Video Series Assignment

Information security can be a tricky topic to get up to speed on. That’s not for lack of information, but rather because there’s so much out there, including lots of vendor speak. With so many different people adding their voice to the discussion, figuring out who really knows what they’re talking about can be tricky.

To help, we’ve compiled a list of our favorite information security podcasts. We admire the folks behind them because they have a solid track record in the industry and broad experience in a variety of roles. And, while we don’t claim to be the arbiters of all things useful in this space, we think the information security podcasts we’ve identified here are some of the most useful and informative.

In addition to pointing you to some of our favorite episodes of each podcast, we’ve also provided links to the social media accounts (where available) of the people behind them. We think this is another helpful way to let you see for yourself how deep the experience and expertise of some of these podcasters go.

1. Defensive Security Podcast

The Defensive Security podcast is focused on sharing the latest InfoSec news and talking through lessons learned. They add value by sharing insights not noted anywhere else.

For example, in a recent episode they covered the Anthem breach of 2015. What was particularly useful is that they delved into using two-factor authentication to protect against phishing, something I didn’t see anyone else mention in connection with the breach.

Hosts:  Jerry Bell (@maliciouslink | LinkedIn) and Andrew Kalat (@lerg | LinkedIn)

Notable Episodes:

Episode 151: Jerry and Andrew talk in depth about the Anthem Breach one year on (and the importance of two-factor authentication in making these types of attacks less common) as well as stories on ransomware and one from Krebs on Security about a recent attempt to warn a credit union of a breach.

Episode 129: The guys talk about the security disclosure missteps by Oracle as an example of how not to handle customer-based security research, the impact of malware served up via malicious ads (and why you need an ad-blocker) and more.

2. Data Driven Security: The Podcast

Brought to you by two of the team members who worked on the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Reports (both have since moved on) this podcast takes a scientific, data-driven approach to information security. In fact they wrote the book on it.

Every two weeks, Bob and Jay take a look at the dark art of security data science and talk with a variety of security practitioners who are pioneering the data-driven security movement.

Hosts: Jay Jacobs (@jayjacobs | LinkedIn) and Bob Rudis (@hrbrmstr | LinkedIn)

Notable Episodes:

Episode 26 – Rapid7 Data Science: Bob takes us for a look behind the curtain into how Rapid7 is using data science. Lots of interesting discussion about the applications for data science in the information security field.

Episode 22 – Security Data Science: Bob and Jay talk to Allison Miller about the state of security data science and wonder if it’s already dead (don’t worry, it’s not).

3. The Silver Bullet Security Podcast with Gary McGraw

The focus of this podcast, like its host’s, is on software security. The show follows an interview format and provides a great platform for understanding the topic from a wide variety of points of view.

Gary can rightfully claim to be one of the fathers of the study of software security, having written the book on it, and first made a name for himself in the 1990s by finding gaping holes in Java.