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
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 »
Dec 9, 2025 • 47min
PP090: Why Native Controls Aren’t Enough to Protect Your Cloud Workspaces (Sponsored)
Cloud-based workspaces such as Google Workspace are often the backbone of an organization. But they also face threats from spam and phishing, account takeovers, and illicit access to sensitive documents and files. On today’s Packet Protector we talk with sponsor Material Security about how it brings additional layers of protection to Google Workspace, including email... Read more »
Dec 2, 2025 • 1h 3min
PP089: Hidden Wi-Fi Misconfigurations and Wi-Fi 7 Issues to Be Aware Of
There may be misconfigurations and other problems lurking in your wireless network. From a lack of peer isolation to poor segmentation to RADIUS problems and vendor fails, these issues can make your WLAN less secure. Jennifer “JJ” Minella goes from Packet Protector co-host to guest as she discusses these issues with Drew Conry-Murray. This episode... Read more »
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.
Oct 21, 2025 • 44min
PP083: A CISO’s Perspective on Model Context Protocol (MCP)
Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open-source protocol that enables AI agents to connect to data, tools, workflows, and other agents both within and outside of enterprise borders. As organizations dive head-first into AI projects, MCP and other agentic protocols are being quickly adopted. And that means security and network teams need to understand how... Read more »
Oct 14, 2025 • 1h 2min
PP082: Building a Workable Mobile Security Strategy In a World of Risky Apps
Today we’re bringing back one of our favorite guests — Akili Akridge. He’s a former Baltimore cop who transitioned to building and leading mobile offense and defense teams for federal agencies and Fortune 100s. These days he’s a straight-talking expert on all things mobile security. We’re digging into mobile threats, why they keep CISOs up... Read more »
