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The Adversarial Podcast Ep. 17 - 2025 CISO Compensation Survey, Okta layoffs and employee value, TLS inspection

Episode notes ⬇️ See below for timestamps/summaries/references for each topic Adversarial Podcast Ep. 17 - 2025 CISO Compensation Survey, Okta layoffs and employee value, TLS inspection 00:00 Highlight/theme 00:37 Intro 1:21 Hitch Partners survey of CISOs 13:34 Dangling S3 buckets 24:35 Update on Cybersecurity Innovation Executive Order 32:58 Cyber stocks - NET and CRWD at all-time highs 44:07 Okta lays off 180 employees, including security engineers 55:47 Is anyone actually doing

The Adversarial Podcast Ep. 16 - Cyber policy wishlist, RedNote/TikTok, Marsh's cyber insurance report, do CISOs need deep technical skills?

1:33 Biden's Executive Order on Cyber Security 5:18 Cyber policy wishlist 21:30 TikTok and RedNote 29:36 Marsh's report on cyber insurance 49:21 Do CISOs need to be highly technical? Adversarial Podcast Ep. 16 - Cyber policy wishlist, RedNote/TikTok, Marsh's cyber insurance report, do CISOs need deep technical skills? Executive Order on Strengthening and Promoting Innovation in the Nation’s Cybersecurity The outgoing Biden administration issues an executive order aimed at enhancing cyb

The Adversarial Podcast Ep. 15 - US-China-Taiwan cyber relations, mobile app ads facilitating spying, holiday DoS vulnerabilities

Join former CISOs Jerry, Mario, and Sounil as they dissect the latest cybersecurity news, discuss evolving threats, and share their seasoned perspectives on infosec. The Adversarial Podcast Ep. 15 - US-China-Taiwan cyber relations, mobile app ads facilitating spying, holiday DoS vulnerabilities 1:48 China accuses US of stealing trade secrets 10:05 Taiwan reports 2.4M Chinese cyberattacks/day 18:21 Christmas day Chrome Extension hacks, including Cyberhaven 23:28 Krebs: U.S. Army Soldie

The Adversarial Podcast Ep. 12 - RSA Conference making competition winners accept investment, inefficacy of phishing training

In this episode of The Adversarial Podcast, former CISOs Jerry Perullo, Mario Duarte, and Sounil Yu explore critical topics shaping the cybersecurity landscape. The Adversarial Podcast Ep. 12 - RSA Conference ma | RSS.com 1. Crosspoint Capital’s RSA Innovation Sandbox Model The hosts discuss Crosspoint Capital's controversial $5 million SAFE investment requirement for Innovation Sandbox finalists. They examine the implications for startups, founders, and the cybersecurity ecosystem as a wh

The Adversarial Podcast Ep. 11 - incoming Trump administration, Microsoft's leaked SaaS creds, and software liability policy

Introduction: * The episode opens with a discussion on securing devices for employees traveling to high-risk countries, like China, as a way to protect corporate data and maintain customer trust. * Hosts Jerry, Sounil, and Mario welcome listeners and discuss recent events, including the FS-ISAC Fall Summit in Atlanta and geopolitical implications of the recent election. Key Topics: 1. Geopolitical Risks: * The group explores China's espionage activities and Russia's geopolitical maneuv

The Adversarial Podcast Ep. 10 - the CISO job market, CRQ, beg bounties, cryptography...

The Adversarial Podcast Ep. 10 - the CISO job market, CRQ, beg bounties, and cryptography (00:00) Intro (5:15) The CISO job market: present and future (25:57) Handling beg bounties and VDP (41:30) Quantum cryptography – how important is cryptography, really? Stories: * “Chinese Researchers Reportedly Crack Encryption With Quantum Computer” - https://www.pcmag.com/news/chinese-researchers-reportedly-crack-encryption-with-quantum-computer Hosts: * Jerry Perullo: https://www.l

The Adversarial Podcast Ep. 9 - NIST password guidelines, CUPS vulnerabilities, breach vs. hack

The Adversarial Podcast Ep. 9 - NIST password guidelines, CUPS vulnerabilities, breach vs. hack Episode notes (00:00) Intro & NIST’s new password complexity requirements (13:19) CUPS vulnerability: critical or a distraction (31:26) Federal standards for cybersecurity in health care: should legal responsibility fall on individuals? (47:30) What constitutes a hack vs a breach? Stories: * “NIST Drops Password Complexity, Mandatory Reset Rules” - https://www.darkreading.com/identity-ac

The Adversarial Podcast Ep. 8 - Pagers and Supply Chain Attacks, GitHub stealers, “Founder Mode”

(00:00) Intro (02:24) Exploding pagers: are psychological attacks worse than breaches? (20:21) Are credit card breaches still a concern in 2024? (24:57) Infostealer delivered through GitHub Issues: how are trustworthy services being abused? (31:45) Founder mode: when is it time to switch from "founder mode" to "manager mode?" (44:02) Is open-source more secure than closed-source? The Adversarial Podcast Ep. 8 - Pagers and Supply | RSS.com Stories and books mentioned: * “Israel plant

The Adversarial Podcast Ep. 6 - SSN Leaks, Cloud Misconfigurations, and Passkeys

Episode notes Join former CISOs-turned-founders Jerry Perullo, Mario Duarte, and Sounil Yu as they debate the impact of SSN leaks, discuss the effectiveness of recently implemented ransom payment bans in Miami, and recently reported AWS misconfigurations. Then, listen as they debate passkeys, vulnerability management, and board reporting. The Adversarial Podcast Ep. 6 - SSN Leaks, Cloud M | RSS.com 00:00 Intro 02:17 Social Security Number breach 14:48 Ransomware payment bans 21:47 AWS

The Adversarial Podcast Ep. 5 - Why Boards want more Joe Sullivans and Tim Browns and less CISOs - Jerry Perullo live at Evanta

Episode notes Speaking live at the Evanta CISO Summit in Atlanta in June 2024, host Jerry Perullo talks candidly about why CISOs are failing to land Board Director roles. The Adversarial Podcast Ep. 5 - Why Boards want mo | RSS.com

The Adversarial Podcast Ep. 4 - CrowdStrike Lawsuits, Overhyped Exploits, and Fake Remote Employees

Episode notes Join former CISOs-turned-founders Jerry Perullo, Mario Duarte, and Sounil Yu as they discuss upcoming lawsuits related to the recent CrowdStrike outage, switching costs, overhyped security vulnerabilities and their effect on practitioners' responsibilities, fake employees from North Korea, the information stealers and the state of password managers, and the increasing threat of deepfakes. The Adversarial Podcast Ep. 4 - CrowdStrike Lawsui | RSS.com Stories * “CrowdStrike i

The Adversarial Podcast Ep. 3 - CrowdStrike, Wiz Acquisition Rumors, and SolarWinds

Episode notes In this episode, former CISOs-turned-founders Jerry Perullo, Mario Duarte, and Sounil Yu discuss the recent Crowdstrike outages, PR in the recent Wiz acquisition rumors, stakeholder value in Rapid7, and the SEC dropping charges in the SolarWinds case. Stories: - Activist Jana has a stake in Rapid7. There are two paths to bolster value at the cybersecurity company: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/29/two-paths-for-jana-to-bolster-shareholder-value-at-rapid7.html - Google Near $23

The Adversarial Podcast Pilot – Cybersecurity Investments, Secure Configurations vs. Code, and Risk Management

Episode notes Join former CISOs-turned-founders Jerry Perullo, Mario Duarte, and Sounil Yu as they reflect on the state of cybersecurity investments in 2024, debate the importance of configuration vs. code security, and discuss the importance of governance in risk management. Stories: * ‘There’s A Lot Of Noise’ — VCs Trying To Find Clarity In Cluttered Cyber AI Landscape: https://news.crunchbase.com/cybersecurity/venture-funding-ai-wiz-ma-rsa/ * Wiz raises $1B at a $12B valuation to expan

The Adversarial Podcast Ep. 2 - Chrome Extension Vulns, Cyber Job Market, Mouse Jigglers, and the Ransomware Plague

Episode notes In this episode, former CISOs-turned-founders Jerry Perullo, Mario Duarte, and Sounil Yu discuss malicious Chrome extensions, the cybersecurity job market, mouse jigglers and security policy, and the impact of the recent ransomware wave. They share insights from their experiences, exploring the challenges of managing browser security policies, job burnout, and banning ransom payments. Stories: * Millions under threat from malicious browser extensions — what to do: https://www.t

Season 02 Episode 02 - The Interim CISO

Joined by fellow Interim CISO veterans Yael Nagler of Yass Partners and Aurobindo Sundaram of RELX, host Jerry Perullo reflects on his experience as the Interim CISO of Silicon Valley Bank and explores the challenges of the role from hiring manager and candidate perspectives. Yael Nagler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaelnagler/ Aurobindo Sundaram: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aurobindosundaram/ 00:16:30 Why hire an Interim CISO? 00:21:00 Is there such a thing as KTLO in the CISO role? 00:30:3

Cyber Governance: What is Fair to Expect from Board Directors and Management? 3 of 4

Episode 3: Incidents In Episode 1 of this series I talked about oversight of cybersecurity threats and how a Board can engage with senior management to determine the mission of the cybersecurity department and prioritize testing and analysis. Next I moved on to cyber risks in Episode 2 and the idea of a Remediation Agility chart to guide a wide-ranging Board room discussion with a single visual. The next area that deserves a permanent spot on the Board agenda is incidents. Incident awareness a

Season 02 Episode 01 - Board/CISO Interaction

Returning from 6 months as the interim CISO of Silicon Valley Bank, host Jerry Perullo speaks about Board/CISO interaction on the FS-ISAC Insights podcast. Full video interview at fsisac.com/insights 00:04:35 Being the Interim CISO of SVB through the crisis 00:06:36 The CISO “seat at the table” 00:14:00 Board TRIC 1: Threats 00:17:30 Board TRIC 2: Risks 00:19:30 Board TRIC 3: Incidents 00:21:20 Board TRIC 4: Compliance 00:26:00 CISOs as Board Directors Season 2 Episode 1 - Board/CISO I

Cyber Governance: What is Fair to Expect from Board Directors and Management? 2 of 4

Episode 2: Risks In Episode 1 of this series I talked about oversight of cybersecurity threats and how a Board can engage with senior management to determine the mission of the cybersecurity department and prioritize testing and analysis. Now it's time to move on to cyber risks and what level of detail is appropriate in a Board room. To steer our conversation let's use a Remediation Agility chart. Similar to the Threat Objective portrayal in Episode 1, this visual is meant to sit on the screen

Bad CISO Archetypes

As part of my advisory work, I often help companies find and/or interview security leaders. While I'm a huge fan of screening quizzes, I realized that I should go a step further and help firms understand what I'm trying to detect or avoid during the interview process. In the process of discussing this with some peers, the Bad CISO Archetypes list was born. Look out for these when you are hiring - but more importantly steer your career to avoid becoming one! Chicken Little You don’t want someo

Cyber Governance: What is Fair to Expect from Board Directors and Management? 1 of 4

With mounting pressure around cyber literacy in the Boardroom, Directors are looking for specifics around what will be expected of them. Likewise, organizations are wondering what is fair for Directors to expect of management. Drawing on experiences from both sides of the table, following are reasonable expectations that leverage Director talents to establish effective cyber oversight. I'll do this using a mnemonic to guide program governance internally and externally - TRIC: Threats, Risks, In

Season 01 Episode 02 - The CISO Board Director

In this episode, host Jerry Perullo explores the opportunities and challenges for retiring tech executives and CISOs in the Board room. Hear about how Boards need business leaders first and specialists second, and what you can do today to groom yourself in that very direction. 01:57 Background 07:45 The Traditional Board Director 09:50 Episode BLUF 10:19 Landing a Seat 14:32 Your Board Profile 16:08 t-3: What You Should do Now 28:40 Recap Episode 02 - The CISO Board Director | RSS.com

Season 01 Episode 01 - The Portfolio Life

In this introductory episode, host Jerry Perullo talks about the range of opportunities available to tech executives after the day job. Perullo leverages his 20 years of experience as the founding CISO of ICE and the New York Stock Exchange to discuss what you can do 3-5 years before leaving your post to get prepared. 00:08:43 Advisory Work 00:13:20 Consulting 00:16:00 Angel Investing 00:25:05 Board Directorship 00:35:12 Entrepreneurship 00:37:06 Teaching 00:39:12 Volunteering Episode