Beers with Talos Podcast

Hosted by Cisco Talos

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Episodes

160

Latest episode

Aug 2026

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EN-US

About the show

Threats, Beers, and No Silver Bullets. Listen to Talos security experts as they bring their hot takes on current security topics and Talos research to the table. Along the way, Mitch, Matt and a rotating chair of special guests will talk about anything (and we mean anything) that's on their minds, from the latest YouTube trends to Olympic curling etiquette. New episodes every other Thursday.

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60 recent

August 5, 20261 hr 2 min

"I Pay You $200 a Month!" - When Threat Actors Argue With AI

Cybercriminals are increasingly relying on AI, but in doing so, they're creating an entirely new source of threat intelligence.This week, Talos researcher Arnaud Zobec joins Hazel, Bill, Joe and Dave to discuss what happens when attackers leave behind AI prompt logs, agent configurations and other unexpected artifacts. From jailbreak attempts to agentic workflows and accidental infrastructure leaks, the team discusses what these artifacts reveal about attacker behavior, and where/how AI is changing offensive operations and campaigns. Here's the link to that blog https://blog.talosintelligence.com/keep-going-bro-youve-got-this-a-data-driven-look-at-how-adversaries-are-weaponizing-ai/Also in this episode: our listener question tackles the surprising bad actor developments in over the past year, plus a bonus question on walk-on songs officially makes us a music podcast. Bill puts Hazel through her paces with an old school SOC question in 'Make Hazel a hacker'. And Dave leaves everyone with chills.

July 22, 202653 min

Keeping Up With the Cybercriminals

In this episode of Beers with Talos, Hazel, Bill, Dave and Joe are joined by Kendall McKay to dive into the soap opera of modern cybercrime. From rival gangs launching smear campaigns against one another to reputation systems, trusted intermediaries and dark web "customer reviews". Turns out, every ransomware operation is one passive-aggressive group chat message away from falling apart.Kendall chats to us about how AI is changing the economics of cybercrime, why it's helping inexperienced attackers get through the front door (only to leave them wondering what to do next), and how defenders can prioritize their defenses.We also discuss the rise of supply chain attacks, and where the lines between cybercrime and state sponsored activity are beginning to blur.Elsewhere in the episode, Joe once again attempts to Make Hazel a Hacker, Dave explains how a McDonald's receipt became an unlikely piece of counterintelligence, we preview Black Hat 2026, and Bill wraps everything up with his practical takeaways for defenders.

July 8, 202654 min

Space Pirates, Living Off Trusted Services, & Bill Declares Food War

In this episode of Beers with Talos, Hazel, Bill, Dave and Joe are joined by Talos Security Research Engineer James Nutland to discuss Living Off Trusted Services (LOTS) - a growing technique where attackers use platforms such as GitHub, Google Drive, Microsoft services and Telegram for command and control, malware delivery and data exfiltration.We explore why this trend is growing, how it differs from Living Off the Land (LOTL)....and Lord of the Rings (LOTR)....why trusted services create new detection challenges, and what defenders should be monitoring.Also in this episode:Data centers in space, when physics still has to physics.A USA vs UK Independence Day food showdown.Hazel faces another round of Make Hazel a Hacker.A new Reason Not to Quit looks at the latest successes from Operation Endgame.Bill gets his own corner.Here's the LOTS project repository mentioned in the episode https://lots-project.com/

June 24, 202647 min

AI Is Finding Bugs Faster. Now What?

AI is accelerating vulnerability discovery, so what impact is that having on defenders?In this episode of Beers with Talos, Hazel, Bill, Joe, and Dave are joined by Nick Biasini to unpack what attackers are doing with AI-assisted vulnerability discovery, why local models rather than frontier models may be a more attractive route for them, and the vendors who are now drowning in a flood of bug reports (many of them junk) as AI sifts through decades of technical debt with nothing but time and patience.We also kick things off with a listener question about threat trends and the FIFA World Cup, which leads to a discussion about whether any of us could resist Rickrolling the entire planet.Also in this episode: Joe attempts to "Make Hazel a Hacker" and phish the Pope. Plus, we launch a new segment called “Reasons not to Quit” in which we celebrate defender wins.

April 30, 202646 min

25 Years of Uninterrupted Persistence

Hazel, Dave and Joe plot to celebrate Bill's 25 years at Talos with stories and a good old fashioned roast.The team also covers the latest security headlines, including AI-assisted vulnerability research, and why attackers still can’t resist abusing trusted systems (or Roblox).They also break down the latest Cisco Talos Incident Response Quarterly Trends report, including:Phishing’s return as the top initial access vectorAI-generated credential harvesting pages built in minutesCrimson Collective activity and GitHub token exposurePre-ransomware incidents and early disruptionWhy logging (still) matters more than everRead the full report at https://blog.talosintelligence.com/ir-trends-q1-2026/And for more guidance for defenders, check out this episode of The Talos Threat Perspective https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wppL7JBshK8Plus: Crossbows, Metasploit nostalgia, and why, despite everything, security fundamentals still win.

March 23, 202655 min

Gravy, Glutes, and the Talos Year in Review

Hazel, Bill, Joe and Dave break down (sometimes in the literal sense) the 2025 Talos Year in Review which is available now at blog.talosintelligence.com/2025yearinreviewThe team, supported as always by the Turkey Lurkey Man, dives into the biggest cybersecurity trends of the year, including:· The rapid weaponization of vulnerabilities· Why identity abuse showed up everywhere · Ransomware trends· A rise in APT investigations· What defenders should prioritize heading into the year aheadBefore that, we discuss the cyber activity tied to the situation in the Middle East (full details on our blog https://blog.talosintelligence.com/talos-developing-situation-in-the-middle-east).There’s also an alarming amount of discussion about glutes. And gravy.Download the full 2025 Talos Year in Review:blog.talosintelligence.com/2025yearinreview

March 10, 202657 min

It's the B+ Team: Matt Olney returns

It's the one, the only, it's Matt Olney! We are delighted to have Matt back to talk with the crew about about the most random things, including TikTok diagnosing us with ADHD, inspiring vtubers, K-Pop Demon Hunters, ransomware in hospitals (the serious bit), attacker use of AI, why 1999-era tricks are still undefeated, and an entirely reasonable number of desserts.We recorded this episode on 20 February - please see the Talos blog for the latest on the developing situation in the Middle East https://blog.talosintelligence.com/talos-developing-situation-in-the-middle-east/Links to some things Matt mentioned:The MapMen: https://www.youtube.com/@JayForemanIronmouse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1_2JehaKOw&list=RDP1_2JehaKOw&start_radio=1

December 4, 202546 min

Ranksgiving Returns: The Appetizer Uprising

Guess who’s back? Hazel, Bill and Joe welcome back fresh-from-parental-leave Dave Liebenberg, who has returned with a new baby, and some truly chaotic Thanksgiving opinions. We kick things off with the security headlines. Joe gets spicy about a recent “AI-orchestrated cyber campaign” report. Dave brings us the poetic news that AI models can apparently be jailbroken with a well-placed limerick. Hazel challenges the others to a guessing game about just how much cyberattacks cost the UK, and Bill discusses what’s top of mind for organizations right now. But really, you know what you’re here for: the annual RanksGiving extravaganza. Dave boldly ranks his top five Thanksgiving dishes (with a new twist for this year, because apparently we need to re-engage the ‘youth’ before they’re lost to TikTok forever.) Cue the outrage, the gravy discourse, and a heartfelt (touching on amorous) defense of gluttony from Bill. Happy holidays everyone! May your gravy be thick and your cyber incidents few. See you in 2026!

October 16, 202545 min

Two Marshalls, One Podcast

Talos' Vice President Christopher Marshall (the “real Marshall,” much to Joe’s displeasure) joins Hazel, Bill, and Joe for a very real conversation about leading people when the world won’t stop moving. We start with Marshall’s days in the Navy’s nuclear program and the art of translating deeply technical work for non-technical leaders. We then get into how he joined Talos (“you WILL do this for me”), why being right beats being first, and how to keep a team steady and mission focussed when the news cycle is anything but. Marshall also talks about the decisions that shaped his life and career, what he’s had to let go of as he’s moved up, and the gloriously nerdy hobbies that keep him grounded.

September 11, 202544 min

How to Ruin an APT's Day, with Sara McBroom

This week, the B-Team gets an upgrade as we’re joined by Sara McBroom from Talos’ nation-state threat intelligence and interdiction team. Sara shares her journey from a liberal arts major to tracking some of the world’s most advanced adversaries. Along the way, she talks about moving from the U.S federal service to Talos, mentoring, leading with empathy, and why making bad actors miserable is a pretty good day’s work.Before diving into Sara’s story, we hit the security headlines (ouch) and also discuss a Dutch hacker camp with flaming badges and port-a-potty internet. But from 17 minutes in, it’s all about Sara — her path, her research (Static Tundra, anyone?), and how she leads her team without micromanaging.If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to ruin an APT’s day for a living, this is the episode.Here's the research that Bill mentioned: "Psychopathia Machinalis: A Nosological Framework for Understanding Pathologies in Advanced Artificial Intelligence" https://www.psychopathia.ai