Packet Protector
Packet Pushers
Join us at the intersection of networking and security! Whether you’re fending off ransomware attacks, securing remote workers, hunting for rogue IoT devices, or gearing up for your latest compliance audit, Packet Protector provides practical information that IT and infrastructure pros can put to work. Every episode covers the latest security headlines and then drills into essential topics to provide technical and strategic insights on wired and wireless network security, access control, cloud security, pen testing and red/blue teaming, security hardware and software, and more. Whether security is your full-time job or one of your many responsibilities, Packet Protector is your go-to cybersecurity resource.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jan 20, 2026 • 1h 3min
PP093: Security Priorities for 2026 – A Roundtable Discussion
The start of a new year is a good time to assess what’s important. We’ve gathered some Packet Protector listeners to talk about their security priorities for 2026 in a roundtable discussion with hosts JJ and Drew. We talk about key risks for 2026, whether those risks have changed since last year, use cases for... Read more »
Jan 13, 2026 • 52min
PP092: News Roundup–Old Gear Faces New Attacks, Cyber Trust Mark’s Trust Issues, Alarms Howl for Kimwolf Botnet
Everything old is new again in this Packet Protector news roundup, from end-of-life D-Link routers facing active exploits (and no patch coming) to a five-year-old Fortinet vulnerability being freshly targeted by threat actors (despite a patch having been available for five years). We also dig into a clever, multi-stage attack against hotel operators that could... Read more »
Dec 16, 2025 • 54min
PP091: News Roundup–Securing MCP, Hunting Backdoors, and Getting the Creeps From AI Kids’ Toys
Our final news roundup for 2025 is a holiday sampler of tasty, chewy (and a few yucky) confections. We look at a years-long exploit campaign that used browser extensions to steal credentials, inject malicious content, and track behavior; tracks ongoing exploits using the React2Shell vulnerability; and debates whether a surveillance camera maker’s pledge to follow... Read more »
12 snips
Dec 9, 2025 • 47min
PP090: Why Native Controls Aren’t Enough to Protect Your Cloud Workspaces (Sponsored)
Abhishek Agrawal, CEO of Material Security, dives into the challenges of securing productivity suites like Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. He discusses why native controls often fall short in thwarting threats like phishing and account takeovers. Abhishek highlights how Material Security supplements these platforms with unique organizational signals to enhance threat detection and automated remediation. He also explores the risks associated with AI search and the importance of post-breach resilience, ensuring organizations can respond effectively to security incidents.
8 snips
Dec 2, 2025 • 1h 3min
PP089: Hidden Wi-Fi Misconfigurations and Wi-Fi 7 Issues to Be Aware Of
Jennifer JJ Manella, a wireless networking and security expert, dives into the murky waters of WLAN misconfigurations. She reveals the perils of peer isolation and the critical balance needed for guest networks. JJ discusses the nuances between WPA2 and WPA3, stressing the importance of careful device migration. Misconfigured RADIUS setups could expose credentials, she warns, emphasizing the need for stringent certificate validation. The conversation also covers upcoming Wi-Fi 7 features and the client stickiness that could complicate deployments.
Nov 25, 2025 • 45min
PP088: How Fortinet Delivers Web App Security in the AI Era (Sponsored)
Web applications have always been tricky to protect. They’re meant to be accessible over the Internet, which exposes them to malicious actors, they’re designed to take end-user inputs, which can be manipulated for malicious purposes, and they often handle sensitive data. Then the rise of public cloud and microservices architectures added new layers of complexity... Read more »
Nov 18, 2025 • 46min
PP087: Why SBOMs Are Cooler and More Useful Than You Think
Just what’s inside that commercial software you bought? Does it contain open-source components, NPM packages, or other third-party code? How could you find out? The answer is a Software Bill of Materials, or SBOM, a machine-readable inventory of a finished piece of software. Why should you care about SBOMs? Our guest, Natalie Somersall, is here... Read more »
Nov 11, 2025 • 45min
PP086: Using Let’s Encrypt and the ACME Protocol for Domain Validation Certificates
Certificates are the socks of IT—everyone needs them, and you always lose track of a few. On today’s show we dive into the ACME protocol, an IETF standard to help automate how a domain owner gets a domain validation certificate from a Certificate Authority (CA). Our guest, Ed Harmoush, a former network engineer with AWS... Read more »
Nov 5, 2025 • 52min
PP085: News Roundup – Naked Satellite Signals, Account Recovery Buddies, Busting Ghost Networks
Did you know college students are snooping on satellite transmissions? On today’s news roundup we discuss new research in which university investigators use off-the-shelf equipment to intercept traffic from geostationary satellites and discover that a lot of it is unencrypted. We also dig into the credential hygiene lessons we can learn from a corpus of... Read more »
Oct 30, 2025 • 45min
PP084: Inside the CVE Process With Cisco (Sponsored)
Osman Hashmi, a Principal Engineer at Cisco, Joe Malcolm, the CISO for Infrastructure Engineering, and Marco Cassini, an Incident Manager at Cisco's PSIRT, dive into the complexities of the CVE process. They discuss how key organizations like MITRE and NVD contribute to CVE management, explore the role of NVD in scoring vulnerabilities, and unpack the importance of Cisco’s CNA role. Additionally, they touch on responsible disclosure practices, the impact of customer collaboration on validation, and how AI is being integrated into security workflows.
