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UNSECURITY Podcast – Episode 98 Show Notes

Here we are again, another Tuesday, and another episode of the UNSECURITY Podcast!

Tons going on, as usual.

Last week we released a couple new FREE things at SecurityStudio:

  • Work From Home Security Policy Template – Located at the bottom of our S2Team page. If you don’t know what S2Team is, you should definitely take a look. If you just want the template and don’t care, here it is.
  • Ransomware Recovery Contract – A simple contract between executive management and IT to ensure accountability for ransomware recovery. Executive management likes it because they finally know what to ask for, and IT likes it because they can use it to show they’re doing what they should/can to prevent a prolonged ransomware outage. I’ve uploaded the contract to my site here.

ADDED: Brad reminded me on the show that FRSecure made a free Incident Response Plan Template available last week. Take a look. It’s really, really good (and free)!

Other goings on include developing and improvement of new services (including the release of SecurityStudio v3.9 and an incident response capability assessment), continued collaboration with great partners, a few speaking engagements, episode 19 of the Security Shit Show, deployment of S2Team, and other things.

Alright, enough about that. Let’s get to the show notes, shall we? These are my (Evan) notes.


SHOW NOTES – Episode 98

Date: Tuesday, September 22nd, 2020

Episode 98 Topics

  • Opening
  • Catching Up
  • Accountability
  • News
  • Wrapping Up – Shout outs
Opening

[Evan] Good morning everyone. Thanks for tuning in to episode 98 of the UNSECURITY Podcast. Today is September 22nd, 2020 and joining me is my co-host and friend Brad Nigh.

Good morning Brad.

[Brad] Cue Brad.

[Evan] I think we have a good show planned for listeners this week. This episode is all about accountability. I’d like to discuss how accountability works in information security, who should be accountable for what, and give some tips for improving accountability where we work and in the world around us.

Lots to cover on the topic of accountability. Before we jump in, quick catchup with Brad.

Catching Up

[Evan] Brad, how you doing? What’s new?

[Brad] Cue Brad.

[Evan] Cue Evan.

Transition

Accountability

[Evan] Alright, let’s talk about accountability, or maybe the lack of accountability, in information security. This has been a topic that’s been dominating my thoughts again for the past couple weeks. I say “again” because this isn’t the first time we’ve talked about it.

During an episode of the Security Shit Show a couple weeks ago, I think it was episode 18, we were talking about ransomware. The talk was great, but the frustration we all felt was apparent. Why do we keep doing the same things over and over again? Why don’t people do the basics? My take was the lack of accountability. So, I drafted a Ransomware Recovery Contract to help.

Have you seen the Ransomware Recovery Contract?

[Brad] Cue Brad (I’m sort of springing this on him).

[Evan] So, the greater issue of accountability in general. Let’s talk about it here, for our benefit and the benefit of our listeners.

  • The importance of accountability.
    • Repeating the same mistakes over and over.
    • Safe to assume people know?
    • People die now.
  • When to define accountability.
  • Who’s ultimately accountable for what?
    • In tech – buggy software, social media (see the social dilemma), etc.
    • Big organizations.
    • Small organizations.
    • Public organizations.
    • School districts.
  • Examples of accountability disfunction.
  • Examples of good accountability.
  • What to do about it.
    • Get out ahead. Better now than never (or later).
    • Will CEOs be personally liable someday?

[Evan] This is a deep subject with much to be said. Everything moves so fast, and sadly accountability is severely lagging behind.

[Evan] For listeners who are wondering about us doing a series titled “Politics and Information Security”, it’s still being considered. We just have to put it all together.

[Evan] OK, news. Let’s do some quick news stories.

News

[Evan] Three news stories to talk about briefly this week:

Wrapping Up – Shout outs

[Evan] OK. That’s about it. Episode 98 is almost a wrap. Brad, any shout outs this week?

[Brad] Shout out…

[Evan] We’re very grateful for our listeners and we love hearing from you. Send us messages by email at unsecurity@protonmail.com or check us out on Twitter, @UnsecurityP.

If you wanna socialize with me or Brad directly, we dare you! I’m @evanfrancen, and Brad’s @BradNigh. We work for people and if you want to follow those people, SecurityStudio is @studiosecurity and FRSecure is @FRSecure.

That’s it, talk you all again next week!

The UNSECURITY Podcast – Episode 74 Show Notes – COVID-19 MN Response

If you reading this, I hope you and your loved ones are well! From what I read, we have another few tough weeks ahead of us in the U.S. before (maybe) we turn the corner a little. Keep up the good work by staying at home and/or maintaining your distance from others. Now is NOT the time to let up.

If you missed last week’s show notes or episode 73 of the UNSECURITY Podcast, we had a great time taking with our special guest, Oscar Minks. Oscar leads FRSecure’s Technical Services Team, and he shared some great insight into their current incident response activities.

Episode 74 Topics

Topics for this episode of the UNSECURITY Podcast include:

  • Opening
  • Special Guest – Jim Nash
  • Catching Up 
    • Another week at home.
    • What’s new?
  • COVID-19 Talk With Jim Nash
    • What’s going on in MN state government
    • What’s he hearing from other states
    • How he’s helping our community and tips for listeners
    • Opinion about impact on information security
  • Web Conferencing Craziness (mostly Zoom)
    • The Rise
    • The Bug
    • Zoombombing
    • Other Stuff
    • Overreaction
    • Benefactors
    • Logic and Reason
  • Work From Home – S2Me
    • NASCIO – COVID-19 Response Resources for State IT
    • Safety and Cybersecurity at Home 101 Webinar Series
    • Version Two
  • Other News
    • The Daily inSANITY Check-in
    • FRSecure CISSP Mentor Program
  • Wrapping Up – Shout outs

You can find the full show notes later in this post.

Thoughts

It’s good to get things off your chest from time to time, and it doesn’t matter if anyone else reads what you write. If you are reading this, I hope you get some value from it.

Good News

It’s been hard the last few weeks to find good news. Seems like everywhere I look, there’s bad news. Most of the time is related to Covid-19, but now always. The bad news can come from another breach, vulnerabilities in some application (this week it was Zoom), or any number of things.

If you want to find good news, you have to be intentional about it.

Here’s some good news sources/stories:

See? There are lots of good things happening around the world. Look for them and be encouraged.

Struggling

In the middle of all that’s going on, there are many people struggling. I may be OK and you might be OK too, but the number of people who aren’t OK has grown fast and continues to increase every day. People are losing their businesses, losing their jobs, and losing their minds.

For people who have lost their business, it may feel like you’ve lost your dream. You haven’t! The dream is still alive, it’s just deferred. It’s paused. You may have to start over, or maybe not. The point is to NOT give up. Starting over gives you a chance to do it better this time, using all that you’ve learned from the last time.

For people who have lost their jobs, you might be worried about bills or even where your next meal comes from. When you’re in the middle of the crap, it’s hard to see the other side. Missing payments can be stressful, but it’s not the end of the world. Do what you can to survive this (and you WILL survive this) and try to focus on what you will do or be on the other side. Plan now for what’s to come.

Personal Story

When we started FRSecure in 2008, the U.S. was in the middle of a recession. I thought we could power through it, and succeed despite the odds. I was wrong. We couldn’t find customers, and within a year, it became evident that we wouldn’t be able to pay our bills, including our house payment. I could have given up on the dream of my business and entered the job market again, or I could believe that things would get better. 11-12 years later and FRSecure is a very healthy company, employing more than 70 people and serving more than 1,000 customers. Foreclosure with a wife and five kids was very hard, but we didn’t give up.

Mental Health

For people who have or feel like they’ve lost their minds, please get help. Maintaining mental health during times of crisis can be extremely difficult. It’s OK to not be OK, but it’s not OK to let it rule you. There are many people who care about you and want you to let them help. This is the truth! The most common lie (I think) is believing that you’re not worthy and nobody cares. That’s the lie. Believe and follow the truth, here are some people who care (100%):

Remember, there is hope and there is help! This is the truth, and you have to believe it.

Social Media Stuff

It dawned on me that we have a lot going on, and we share a lot of it on social media. Here’s the list of social media accounts for us:

Those are some thoughts right now. Let’s get to the show notes!


SHOW NOTES – Episode 74

Date: Monday, April 6th, 2020

Show Topics:

  • Opening
  • Special Guest – Jim Nash
  • Catching Up 
    • Another week at home.
    • What’s new?
  • COVID-19 Talk With Jim Nash
    • What’s going on in MN state government
    • What’s he hearing from other states
    • How he’s helping our community and tips for listeners
    • Opinion about impact on information security
  • Web Conferencing Craziness (mostly Zoom)
    • The Rise
    • The Bug
    • Zoombombing
    • Other Stuff
    • Overreaction
    • Benefactors
    • Logic and Reason
  • Work From Home – S2Me
    • NASCIO – COVID-19 Response Resources for State IT
    • Safety and Cybersecurity at Home 101 Webinar Series
    • Version Two
  • Other News
    • The Daily inSANITY Check-in
    • FRSecure CISSP Mentor Program
  • Wrapping Up – Shout outs
Opening

[Evan] Good morning everyone! This is the 74th episode of the UNSECURITY Podcast. The date is April 6th, 2020 and I’m Evan Francen. Joining me is my co-host Brad Nigh along with our special guest Jim Nash.

Good morning Brad.

[Brad] He’ll say what he wants.

[Evan] Welcome to the show again Jim and good morning!

[Jim] He’ll also say what he wants.

[Evan] Jim, do you remember the last time you were on the show? How long ago was that?

[Jim] Still saying what he wants.

[Evan] It’s customary now that we start the show by catching up a bit with each other.

Catching Up

Discussion between Evan, Brad, and Jim.

[Evan] Alright! We invited Jim to be on the show again for a couple reasons. #1 – We like him and #2 – We want to get his perspectives on COVID-19. He’s certainly got some unique things to share.

COVID-19 Talk With Jim Nash
  • What’s going on in MN state government?
  • What’s he hearing from other states?
  • How he’s helping our community and tips for listeners?
    • Supporting the community and small business.
    • Where can we find his videos, pictures, and updates?
  • Opinion about impact on information security

[Evan] For those who don’t know, Jim is my state representative. He represents the district in which I live and I couldn’t be prouder of the way he represents me!

OK, last week, news about Zoom was all the rage it seemed. There’s plenty of fear, misinformation and confusion about the web conferencing solution. I think our listeners could benefit from some straight talk about the issues.

I put together a series of stories and organized them into subtopics. It’ll be cool to get you guys’ perspective.

Web Conferencing Craziness (mostly Zoom) DIscussion

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[Evan] Crazy. The plot is thick surrounding Zoom, isn’t it. The noise is loud and it’s hard to find the truth in all of it.

Let’s switch gears now and talk about something else that’s related. There is no shortage of articles and guidance for working from home. We built a simple assessment in the beginning of 2019, before all hype surrounding the pandemic. The simple assessment is known as S2Me, and it’s importance is higher than it’s ever been.

Work From Home – S2Me

Discussion about S2Me, including:

[Evan] There you go. S2Me is free and always will be free. Either of you guys feel comfortable sharing your personal S2Score?

Other News

[Evan] We had so many things to talk about this week. We’re going to skip other news stories again. Two quick things to tell you about though, before we go.

  • The Daily inSANITY Check-in
    • Still going strong.
    • Everyone is invited all the time!
  • FRSecure CISSP Mentor Program
Wrapping Up – Shout outs

[Evan] Well, that’s it for this week. Plenty going on and lots to do. Either of you guys have any shout outs?

Thank you for listening. We’re a couple of guys who really care about you. We’re hoping you all stay healthy and sane! We love hearing from you, so if you’ve got something to say, email us at unsecurity@protonmail.com. If you would rather do the whole social thing, we tweet like that. I’m @evanfrancen, and this other guy is @BradNigh. Jim, you’re all over the place. Want to share some places where people can interact with you online?

Jim, thank you for coming on and sharing with us today!

That’s it. Talk to you all again next week!

The UNSECURITY Podcast – Episode 73 Show Notes – COVID-19 IR

Hope you and your loved ones are well! We can’t understate the importance of physical, mental, and spiritual health, especially in times like these.

If you missed last week’s show notes or episode 72 of the UNSECURITY Podcast, there’s some pretty good stuff there.

Episode 73 Topics

Topics for episode 73 of the UNSECURITY Podcast include:

  • Opening
  • Catching Up 
    • The first full week with a closed office.
    • Staying sane and healthy at home.
  • COVID-19 Affects on Information Security (some of them)
    • Introducing our special guest, FRSecure’s Director of Technical Solutions and Services
    • Incident Response During COVID-19
      • Current Events/Incidents
      • FRSecure’s IR Risk Registration (what is it and why would I consider it?)
    • COVID-19 Scams and Attacks
      • What have we seen?
      • What are we planning for?
    • Physical Security Considerations
  • The Daily inSANITY Check-in
  • FRSecure CISSP Mentor Program Update
  • Wrapping Up – Shout outs

You can find the full show notes near the bottom of this post. Before getting there, I need to get some thoughts out.

Thoughts

It’s been 13 days since FRSecure and SecurityStudio closed their offices. All of us are still around and working, but it’s crazy how much life has changed. Personally, I’m still struggling to make sense of things and I’m mulling over COVID-19 data almost obsessively. The COVID-19 scoreboards plastered everywhere don’t help. On one hand, I like being informed. On the other, I’m tired of tracking the number of infections and deaths.

As I write this, there are 140,164 infections in the United States and 2,476 deaths. What does this mean in the context of everything else? How do I make sense of these numbers? Here’s one attempt:

What does a “normal” 30 days look like in the U.S. for deaths/mortality? According to the CDC, there were nearly 3,000,000 deaths in the U.S. in 2018 (the latest data available). Using this data, here are the number of people who died within an average 30 day window:

  • 53,867 from heart disease (the top killer in the U.S. with 655,381 deaths)
  • 49,255 from cancer (#2 – 599,274 deaths)
  • 13,736 from accidents/unintentional injuries (#3 – 167,127 deaths)
  • 10,029 from Alzheimer’s Disease (#6 – 122,019 deaths)
  • 3,973 from suicide (#10 – 48,344 deaths)

Compare these numbers to where we’re at now with COVID-19. I’m NOT at all minimizing the impact of COVID-19. I’m trying to make sense. I know the number of infected people and deaths will rise significantly over the coming weeks/months, and sadly, we’re in for more terrible news. I’m trying to understand what the numbers mean in the context of other things that aren’t as foreign to me.

A single sick person and/or a single death is sad enough, let alone thousands.

OK. Got that off my chest. Lots and lots of great things going on at FRSecure and SecurityStudio. The best place to keep up with them right now is probably on social media:

Let’s get to the show notes now!


SHOW NOTES – Episode 73

Date: Monday, March 30th, 2020

Show Topics:

  • Opening
  • Catching Up 
    • The first full week with a closed office.
    • Staying sane and healthy at home.
  • COVID-19 Affects on Information Security (some of them)
    • Introducing our special guest, FRSecure’s Director of Technical Solutions and Services
    • Incident Response During COVID-19
      • Current Events/Incidents
      • FRSecure’s IR Risk Registration (what is it and why would I consider it?)
    • COVID-19 Scams and Attacks
      • What have we seen?
      • What are we planning for?
    • Physical Security Considerations
  • The Daily inSANITY Check-in
  • FRSecure CISSP Mentor Program Update
  • Wrapping Up – Shout outs
Opening

NOTE: The show notes were written by me (Evan), but Brad’s leading this episode.

[Brad] Hello listeners, this is another episode of the UNSECURITY Podcast. My name is Brad Nigh, this is episode 73, and the date is March 30th, 2020. Joining me is my co-host Evan Francen. Good morning Evan.

[Evan] Good morning Brad!

[Brad] Also joining us for the show is our special guest and FRSecure’s Director of Technical Solutions and Services, Oscar Minks. Good morning Oscar!

[Oscar] Says good morning or something with his cool southern accent.

[Brad] We’ve got lots to talk about! As is our custom, let’s get started by catching up quick.

Catching Up

Topics here include how we’re coping with COVID-19, the first full week with a closed office, and staying sane (and healthy) at home. Brad found a really good video online; Covid-19 Protecting Your Family, Dr. Dave Price

[Brad] Here’s a can of worms (maybe). Let’s talk about some of the effects that COVID-19 has on what we do. Some of the effects on information security, starting with incident response and physical security. We already mentioned that we’ve got our special guest Oscar Minks here. He’s got some good insights to share, and this should be a good discussion.

Discussion – COVID-19 Affects on Information Security (some of them)
  • Introducing our special guest (again), FRSecure’s Director of Technical Solutions and Services
  • Incident Response During COVID-19
    • Current Events/Incidents
    • FRSecure’s IR Risk Registration (what is it and why would I consider it?)
  • COVID-19 Scams and Attacks
    • What have we seen?
    • What are we planning for?
  • Physical Security Considerations

[Brad] Sadly, the frequency of scams and attacks only increases during times of distress. It’s important that we keep our eye on the ball and not compound our problems with an information security lapse.

OK, switching gears now. Some people are struggling right now. Struggling with making sense of things, struggling with employment, struggling with anxiety, or struggling with any number of things. We started this thing called the Daily inSANITY Check-in last week. Evan, tell the listeners about this thing.

Daily inSANITY Check-in Discussion

The purpose of the Daily inSANITY Check-in is to provide a safe place for people to discuss current events, information security things, challenges we’re facing, or whatever else comes to mind. The check-ins are short (30- to- 60-minute) daily meetings with discussion. People are always free to come and go as they please.

[Brad] The Daily inSANITY Check-in is just one place to get support out of many within our community. The point is to find help when you need it and to help people where you can. It’s cool to see so many people rally and help.

FRSecure CISSP Mentor Program Update

[Brad] Real quick, we made an announcement last week about the FRSecure CISSP Mentor Program. We’re happy to say that we are still going through with this year’s class! The only change is that we have cancelled the in-person portion of the program. As of last Monday, the 23rd, we have 1,007 registered students! That’s crazy! Oh, and I should mention, if you haven’t registered yet, registration is still open.

Wrapping Up

[Brad] No news this week because we had so many other things to talk about. Two last things to mention:

  • Our pal Ryan Cloutier, aka “Cola” just wrapped up the second episode of his K12 Cybersecurity Podcast. It’s a great podcast and you should give it a listen!
  • A shout out to one of our regular listeners, Olga Hoogendoorn – Startseva. Evan promised to give her a shout out because she’s pretty awesome!

Well, that’s it for this week. Plenty going on and lots to do.

Thank you for listening. We’re a couple of guys who really care about you. We’re hoping you all stay healthy and sane! We love hearing from you, so if you’ve got something to say, email us at unsecurity@protonmail.com. If you would rather do the whole social thing, we tweet like that. I’m @BradNigh, and this other guy is @evanfrancen. Also, don’t forget to check out @studiosecurity and @FRSecure. They post some good things! Let us know how we can help you!

That’s it. Talk to you all again next week!

The UNSECURITY Podcast – Episode 72 Show Notes – COVID-19

Hi everyone. We’re hoping and praying for everyone’s health and mental well-being right now. Take care of what really matters, yourself and your loved ones.

Episode 72 of the UNSECURITY Podcast will be dedicated to continued discussion about COVID-19 and what the pandemic means, in our daily lives and in our vocation as information security people. It’s the topic on everyone’s mind, so to not talk about it seems a little tone deaf.

Before we get to the show notes (below), I’d like to highlight a few things going on around here.

One Word

What one word would you use to describe your past week? If you’re a Twitterer, let us know by tweeting your word with the hashtag #UNSECURITYoneword. Be sure to include us (@evanfrancen and @bradnigh) in the conversation.

Not Adjusted Yet

Not sure about you, but I haven’t adjusted yet. I’m an introvert, so I was expecting to thrive in isolation. I was wrong (for now). I was surprised to learn how much personal interaction really means to me.

Everything seemed different this past week and I was definitely a little off my game. I had trouble focusing on tasks and struggled with processing events occurring all around me. Nothing made sense at times.

On Tuesday (3/17) we (FRSecure and SecurityStudio) closed the offices, and by the next day, almost everyone was online and functionally working from home. Since there was nobody at the office, I decided to work from there.

The empty office was quiet. Too quiet. The quiet forced me to realize how social we are in our office. Every (normal) day is like a family get together. A family get together where everybody actually likes each other.

In a quiet office there are no dumb office jokes. No laughter. No smiles. No fist bumps. A quiet office is just filled with empty. Our office was filled with empty and me. It was a eerie and it was lonely.

I’m assuming the adjustment will just take time. Between now and then, let’s all keep our head up and look for ways to help others. Helping others can be a great coping mechanism!

The Pledge

Also on Tuesday, I wrote a pledge and posted it on LinkedIn. This pledge is one that I plan to live by, especially now.

My pledge:

  • I will NOT panic.
  • I will NOT give in to fear.
  • I WILL think things through.
  • I WILL make prudent decisions based upon the best (non-biased) information available.
  • I WILL be the person I’ve always been and learn to be better.
  • I WILL help my fellow humans whenever and however I can, putting my family first.
  • I will NOT use this (or anything else) to take advantage of people, and
  • I will NEVER put someone in danger if I can help it.

coronavirus panic fear think prudence decisions learning helpingpeople

What Else

We did a lot this past week.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Information Security Webinar(s)

In the midst of the chaos, we decided to put together a last minute webinar for Wednesday (3/18) afternoon.  Our motivation for the webinar was to help people and bring calm to the storm. Despite last minute arrangements and everything else going on, we had ~250 people come to the first session. Participation and interaction was more than we expected! There were many unanswered questions after the first session, so we decided to do a second session on Friday (3/20).

The topics we discussed were:

  • Introductions.
  • Before we get started.
    • #1 – The current state of affairs.
    • #2 – My pledge.
    • #3 – FRSecure Open Letter.
    • #4 – Ideas we’re kicking around.
  • Topics:
    • What is the impact of COVID-19 on information security?
    • How to securely shift employees to remote work during social distancing.
    • Some of the current social engineering scams around COVID-19 and how to avoid them.
    • How to create or adjust your business’s disaster recovery plan.
  • Where to go if/when you need help.

I’ve posted a copy of the presentation online for everyone.

Virtual Happy Hours

Our team started doing virtual happy hours on Thursday. Every organization should do these! We all get into an online Zoom meeting and hangout for a while. We share. We laugh. We joke. We smile. We love. These are amazing experiences that are healthy and good for the soul.

I prefer to sit and listen most of the time. Just taking it in. The sounds of my team laughing, their smiles, their dumb jokes (like really dumb), and sharing our day together are beyond magical. The joy these guys bring to my day is the best way to end it!

The Daily inSANITY Check-in

Nobody has this thing figured out and nobody has it all together.

We want to help, so we’re starting the Daily inSANITY Check-in webinar series. The purpose of the Daily inSANITY Check-in is to provide a safe place for people to discuss current events, information security things, challenges we’re facing, or whatever else comes to mind. The check-ins are short (30- to- 60-minute) daily meetings with discussion. People are always free to come and go as they please.

This is new, and we’re just getting started. Don’t expect all the kinks to be worked out day one. Visit the registration page for the full description and to signup.

K12 Cybersecurity Podcast

Good news! Our buddy Ryan Cloutier just released the first episode of the K12 Cybersecurity Podcast. His first episode is awesome! It’s so much better than our first UNSECURITY Podcast. In this episode, Ryan’s special guest is Amy McLaughlin. Amy is the Information Services Director at Oregon State University and cybersecurity project director for the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN).

This was a timely and well done episode. I recommend you subscribe to Ryan’s K12 Cybersecurity Podcast and get ready for more great content!

Pretty sure I forgot something, but that’s all for now. Let’s do a podcast (or something)!


SHOW NOTES – Episode 72

Date: Monday, March 23rd, 2020

Show Topics:

  • Opening
    • The week that was.
    • The week that is to come.
  • COVID-19
    • Priorities, and where does information security fit?
      • Mental and Physical Health
      • Yourself and Your Loved Ones
      • Business – Survival
    • The Bass and The Barracuda
      • Don’t be a bass. Be a barracuda.

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Opening

[Evan] Hello listeners, this is another episode of the UNSECURITY Podcast. My name is Evan Francen, this is episode 72, and the date is March 23rd, 2020. Joining me in studio is my buddy Brad Nigh. Good morning Brad!

[Brad] If it’s a good morning for Brad, we’ll know by how he responds.

[Evan] Last week was nuts. You and I hardly had a chance to connect with all that’s going on, so we’re a little out of sorts. This would normally be your week to lead the podcast, but since we didn’t really connect, I’m hosting again. Hope that’s OK.

[Brad] He’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. He’s probably OK with this.

[Evan] We’ve got a lot to talk about this week. Top of mind or course is COVID-19 and what the pandemic is doing to our daily lives. Sort of hard to talk about much else right now, right?

[Brad] He might agree.

[Evan] Last week was crazy. Let’s talk about the week that was and then talk a little about what’s coming this week.

Catching Up Discussion

Discussing last week’s events and what we’re expecting this week.

[Evan] Alright, there has never been anything in my lifetime that’s been as disruptive as the COVID-19 pandemic. I sort of feel like we’d be tone deaf if we didn’t keep up the conversation.

COVID-19 Discussion

Our topics this week include:

  • Priorities, and where does information security fit?
    • Mental and Physical Health
    • Protecting Yourself and Your Loved Ones
    • Business – Survival
  • The Bass and The Barracuda
  • Another plug for S2Me.
  • Next Week:
    • Maybe a guest; it’s been a while.
    • What happens on the other side?
    • Daily inSANITY Check-in Update
    • What we’re doing to help.

[Evan] The world has hardly seemed any crazier than it is today. Do all you can to maintain (or restore) your health. Good talk. Now let’s get to some non-COVID-19-related news.

News

[Evan] Alright, let’s talk about a non-coronavirus story (or two or three). Remember, attacks aren’t going to stop. In fact, they are increasing and are expected to continue to increase. Don’t ever put anything past or too low for the lowest among us.

Here’s two news stories to consider this week:

Closing

[Evan] There you have it. Episode 72. Thank you for listening. We’re wishing everything health and sanity! Remember, we love hearing from you. If you’ve got something to say, email us at unsecurity@protonmail.com. If you would rather do the whole social thing, we tweet like that. I’m @evanfrancen, and Brad’s @BradNigh. Check out @studiosecurity and @FRSecure frequently. They’re always posting good things!

Be safe. That’s it. Talk to you all again next week!

The UNSECURITY Podcast – Episode 71 Show Notes – Coronavirus

My good friends Brad and Ryan recorded episode 70 last week, and the topic was voting machine security. If you missed it, go check it out. Kudos to those guys, the show was great!

The Twilight Zone

Crazy. Life over the course of the last week was like an episode right out of Twilight Zone.

I was on vacation last week, taking a planned seven day cruise out of Long Beach, California. Cruises are a great vacation option for anyone who wants to disconnect from the world for a while. Connectivity on a boat is terrible, so why bother trying?

Never in my life has the world changed so much in a week.

When we flew out of Minneapolis on Friday (3/6) morning, the world seemed sort of normal. Sure, there was an increased awareness of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), but fear and panic appeared to be in check. Our collective awareness led to more people washing their hands, more people covering their mouths when they coughed or sneezed, and more use of various sanitizers. Occasionally, I’d run into someone wearing a surgical mask, but it wasn’t alarming or all that unusual.

The Cruise

We left the hotel for the cruise terminal on Saturday (3/7) around noon. As we got closer, we got our first glimpse of Carnival’s newest ship, the Panorama, and the excitement started to build. Seven days of sun and much needed rest. Something seemed off though. When we pulled up, we noticed there were hundreds of people just standing around with their bags. Nobody from the previous cruise was being allowed off the ship for some reason. Rumors were spreading and things were getting weird. After an hour or so, Carnival sent this message:

Thank you for your patience. Debarkation remains suspended pending medical test results for a guest who was on board last weeks cruise. Results are expected sometime after 6PM. Please do not proceed to the cruise terminal as the parking garage is full. We apologize for this delay and will provide an update in two hours.

Next, the news media started arriving in troves. Within minutes, news stories were already been published.

Carnival didn’t cancel our cruise, so we spent the night at the Long Beach Airport Hampton Inn, and went back to the cruise terminal on Sunday (3/8) morning. All the cruisers from the previous cruise had left, and we were permitted to board. Embarkation went off without a hitch, and before we knew it, we had arrived!

Our cruise was cut from seven days to six, and our originally planned visit to Mazatlan was cancelled. No matter, we were (and are) grateful for everything! Some people were mad, but what the hell?! One day in the sun is better than none! Even if they would have cancelled the cruise altogether, we would have been grateful.

This started the six days of limited (or no) connectivity for us. Almost like we were cut off from the world for a while.

Back on Land

On Saturday (3/14), we arrived back in Long Beach. The hot topic on the ship was all the chaos that the coronavirus (and media) had caused. We got connectivity again, and whoa! You’d think the world had lost its mind. Every news channel was dominated by the coronavirus. Seemed like bad news was everywhere and we’d stepped into an apocalyptic Twilight Zone episode.

What happened over the past six days?! Is the world ending? No, it’s not, despite what you might think from reading the news.

Store shelves are bare, there’s no toilet paper to be found, people are standing in long lines to buy everyday goods, people are physically assaulting each other over innocent items like sanitizing wipes, the NCAA cancelled the men’s and women’s national basketball tournaments, the NBA season is postponed (or cancelled), the NHL season is postponed (or cancelled), schools are closed, Disneyland and Disneyworld are closed, flights are cancelled between the United States and dozens of other countries, conferences and concerts are being cancelled, etc., etc.

Reality

Did thousands, or God-forbid, millions of people die while we were away on this six-day cruise? No, not really.

By the end of the day on Saturday (3/14), there were 3,043 confirmed infections in the United States and 60 deaths. Every single illness and every single death is significant, especially to loved ones, but are these numbers that should cause panic? There are some 329,000,000 people in the United States. Using rough math, the infection rate in the United States has grown to .000925% and the mortality rate for those who are infected (meaning those who were infected and died) is 1.9%. This means that one in every 108,000 people has become infected, and even if you were infected, you stand a 98.1% chance of surviving.

The math is good, but the inputs are extremely variable. These numbers are going to change, I know. If we don’t take action now, the numbers will be much worse than they should/could be, I know this too.

I’m not making any sort of case against taking proper precautions. Things like social distancing, cancelling group gatherings, and all of the (common sense, or should be common sense) sanitary measures like hand washing, mouth covering, etc., are prudent things to do. What’s wrong is the panic! People need to think and stop the panic.

We deal with panic on a much smaller and less significant scale every time we help a client through a troubling event or incident. In these cases, we always confront panic with facts. Panic is always bad. Panic makes things worse. Panic is NOT good for you. Panic makes you more susceptible to harm and opens you up to making poor decisions.

  • For those who are using this pandemic and panic to profit off other people – You suck and your actions are despicable.
  • For those who are using this pandemic and panic for political gain at the expense of others – You suck. Learn some decorum, stop dividing and start uniting. There’s a time for politics and responding to a pandemic is not one of those times.
  • For those who are not taking this seriously by taking proper and prudent precautions – You also suck and you’re putting others at unnecessary risk.

We are all in this together, and we all need to work together.

Seriously, don’t panic!

What does all this have to do with the UNSECURITY Podcast?

Lots! There are significant information security implications related to the coronavirus pandemic and the panic that has come from it. All of this is going to be our base for conversation in this episode.

On to the actual notes now…


SHOW NOTES – Episode 71

Date: Monday, March 2nd, 2020

Show Topics:

  • OpeningCatching up.
  • CoronavirusWhat’s happened?
    • What are we doing?
    • Information security implications
    • Business continuity, disaster recovery, and pandemic planning.
    • How does working from home affect information security?
    • What are the most important precautions?
    • If you haven’t planned well, it’s not too late.
    • How you can use S2Me and S2Team to make better choices.
  • News (non-coronavirus)
Opening

[Evan] Hello listeners, this is another episode of the UNSECURITY Podcast. My name is Evan Francen, this is episode 71, and the date is March 16th, 2020. Joining me in studio is my buddy Brad Nigh. Good morning Brad!

[Brad] If it’s a good morning for Brad, we’ll know by how he responds.

[Evan] It’s good to be back. What the heck happened while I was out?

Catching Up

[Evan] Did you happen to read my Twilight Zone reference about what it was like to be gone for a week, then to come back to what seemed like utter chaos?

[Brad] Of course he did. Brad’s good at preparation and stuff.

[Evan] Let’s talk about the elephant in the room, the coronavirus pandemic. Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that coronavirus is a pandemic. Nothing has been the same since. Let’s discuss some facts, our opinions, and give some advice to our listeners, based upon our own information security experience.

Coronavirus Discussion

IMPORTANT: Get your priorities straight; God, family, friends, work, etc., but don’t let your guard down. Attacks always increase in frequency during major events. Attackers know that many people are preoccupied mentally and physically, and they won’t/don’t hesitate to take advantage of the situation.

Be as vigilant with information security as you always have. In fact, be more vigilant than ever!

We’ll address all this (and probably more):

  • What’s happened?
  • What are we doing?
  • Information security implications
  • Business continuity, disaster recovery, and pandemic planning.
  • How does working from home affect information security?
  • What are the most important precautions?
  • If you haven’t planned well, it’s not too late.
  • How you can use S2Me and S2Team to make better choices.

[Evan] Thanks for sharing and thank you for the great discussion! To wrap this up, I’d like to highlight two online discussions that I had the other day about coronavirus on Twitter. The first started with a question posed by a Twitter user:

Twitter User: So how are you talking to your children about the pandemic?

A good question for sure. My answer:

Me; I’m telling them to wash their hands, cover their mouths when they cough or sneeze, and to be kind to others. Like I always have. I also tell them the world is a wonderful but dangerous place. They’ll be OK.

The other discussion also happened on Twitter. This Twitter user was calling for us (U.S. citizens) to vote everyone out of office because of the coronavirus (and probably their response). In this exchange, I responded with a question:

Did we have the same reaction with H1N1 that infected more than 59 million Americans and killed more than 12,000? It was only 10(ish) years ago.

Rather than engage in a discussion, this Twitter user blocked me. 🙁 I didn’t think my question was offensive. It certainly wasn’t meant to be. Maybe this Twitter user was more motivated by politics than any sort of constructive conversation. Sadly, politics get in the way of working together for solutions. Please don’t be like this Twitter user!

News

[Evan] Alright, let’s talk about a non-coronavirus story (or two). Remember, attacks aren’t going to stop because you’ve self-quarantined. Quite the opposite is true, sadly. Here’s two news stories to consider this week:

Closing

[Evan] There you have it. Episode 71. It’s good to be home. Let’s hope and pray for a good week with some sanity. Thank you to our listeners, we love hearing from you. If you’ve got something to say, email us at unsecurity@protonmail.com. If you would rather do the whole social thing, we tweet like that. I’m @evanfrancen, and Brad’s @BradNigh. Check out @studiosecurity and @FRSecure frequently. They’re always posting good things!

Both Brad and I are praying for health for you and your family. Please don’t panic, and make good decisions.

That’s it. Talk to you all again next week!

The UNSECURITY Podcast – Episode 69 Show Notes – Who does what?

After last week’s BSOD on Brad’s laptop…

We were 50+ minutes into last week’s podcast when Windows said no more. The operating system crash brought episode 68 to a dead halt before we had a chance to cover the last part of our Roles and Responsibilities series. So, instead of two parts, we’re doing three. This is how it all worked out:

I’m excited about this episode because it hits close to home. It should hit close to home with everyone!

RSA Conference

We’ll also talk about last week’s RSA Conference in this show. SecurityStudio sent seven people to the conference this year, and here are some highlights we will discuss:

  • The theme for the conference this year was “Human Element”.

  • Roughly 36,000 attendees this year.
  • San Francisco’s State of Emergency, mid-conference
  • The money grab was alive and well (literally).

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  • SecurityStudio’s first appearance as a sponsor.

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    • Gave away 1,000 free, signed copies of UNSECURITY.

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    • We became known as counterculture (which was super cool).
    • The theme “Mission before $” was born and etched onto each book.
    • We made (at least) 961 new friends.

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Overall, the RSA Conference was a great experience for everyone and a huge success for SecurityStudio.

On to this week’s show notes…


SHOW NOTES – Episode 69

Date: Monday, March 2nd, 2020

Show Topics:

Our topics this week:

  • Opening
    • What’s up?
    • One thing.
  • RSA Conference
  • Information Security Roles and Responsibilities (Part 3 of 3)
    • Last week, quick recap of roles and responsibilities (at work).
    • People are creatures of habit.
    • SIMPLIFY – What are things we can do?
    • At home:
      • Information security, privacy, and safety cannot be separated.
      • Parent
      • Spouse
      • Children
    • What should every “normal” person know about information security?
    • The importance of definition, formality, and communication.
  • News
Opening

[Evan] Hi again UNSECURITY podcast listeners! My name is Evan Francen and this is episode 69. The date is March 2nd, 2020. Joining me in studio is my co-host, Brad Nigh. Good morning Brad!

[Brad] Rumor has it, he’s been working hard on some IR work. Let’s see if he’s in the mood to talk this morning.

[Evan] It’s great to be back in the office and good to be here. We have a really good show for our listeners this week, but before we dive in, let’s catch up. Brad, tell me about your week.

Catching up

Some back and forth happens here.

[Evan] I’m behind on just about everything. Hoping for a good catch-up week!

RSA Conference

[Evan] So, there was this RSA Conference thingy last week. Let’s talk about it.

RSA Conference discussion. What we learned and what we wish we hadn’t.

[Evan] We’ll invite some of the interesting people from RSA to join us a future guests.

Information Security Roles and Responsibilities (Part 3 of 3) – Micro Level (at home)

[Evan] OK. So last week, we had a nice visit from the BSOD genie. Probably a good thing because we were going sort of long anyway. We originally planned two episode for Roles and Responsibilities, but instead we’ve got three now. No big deal. I’m looking forward to this talk with you Brad! What do you think about the series thus far?

[Brad] His opinions…

Last week, quick recap of roles and responsibilities (at work).

[Evan] We’ve talked about roles and responsibilities at a macro level and we’ve talked about roles and responsibilities within an organization. Now, let’s talk about roles and responsibilities at home. I know that you and I both are very conscious of information security at home.

Roles and Responsibilities at Home:

  • People are creatures of habit.
  • SIMPLIFY – What are things we can do?
  • Information security, privacy, and safety cannot be separated.
  • Roles
    • Parent
    • Spouse
    • Children
  • What should every “normal” person know about information security?
  • The importance of definition, formality, and communication.

[Evan] Great conversation. These things will all be covered in our book, and I’m really looking forward to finishing it with you. This book could help tons of people! Alright, as usual, let’s get to some news.

News

[Evan] Here’s what we’ve got for news this week:

Bonus, maybe a future episode; This breast cancer advocate says she discovered a Facebook flaw that put the health data of millions at riskhttps://www.cnn.com/2020/02/29/health/andrea-downing-facebook-data-breach-wellness-trnd/index.html

Closing

[Evan] There you have it. Episode 69. It’s good to be home this week.

[Evan] Thank you to our listeners, we love hearing from you. If you’ve got something to say, email us at unsecurity@protonmail.com. If you would rather do the whole social thing, we tweet sometimes. I’m @evanfrancen, and Brad’s @BradNigh. Check out @studiosecurity and @FRSecure frequently. They’re always posting good things! Is FRSecure out at SecureWorld North Carolina this week? Lots going on and lots of chatter!

That’s it. Talk to you all again next week!

The UNSECURITY Podcast – Episode 68 Show Notes – Who does what?

Trying to get back to posting show notes on Fridays. We’ll see…

The Week

It’s been another amazing week at SecurityStudio and FRSecure! I was in the office all week, so I got to see some of the magic first hand. You’d be amazed, truly.

OUR PEOPLE ARE INCREDIBLE! (yes, I shouted that).

Some of the things that come to mind right now:

  • Discussions and meetings with awesome people like Chris Roberts, Steve Hawkins, Mike Johnson, Augustine Doe, Jeremy Swenson, and Devin Harris this week. Each of them is awesome in their own way. Had lots of meetings this week, but these are the ones that stand out right now. Giving them all shout outs. They are wonderful people.
  • Brad’s kickin’ butt on some new service offerings, including a new CMMC readiness assessment. Checked out his executive summary report mock-up, and it’s sweet!
  • One of our analysts, “Ben” (he’s been on the podcast show before) has discovered some (16ish) significant potential/confirmed breaches of data in his research. Learning a ton about responsible disclosure. 😉
  • Lunch with John Harmon, FRSecure’s president on Thursday was incredible. We ate some sweet BBQ and talked strategy. This dude has some great ideas and I’m pumped about what he’s up to!
  • Ryan (“cola”) Cloutier is a machine. Opening doors, making a difference in education (K-12 & higher ed), and taking things global (UK, Australia, APAC, etc.). Letting this guy do his thing.
  • The marketing stuff and coordination for RSA next week is all set, thanks to the leadership of Andy Forsberg. This dude’s got in under control! There are seven SecurityStudio people heading out to RSA next week and we’ve all got brand new blue Nike’s and brand new blue branded T-shirts, not to mention 1,000 books to give away, and all the details. Excited to go have some fun with this group next week! (P.S. I think I got Andy hooked on Rockstar Energy drinks. I’m a bad influence, and I’m sorry.)

I could write something about every person here. The ALL pour their heart and soul into our mission of fixing this broken industry. They ALL understand that information security isn’t about information or security as much as it is about people. There are no words to describe the experience of working on this mission with this amazing group!

Breathe

OK, enough braggin’ for now, we got a podcast to do.

In last week’s show, Brad and I discussed the topic of information security roles and responsibilities at a macro level. We gave our opinions about the role of government, the role of business, the role of schools, etc. This week, we’re going to take the same topic and apply it at a micro level.

This is sure to be a great discussion!


SHOW NOTES – Episode 68

Date: Monday, February 24th, 2020

Show Topics:

Our topics this week:

  • Opening
    • What’s up?
    • One thing.
  • Information Security Roles and Responsibilities (Part 2 of 2)
    • Last week, quick recap of roles and responsibilities at a macro level.
    • The importance of definition, formality, and communication.
    • SIMPLIFY and operationalize.
    • At work:
      • Executive Management
      • CISO (or similar), two jobs.
      • IT
      • Legal
      • Everyone else.
    • At home:
      • Information security, privacy, and safety cannot be separated.
      • Parent
      • Spouse
      • Children
    • What are things we can do to simplify and operationalize?
    • What should every “normal” person know about information security?
  • News
Opening

[Brad] Good morning UNSECURITY podcast listeners! I’m Brad Nigh and this is episode 68. The date is February 24th, 2020. Joining me in studio is my co-host, Brad Nigh. Good morning Evan!

[Evan] Stuff and things…

[Brad] We have a great show planned today. Before we dive in, let’s catch up. Crazy week behind us and another crazy one ahead! What’s going on?

Catching up

Some back and forth happens here.

[Brad] Wow! Alright, let’s shift gears now a little. Last week, we talked about information security roles and responsibilities. Not the most exciting topic, but an absolutely critical one for sure! We’re approaching this topic from two different perspectives, from a macro level and a micro level. Last week was part one, the macro level. This week is part two, the micro level. You ready to get started?

[Evan] For sure.

Information Security Roles and Responsibilities (Part 1 of 2) – Micro Level

[Brad] You mentioned that we’re working on this book together. It’s a book focused on simplifying and operationalizing information security for underserved markets like state/local government, schools (K-12 and higher ed), small businesses, and individuals. Part of all this is understanding who does what, or at least who should be doing what. We started last week with our opinions about the importance of defining roles and responsibilities for governments, businesses, schools, etc. Now, let’s take it down to a more practical level.

We’ll share our opinions this week on the following:

  • How important is it to define, formalize, and communicate information security roles and responsibilities?
  • If we haven’t defined, formalized, or communicated information security roles and responsibilities, where should we start?
  • Why is it important to simplify information security, and how can I do it?
  • What does operationalizing information security look like and how can I accomplish this?
  • Roles and Responsibilities at Work:
    • Executive Management
    • CISO (or similar), two jobs.
    • IT
    • Legal
    • Everyone else.
  • Roles and Responsibilities at Home:
    • Information security, privacy, and safety cannot be separated.
    • Parent
    • Spouse
    • Children
  • What are things we can do to simplify and operationalize information security at home?
  • What should every “normal” person know about information security?

[Brad] Great conversation. We could have taken any one of these subtopics and devoted an entire show to it. I’m really looking forward to finishing this book with you. This book could help tons of people! Alright, as usual, let’s get to some news.

News

[Brad] Here’s what we’ve got for news this week:

Closing

[Brad] There you have it. Episode 68. Good talk today. Got any parting words?

[Evan] It’s a secret.

[Brad] Thank you to our listeners, we love hearing from you. If you’ve got something to say, email us at unsecurity@protonmail.com. If you would rather do the whole social thing, we tweet sometimes. I’m @BradNigh and Evan’s @evanfrancen. Be sure to watch social media for news from RSA! SecurityStudio will be tweeting and LinkedInning all week! Check out @studiosecurity frequently. FRSecure’s Twitter handle is @FRSecure, and they’re sure to have some good things too. Especially the week after next when FRSecure is out at SecureWorld North Carolina. Lots going on and lots of chatter!

That’s it. Talk to you all again next week!

The UNSECURITY Podcast – Episode 67 Show Notes – Who does what?

Did you even notice that I skipped posting show notes for last week’s podcast? Time got away from us. Sometimes our day job gets in the way. No matter. We recorded a pretty good show for you last week anyway, and you can catch a listen here.

We’re almost back on track this week.

Here we go…


SHOW NOTES – Episode 67

Date: Monday, February 17th, 2020

Show Topics:

Our topics this week:

  • Opening
    • What’s up?
    • One thing.
  • Information Security Roles and Responsibilities (Part 1 of 2)
    • How important are information security roles and responsibilities?
    • Is it important to define them formally, or do people just know?
    • Roles and responsibilities at a macro level.
      • Government(s).
      • Business(es).
        • B2C.
        • Employer(s).
      • School(s).
      • Consumer(s)/citizen(s)
    • Ideas for making things better.
    • Part 2 – Information Security Roles and Responsibilities (micro-level).
  • News
Opening

[Evan] Howdy. Welcome to episode 67 of the UNSECURITY Podcast. Today is February 17th, 2020 and this angelic voice you’re hearing is me, Evan Francen. Joining me in studio today is my security bestie, Brad Nigh. Good morning Brad!

[Brad] Hopefully he got some sleep and he’s ready to impart some of his wisdom!

[Evan] We have a great show planned today. Before we dive in, let’s catch up. As usual, I want to know how you’re doing and what you’re up to. Give it to me.

Catching up

Some back and forth happens here.

[Evan] Let’s see if you prepped for today’s show. I want you to share one information security truth. Pick any one you want.

[Brad] Shares a truth.

[Evan] Boom! Hashtag truth. Here’s one that’s on my mind…

[Evan] This weekend I was doing some work on our book. For those of you who don’t know yet, we are writing a really cool book. There are two purposes for the book. The first is to simplify information security, and the second is to operationalize information security in underserved markets. Underserved markets are state/local government, schools (K-12 and higher ed), small businesses, and individuals. How do we embed information security in such a way that it becomes a normal part of everyday life and a competitive advantage?

This book is being written by me, Brad, and Ryan (aka “cola”).

I’m just about done with my initial outline, which are really just thoughts. Soon, we’ll get going full speed with these guys. We’ll be collaborating big time!

Anyway, here’s why this is relevant to today’s podcast. As I was writing, I had a thought. One of the foundational components of information security is understanding and implementing roles and responsibilities. This leads to an idea of doing a two-part series. In part one (today), I’d like to discuss information security roles and responsibilities at a macro level. In part two (next week), we can discuss information security roles and responsibilities at a micro level. You game?

[Brad] Brad’s almost always game. He’s one of the most collaborative and easy-going security guys I know!

Information Security Roles and Responsibilities (Part 1 of 2) – Macro Level

We’ll share opinions on these things:

  • How important are information security roles and responsibilities?
  • Is it important to define them formally, or do people just know?
  • Roles and responsibilities at a macro level.
    • Government(s).
    • Business(es).
      • B2C.
      • Employer(s).
    • School(s).
    • Consumer(s)/citizen(s)
  • Ideas for making things better.
  • Part 2 – Information Security Roles and Responsibilities (micro-level).

[Evan] Good discussion man! We take so many of these things for granted. Good things for us to keep in mind as we continue down the path of writing our book.

[Brad] Brad is Brad.

[Evan] Let’s cover some news now.

News

[Evan] I’ve got a few goodies today:

Closing

[Evan] There you have it. Episode 67. Always great chatting with you Brad! Got any parting words?

[Brad] Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t…

[Evan] Thank you to our listeners, we love hearing from you. If you’ve got something to say, email us at unsecurity@protonmail.com. If you would rather do the whole social thing, we tweet sometimes. I’m @evanfrancen and Brad’s @BradNigh. If you like company stuff, we work for SecurityStudio (@studiosecurity) and FRSecure (@FRSecure). The company people post good things from time to time too!

That’s it. Talk to you all again next week!