping his customers prevent account takeovers. You can connect with Donovan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donovan-stevens-4374472/

2020 has been an interesting and very different year for most of us. We're doing more things online than ever before - Microsoft recently announced that Teams reached 115 million daily active users, but this new normal extends well beyond the business world. There are countless positive stories of how technology has helped teachers connect with students or doctors connect with patients, but there are some not-so-positive consequences too. In this episode, Anna, Nic and Warren talk about Microsoft Ignite that took place recently and explore the concept of digital fatigue and how to set some boundaries (or lay your pipes) to help protect your mental health. Anna Chu is a Senior Product Marketing Manager at Microsoft responsible for working across the Microsoft Tech Community and MVP communities to engage with the IT Pro audience. This involves driving partnerships between engineering and marketing that influence product roadmaps and leading community strategy to enable best practice sharing between customers - in turn facilitating a natural feedback loop between the people who build Microsoft Office products and services and the people who implement them. You can follow Anna on Twitter - https://twitter.com/_achu A transcript of this episode can be viewed here: https://gist.github.com/TheCloudArch/0e61751742e71609222e7d10dda7eb5c