Hacker Valley Studio

Latest Episodes:

Inside Conti: The Ransomware Gang That Ran Like a Company with Geoff White Jul 28, 2026

Show notes

What does the world's most prolific cybercrime operation look like from the inside? And why does it operate suspiciously like a mid-sized tech company, complete with HR headaches, salary negotiations, and a distracted boss nobody respects?

Ron Eddings sits down with investigative journalist and author, Geoff White, who has spent over 20 years covering cybercrime for the BBC, Channel 4 News, and Sky News. Geoff has read 47,000 of Conti’s 300,000 leaked internal chats, the gang that dominated the ransomware world in 2021 and 2022, pulling in hundreds of millions of dollars in ransoms. From the Moscow movie studio the gang's leader used to launder money years previously, to the Ukraine war leak that brought the whole Conti empire down, this one plays like true crime… because it is.

Geoff makes the case that defenders should think the same way: you're not buying security tools to fend off a hoodie in a basement, you're investing to outcompete a rival business. For anyone trying to integrate a better incident response plan, this episode reframes the whole conversation.

Impactful Moments
00:00 - Introduction
01:45 - The Rewind: Colonial Pipeline and the week the East Coast ran dry
03:50 - How Geoff went from tech news to cybercrime reporting
05:10 - The difference between threat groups, APTs, and crime gangs
07:25 - Inside the Conti leaks: 300,000 messages
08:55 - Meet the gang: Stern, Mango, and Target
13:20 - Stern's origin story: Zeus malware, money mules, and the 25th Floor front company
16:50 - Ransomware gangs vs. the mafia: where's the protection?
18:10 - The money: $2.5M single payouts and 400 years of wages
19:30 - The Conti member arrested on a layover in Miami
20:35 - The downfall: the Ukraine war and the leak that ended it all
23:05 - What businesses can learn from Conti: recruitment, retention, reputation
27:45 - Advice for defenders: response waves, segmentation, and negotiating down
31:05 - Ron's takeaway: belonging and the thin line between operator and criminal

Links

Connect with Geoff White on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffwhitetech/

Get your own copy of Geoff's books (Crime Dot Com, The Lazarus Heist, Rinsed): https://geoffwhite.tech/book/

Want more information on Conti? Check out Geoff’s BBC podcast series, Cyber Hack: The Conti Files, available on BBC Sounds, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts

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What AI Agents Should Own in Your SOC, And What Happens If You Wait with Tim Leehealey Jul 21, 2026

Show notes

What happens when the adversary moves at machine speed, and your SOC is still responding at human speed? Why does nearly every security team say AI should handle L1 work, while 64% of organizations still have zero agents in production? And how long until the "coworker" resolving your ticket in Slack turns out not to be human at all?

Tim Leehealey, VP of Strategy and Operations at Strike 48, joins us this week to talk about what it actually takes to get AI agents out of the demo and into production. Tim agenticized his own company's IT, watched it blow up, and came out the other side with lessons from Fortune 100 SOCs running agents at serious scale.

He shares where AI actually belongs in the alert pipeline, the objections holding teams back, and a blunt warning for any leader still waiting on the sidelines in 2027. If AI in the SOC is on your roadmap before the end of this year, start here.

Impactful Moments

00:00 - Introduction
01:55 - Busting a myth: AI will replace analysts
04:45 - Introducing Tim Leehealey
05:30 - The Strike48 survey: 84% say hand L1 to AI
08:00 - Fear the low-and-slow attacker, not the loud one
13:00 - Getting breached without agents in 2027
15:00 - When Tim's own rollout blew up
19:00 - Micro agents inside deterministic workflows
21:25 - Skills advice for L1 analysts
26:00 - The next 18 months of agentic adoption
28:00 - Jim Bob in your Slack is an agent
21:30 - Ron's take: transparency is the trust unlock

Links

Connect with Tim Leehealey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-leehealey-b8b04321

Learn more about Strike48: https://strike48.com

Check out the 2026 State of Agentic Security report here: https://hubs.ly/Q04p49S20

Go deeper on Strike 48's technology: https://labs.strike48.com

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We Shipped a Tool That Acts Like You. Meet Interceptor. Jul 14, 2026

Show notes

Think about everything you could accomplish if you don’t have to be the one driving your browser. In this solo episode, Ron Eddings introduces Interceptor, Hacker Valley Media's first piece of software.

Interceptor is an open-source Chrome extension that lets an AI agent drive your real browser, logged-in sessions and all, with no vendor lock-in. Ron shares how it works and describes the use cases that matter most to security practitioners: OSINT and recon, bug bounty operations, prompt-injection testing, and threat-intelligence automation.

Ron also puts himself in the hot seat, answering the hardest questions he's gotten about the tool, including why anyone should trust an open-source tool from a podcast company over a polished product from a billion-dollar AI lab. The delegation is coming, and we would rather the security community be the ones who understand it.

Impactful Moments:
00:00 - Introduction
02:35 - The Rewind: Same Origin Policy and the Web's Foundation
04:40 - Rapid-fire facts: AI agents got hands, and attacks followed
07:00 - What is Interceptor and why was it built?
10:20 - How Interceptor works: stealth, network visibility, teach and replay
13:10 - Live use-case: dynamic dashboard without writing code
17:05 - Cybersecurity use-cases: OSINT, bug bounty, prompt injection testing
21:50 - Ron answers the hard questions about Interceptor
24:10 - Why trust an open source tool from a podcast company?
25:20 - What a practitioner can do tomorrow
27:30 - Closing reflection: knocking down the vendor lock-in wall

Links

Download Interceptor on GitHub: https://github.com/hackervalleymedia/interceptor

Connect with Ron on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronaldeddings/

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Check out our upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams

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How to Turn Cybersecurity Customers into Lifelong Advocates with Antu Buck Jul 07, 2026

Show notes

What if the same psychology that threat actors use to manipulate their targets is the same psychology that marketers use to earn your trust?

In this episode, Ron sits down with Antu Buck, Senior Director of Customer Marketing & Community at Gigamon, who spent two decades building trust between vendors and the practitioners who use their tools.

Antu walks us through the three pillars she's built her career around, and makes the case that advocacy shouldn't be an afterthought, but the very first marketing move a company invests in. The conversation lands on something the community doesn't talk about enough: customer marketing is hard to put a number on, so it consistently loses the budget fight to demand gen.

Impactful Moments
00:00 - Introduction
02:15 - Myth Buster: "I don't fall for marketing tactics"
04:15 - Meet Antu Buck, Senior Director of Customer Marketing & Community at Gigamon
06:45 - From cold-calling BDR to customer marketing leader
09:40 - Antu’s three pillars: advocacy, community, lifecycle management
13:05 - Why customer advocacy is the most underrated pillar
14:40 - The problem with chasing the CISO
16:40 - From transactional selling to relationship building
17:20 - The cold call that became a lifelong champion
20:20 - Are threat actors borrowing tactics from sales and marketing?
23:00 - Why AI tools are off-limits with customer data
27:50 - Why customer marketing loses the budget fight

Links

Antu Buck on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antu-buck/

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Check out our upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams

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Become a sponsor of the show: https://hackervalley.com/work-with-us/

What's Really Stopping AI From Running Your SOC with Aqsa Taylor Jun 23, 2026

Show notes

In 2025, out of all 70+ guests we had on our show, not one of them said they’d trust AI to run their SOC. Now in 2026, that mindset is shifting. In this episode, Ron sits down with Aqsa Taylor, Chief Security Evangelist at Exaforce, to find out what changed, and what's still standing in the way of security teams being able to trust AI agents with response.

The conversation covers what's really behind the agentic SOC hype, why "vibe hunting" might be the most fun phrase in cybersecurity right now, and how teams can build enough confidence to hand over the keys to detection, investigation, and response.

Aqsa also gets into the one thing she believes has to come before any of it works: the data. Without the right context feeding your AI you’re just getting confident guesses dressed up as answers. Listen to find out if your team is ready to take the leap into an agentic SOC.

Impactful Moments
00:00 - Introduction
02:05 - Hack the headlines, June top trends in cybersecurity
05:30 - Welcoming Aqsa Taylor from Exaforce
06:15 - Inside Exaforce's $125M raise
08:50 - Redefining what AI SOC should mean
09:30 - The evolution from manual playbooks to AI-driven autonomy
13:40 - Where Exaforce fits in an existing stack
18:10 - What vibe hunting looks like in practice
19:40 - The challenges of securing sensitive data in a world dominated by SaaS platforms
22:00 - How to build your trust ladder for AI in the SOC
24:40 - Best use case to get started with AI SOC
28:50 - Ron's takeaway: the data has to be there first

Links

Connect with Aqsa Taylor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aqsa-taylor

Learn more about Exaforce: https://www.exaforce.com

Join Exaforce’s Force Multiplier Substack community: https://theforcemultiplier.substack.com

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Check out our upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams

Love Hacker Valley Studio? Pick up some swag: https://store.hackervalley.com

Become a sponsor of the show: https://hackervalley.com/work-with-us/

Feed Your Brain: What Cybersecurity Veterans Are Getting Wrong with Johnny Xmas Jun 16, 2026

Show notes

Is AI really coming for your red teaming job? What does it actually take to build a team that thinks like the adversary, and what happens when that team stops caring? And what do you do when you've been in this field long enough that the job that once fired you up has started to feel hollow?

In this episode, Ron catches up with Johnny Xmas, Head of Offensive Security at a Fortune 150 Global Food Manufacturer, and one of the most candid voices in offensive security, for a conversation that covers a lot of ground fast.

They go deep on where AI actually fits into offensive security workflows, what Johnny really looks for when building elite teams, and why the career advice everyone gives early practitioners might be setting them up for burnout down the road. The conversation takes a turn that doesn't come up enough in this industry, and it's the part you won't want to miss. If you've ever felt your tank running low, this episode was made for you.

Impactful Moments
00:00 - Introduction
02:10 - Busting the myth: AI is not replacing red teamers
04:30 - Guest introduction: Johnny Xmas
06:15 - How the offensive security job has changed with AI
09:35 - The SEC 8-K IoC parser tool Johnny just published
11:40 - Building elite teams: what skills Johnny actually hires for
12:45 - Soft skills over technical gaps, and why the fire has to come with you
15:40 - Why "where do you see yourself in five years?" is a garbage question
17:30 - Has Johnny ever crossed the line when it comes to hacking?
20:20 - What to do when you've stopped caring about the job
26:25 - Outro: The AI myth, revisited

Links

Johnny Christmas on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnnyxmas/

Johnny's SEC 8-K IoC parser tool: https://github.com/johnnyxmas/its-over-8k

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Fighting Smarter: What Combat Sports Teaches Us About Cyber Defense with Robin Black Jun 09, 2026

Show notes

What does a calf kick have to do with vulnerability management? What can a fighter's mindset teach a security practitioner about operating against an adversary they've never faced?

Ron Eddings brings back fan-favorite combat sports analyst and commentator Robin Black for a conversation that was never meant to be about cybersecurity, and ends up being one of the most insightful episodes on the human side of the field. They dig into how underdogs actually win (hint: we're usually wrong about who the underdog is), what it really means to maintain control in a fight, and why the highest level of mastery might actually look like letting go of control entirely.

The conversation closes with a look at how the cybersecurity landscape is mutating alongside AI, and whether an arms race that trains itself is heading somewhere catastrophic, or whether it's simply the next evolution of the fight. The answer, like most things in this episode, is more nuanced than you'd expect.

Impactful Moments
00:00 - Introduction
02:10 - The Rewind: The Calf Kick and the Peroneal Nerve
04:05 - Welcome back, Robin Black
05:30 - Can smaller still beat bigger?
07:00 - Why underdogs don't win (And why we were wrong)
08:25 - Fighting is about exploiting belief systems
09:30 - Maintaining control against an unknown adversary
10:25 - Adapting vs. anticipating: be water
13:00 - Failure is mandatory
17:25 - How Robin’s thoughts have changed about being attacked online
19:00 - AI and the mutating threat landscape
22:15 - Ron's closing thoughts

Links
Connect with Robin Black on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robin-black-31b6bb39/

Check out Robin Black on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/RobinBlack

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Check out our upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams

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Become a sponsor of the show: https://hackervalley.com/work-with-us/

Is Vibe Coding Breaking the Internet? with Tanya Janca Jun 02, 2026

Show notes

What happens when AI writes all the code and nobody reads it? What if the security prompt you trusted still produced software designed to leak your secrets? And who exactly is on the hook when an AI-generated application takes down your company?

In this episode, Ron sits down with returning guest Tanya Janca, Secure Coding Trainer at SheHacksPurple Consulting, to dig into one of the most underestimated risks in software development today: vibe coding.

Tanya breaks down what vibe coding actually means, why AI trained on the internet's worst repositories is quietly baking the OWASP Top 10 into every app being built, and what her AI-powered secure coding prompt library can do to help. This is a candid, practical, and community-driven episode, the kind that'll make you want to audit your vibe code-a-thon project before it ever touches production.

Impactful Moments
00:00 - Introduction
01:40 - The Rewind: Margaret Hamilton and Apollo 11
05:00 - Knight Capital and the $460M software failure
07:00 - Guest introduction: Tanya Janca
08:15 - What vibe coding actually means in 2026
10:00 - Real story: Claude leaked secrets in a live training
11:30 - Securemyvibe.ca and Tanya’s secure coding prompt library
15:00 - OWASP Top 10 vs OWASP Top 10 for LLMs
22:45 - Tanya's petition for the world's first secure coding law
24:55 - Device flow authentication and reducing security friction
28:00 - What the internet would look like in five years without change

Links

Connect with our guest, Tanya Janca, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanya-janca

Get Tanya's free secure coding guideline: https://securecodingguideline.com

Subscribe to Tanya’s AI Secure Coding Prompt Library: https://securemyvibe.ca

Access Tanya's Newsletter & Free Monthly Training: https://newsletter.shehackspurple.ca

Connect with Tanya across all social channels: @shehackspurple

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Check out our upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams

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Why Smart People Fall for Deepfakes with Perry Carpenter May 26, 2026

Show notes

What if the most sophisticated attack has nothing to do with your firewall? In a world where AI can clone voices, re-lip-sync politicians, and spread a fake newscast to 200,000 people in days, the real target has always been your brain.

Ron sits down with Perry Carpenter, Chief Deception Strategist at KnowBe4, to unpack why we're still getting fooled in 2026 and what we can actually do about it. Perry gets into the neuroscience behind why our brains are wired the way they are, how attackers exploit that, and what it really takes to build better instincts in a world full of AI-generated content. You'll also want to stick around for the live demos, where Perry breaks down why they worked and how to spot the tells.

Impactful Moments
00:00 - Introduction
02:15 - The myth: smart people don't get fooled
05:20 - Flashback segment: the Ireland deepfake and why it went viral
06:15 - Guest introduction: Perry Carpenter
09:50 - Exploiting cultural bias and tribal instincts
13:45 - Live deepfake demo: face and body replacement in real time
15:30 - Synthetic media vs. deepfake: what's the difference?
20:40 - Breaking down a deepfake: what made it convincing
23:00 - Overproof: why bad deepfakes try too hard
27:15 - System 1 vs. System 2 thinking in cybersecurity
29:45 - The FAIK framework: freeze, analyze, investigate, know
32:40 - Ron's closing reflection

Links

Connect with our guest, Perry Carpenter, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/perrycarpenter

Check out our upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams

Love Hacker Valley Studio? Pick up some swag: https://store.hackervalley.com

Become a sponsor of the show: https://hackervalley.com/work-with-us/

Who Owns Your AI Security Policy? with Chris Cochran May 18, 2026

Show notes

Right now, someone in your organization is probably feeding sensitive data into an AI system that nobody approved. So when something goes wrong, who's responsible? And more critically, do you even have a policy in place to answer that question?

Ron Eddings sits down with his Hacker Valley co-founder, Chris Cochran, now serving as SANS Field CISO and VP of AI Security, to talk about his freshly released SANS AI Security Maturity Model, a practical framework built for security leaders who need to stop philosophizing and start making decisions.

They cover the three pillars of AI security maturity: utilizing AI for defense, protecting AI itself, and governing it across the organization. Chris then gets real about where most enterprises actually stand (hint: not as far along as they think). Listen for a conversation that meets you wherever you are: skeptic, early adopter, or somewhere in between.

Impactful Moments

00:00 - Introduction

03:00 - Chris Cochran: from Co-Founder to SANS Field CISO

04:20 - Your board is pushing AI before security is ready

06:00 - Tiers of AI uses: summarization to full automation

07:50 - When AI shouldn't make the final call

10:10 - Bite-sized AI: starting small in the enterprise

11:45 - Introducing the SANS AI Security Maturity Model

13:20 - You can no longer afford to be an AI skeptic

16:30 - Three buckets: utilize, protect, and govern AI

18:50 - Fact or Cap: what level of maturity is your enterprise?

21:00 - Retroactive vendor risk and the AI explosion