Hacker History sits down with Michael Lenz. Michael started out in the Commodore 64 era with the usual games and BBS where many others started. His story takes a really interesting turn when he gets himself into infosec (before it's called infosec). He builds a SOC and eventually a SIEM. Before both of those things really existed at most companies. Michael closes out the chat with his experiences attending and starting Burbsec meetups for fellow security nerds.
Hacker History sits down with Jeff Man. Jeff is a legend in the security universe having worked for the NSA, Tenable, and a longtime host of Paul's Security Weekly podcast. We learn all about how Jeff ended up at the NSA, how the NSA started to red team, and why many things are the way they are today. It's a great story, Jeff is entertaining has helped shape the entire industry into what it is today.
Hacker History sits down with Bill Bernard. Bill tells us of his time building and breaking things with his father. The days of TI99 and Apple IIe in school, and some great engineering in college. Bill has some pretty cool experiences working for Zenith, then the phone company trying to sell TV, and a Cable company trying to sell phone lines. It's a great story with some weird twists. Bill finishes up with some of the work he's doing today helping others run Linux and how to get started in this whole crazy universe.
Bill's Linkedin
Bill's Mastodon
Between Two Firewalls
Linux Village
GRASSr00tz
CornCon
Hacker History sits down with Rebecca Jones. We learn of Rebecca's journey from using early Apple computers, to an early Windows machine, to eventually her current role dealing with security and identity. Rebecca explains how she stepped away from tech for a while due to some horrible advice. Along the way she picked up some of the soft skills we find in short supply. There's some great advice in this one both what to do and what to avoid. Rebecca closes the story by giving us some great advice around perseverance, learning, and cooperation.
Hacker History sits down with Luke McOmie, AKA Pyr0, to talk about a new conference about hacker history, as well as his history. Pyr0 tells us all about NaClCON. It's a conference dedicated to the stories of the hackers themselves. Go register if you're interested ... while you still have time!
Pyr0 then tells us his hacker story. How he got into technology, became involved in DEF CON, the 303s, and how he started Skytalks. There were some incidents with law enforcement and the EFF coming to help out. It's a great story that hits on an amazing number of the historic events.
This is a packed episode where we talk to Laura Scherling, Ben Schmerler, and Rachael Tubbs about some hacker history, some hacker future, and the ten year anniversary of the IoT Village. We talk about the importance of cybersecurity education, the innovative efforts of IoT Village, and some awesome stories from Laura's book. We discuss how ethical hacking is shaping the digital landscape and hear some stories about how IoT Village got where it is today. No matter who you are this episode offers valuable insights into safeguarding your digital future.
Hacker History sits down with David Bernstein. We learn about David's past in emergency management. David has seen a ton of wild events, and has some really interesting commentary about how emergency management and infosec collide. David isn't what many would consider a traditional hacker, but it's clear he has had incredible impact over the years.
Thug Shells is a freestyle rapper who hacks the english language, making it do whatever she wants. Did you know a group of rappers is called a cypher? It's a super fun conversation where we learn a lot about Thuggy as well as how rapping works, and all the uncanny connections to the world of hacking.
Thug Shells
Thuggy's Cyphercon abstract
Ela grew up in East Germany during the 1980s, where they were introduced to computers and electronics at a young age. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Ela became deeply involved in the hacker scene, joining the Chaos Computer Club, attending early DEFCONs, and witnessing the merging of East and West German hacker cultures. Ela made the transition into professional security work, dealing with APT investigations, incident response, and eventually moving into security architecture and management roles. It's a fantastic conversation with a ton of unique lessons and ideas.