Simplifying Cyber

Hosted by Aaron Pritz, Cody Rivers

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Latest episode

Oct 2026

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About the show

This show features an interactive discussion, expert hosts, and guests focused on solving cyber security and privacy challenges in innovative and creative ways. Our goal is for our audience to learn and discover real, tangible, usable ideas that don't require a huge budget to accomplish. Shows like “How It’s Made” have become popular because they explain complicated or largely unknown things in easy terms. This show brings the human element to cyber security and privacy.

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57 recent

October 5, 2026Episode 135 min

Pro Wrestling to Pen Testing - Phillip Wylie

Send us Fan Mail A guest who once wrestled a 750-pound bear joins us to talk about something even harder to pin down: trust. Phillip Wiley walks us through how he moved from system administration into application security and then full-time penetration testing, and why that “boring IT background” ends up being a serious edge when you’re trying to break things responsibly. We get practical about what actually helped him get hired, including self-driven learning, building real projects, and using OSCP-style training to close the gap between theory and hands-on hacking. Then we go straight into social engineering and phishing. Phillip shares how believable pretexts work best when they sound like normal corporate life, why you should only impersonate roles you truly understand, and how nerves and ethics show up during real engagements. We also talk about the uncomfortable side of the job: even when a test is authorized, some people still struggle with the feeling of deceiving another human being. Finally, we tackle deepfakes and voice cloning. We discuss why being on podcasts or speaking publicly can increase your risk, attempt a quick live deepfake experiment, and break down the small visual tells that gave it away. From there, we zoom out to AI in penetration testing, what automation can scale today, where human testers still matter most, and why mentoring is the best way to strengthen the next generation and your own legacy. If this conversation helps, subscribe, share it with a friend in security, and leave a review with the biggest risk you think most teams still ignore. 🔗 Connect with Us & Get in Touch Tune in to Simplifying Cyber wherever you get your podcasts, or watch exclusive video content right here on the channel. Subscribe for hot takes on emerging technologies, tips and tricks for everyone looking to stay secure, and in-depth conversations about complex cybersecurity topics. No gatekeeping and no BS. We’re here to simplify. Official Website: www.revealrisk.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/reveal-risk 🤘 Stay Secure with Us If this content helped you understand cybersecurity better, please give it a thumbs up, subscribe to our channel for more expert insights, and hit the notification bell so you don't miss our latest updates. Reveal Risk delivers cybersecurity results, not just reports.

June 23, 2026Episode 2028 min

Part 2: Swords, Subpoenas, & Software

Send us Fan Mail A champagne bottle, a blade, and a clean strike turns into one of the clearest cybersecurity conversations we’ve had. We’re joined by attorney and cyber contracting veteran Drew Tharp, with Todd Wilkinson stepping in as guest host, and we use swords and fencing to unpack why breaches happen and why “just add more tools” rarely fixes the root problem. Drew walks us through the four quadrant fencing model (active vs passive, offense vs defense) and how most security programs camp out in the obvious corners. We connect the overlooked zones to modern cybersecurity strategy: applying steady pressure that limits attacker options, building aggressive defensive moves that anticipate human behavior, and spotting the “seam” where urgency and confusion let a threat actor land one clean strike. If you work in healthcare cybersecurity, we also dig into why ransomware and business email compromise keep hitting so hard and how internal business pressure makes incidents worse. On the legal and vendor risk side, we get real about cyber insurance requirements, unlimited liability, and how BAAs and data sharing agreements can smuggle in heavy terms that the wrong reviewer might sign. Then we pivot to AI in legal work, including Harvey AI, and explain the key limitation that matters for both lawyers and CISOs: AI can speed up review, but it cannot understand business context, risk appetite, or which deal is worth the exception. If you liked this one, subscribe for more practical cybersecurity conversations, share it with a teammate who lives in contracts or incident response, and leave us a review with your biggest “how did that term get in there” story. 🔗 Connect with Us & Get in Touch Tune in to Simplifying Cyber wherever you get your podcasts, or watch exclusive video content right here on the channel. Subscribe for hot takes on emerging technologies, tips and tricks for everyone looking to stay secure, and in-depth conversations about complex cybersecurity topics. No gatekeeping and no BS. We’re here to simplify. Official Website: www.revealrisk.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/reveal-risk 🤘 Stay Secure with Us If this content helped you understand cybersecurity better, please give it a thumbs up, subscribe to our channel for more expert insights, and hit the notification bell so you don't miss our latest updates. Reveal Risk delivers cybersecurity results, not just reports.

June 23, 2026Episode 1918 min

Part 1: Saberage and Cyber

Send us Fan Mail A champagne bottle can teach you more about cybersecurity than you’d expect. We start with sabrage, the old French tradition of opening champagne with a saber, and we get hands-on with the real mechanics: finding the bottle seam, aiming at the pressure-focused weak spot under the lip, and using a controlled slide instead of raw strength. When it works, it’s clean, safe, and oddly satisfying. When it doesn’t, it’s a fast lesson in why technique beats confidence. From there, we turn the physics into a security mindset. Attackers rarely “cut through the whole bottle” they hunt for the one weak point that breaks everything open. We talk about what that means for cybersecurity leadership, preparedness, and incident response: practice before you’re under pressure, keep your defenses sharp on campaign, and avoid the expensive pattern of procrastinating until an incident forces a rushed buying spree. Readiness is a balance, not a single obsession. Then we nerd out on the blades themselves, from a Napoleonic-era hanger built for this kind of work to a Scottish basket-hilted broadsword and a stunning 1600s katana. We get into why European swords often chase flexibility while Japanese blades lean on differential hardening for a harder edge, plus the cultural story behind foreign steel and expressive fittings. We wrap by cutting fruit and confronting the final lesson: hesitation changes outcomes, so train your form until decisive action feels normal. If you enjoyed the mix of history, hands-on technique, and practical cybersecurity takeaways, subscribe, share this with a friend who’d try sabrage, and leave a review with your favorite “weak spot” lesson from the conversation. 🔗 Connect with Us & Get in Touch Tune in to Simplifying Cyber wherever you get your podcasts, or watch exclusive video content right here on the channel. Subscribe for hot takes on emerging technologies, tips and tricks for everyone looking to stay secure, and in-depth conversations about complex cybersecurity topics. No gatekeeping and no BS. We’re here to simplify. Official Website: www.revealrisk.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/reveal-risk 🤘 Stay Secure with Us If this content helped you understand cybersecurity better, please give it a thumbs up, subscribe to our channel for more expert insights, and hit the notification bell so you don't miss our latest updates. Reveal Risk delivers cybersecurity results, not just reports.

June 15, 2026Episode 1822 min

The Vulnerability Playbook

Send us Fan Mail A vulnerability backlog can look like a crisis, but sometimes the real crisis is that you’re staring at the wrong picture. We’re joined by Dave Sims, most recently Staff VP at Elevance Health and a longtime technology leader, to talk through vulnerability risk management in plain terms and why “more findings” doesn’t automatically mean “more security.” We get specific about the difference between vulnerability management and patch management, and how confusion between the two creates low-trust handoffs, endless ticket churn, and slow remediation. We also dig into the messy reality of asset inventory. CMDB data goes stale, cloud resources appear and disappear, and scanners can produce a better “what’s out there” view without telling you why it matters. Dave explains how metadata tagging and business context turn raw vulnerability data into risk-based prioritization: knowing who owns a system, what it does, why the business depends on it, and which weaknesses truly expose critical services. Along the way, he shares a story of cutting through years of miscommunication with a single no-blame conversation that unlocked progress fast. If you’re a CISO, security leader, architect, or practitioner trying to make VRM work at enterprise scale, this is a practical framework: outside-in black box assessment, inside-out discipline, and a people-first approach that values training, process, and continuous improvement over shiny tools. Subscribe, share this with a teammate who owns patching or VRM, and leave a review if it helps. What’s the biggest thing keeping your vulnerability program from being truly risk-based? 🔗 Connect with Us & Get in Touch Tune in to Simplifying Cyber wherever you get your podcasts, or watch exclusive video content right here on the channel. Subscribe for hot takes on emerging technologies, tips and tricks for everyone looking to stay secure, and in-depth conversations about complex cybersecurity topics. No gatekeeping and no BS. We’re here to simplify. Official Website: www.revealrisk.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/reveal-risk 🤘 Stay Secure with Us If this content helped you understand cybersecurity better, please give it a thumbs up, subscribe to our channel for more expert insights, and hit the notification bell so you don't miss our latest updates. Reveal Risk delivers cybersecurity results, not just reports.

June 8, 2026Episode 1723 min

Spot That Vish!

Send us Fan Mail A phone call from “IT security” used to be easier to dismiss when it sounded robotic or scripted. That’s not the world we’re in anymore. We built a voice agent fast, with no coding, and it can place outbound calls, sound convincingly human, and guide a conversation toward the exact kinds of details attackers love to collect. The scary part is not that social engineering exists, it’s that the hard-to-scale parts just became cheap, quick, and repeatable. We play a live vishing simulation on the show and then break it down like defenders: what the agent asked for, which answers were more sensitive than they felt in the moment, and how a simple URL prompt can turn a friendly call into a real compromise path. We also talk about why this threatens more than corporate users, especially older adults and anyone who trusts the “helpful support” pattern that scammers exploit. Then we get practical. We connect voice phishing back to the fundamentals of social engineering detection and lay out realistic steps: hang up and call back through the main line, verify through a second channel, and design business processes that assume the caller could be a bot. We also discuss how to run targeted vishing tests for roles like accounts payable, HR, and executive support, then use the data to focus training where it actually reduces risk. If you found this useful, subscribe for more plain-English cyber conversations, share this with someone who still trusts every inbound “IT” call, and leave a review with the best vishing defense your team uses. What’s the one verification rule you wish everyone followed? 🔗 Connect with Us & Get in Touch Tune in to Simplifying Cyber wherever you get your podcasts, or watch exclusive video content right here on the channel. Subscribe for hot takes on emerging technologies, tips and tricks for everyone looking to stay secure, and in-depth conversations about complex cybersecurity topics. No gatekeeping and no BS. We’re here to simplify. Official Website: www.revealrisk.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/reveal-risk 🤘 Stay Secure with Us If this content helped you understand cybersecurity better, please give it a thumbs up, subscribe to our channel for more expert insights, and hit the notification bell so you don't miss our latest updates. Reveal Risk delivers cybersecurity results, not just reports.

May 19, 2026Episode 1844 min

The Evolution of Human Risk

Send us Fan Mail You can’t just “train harder” to mitigate human risk. We sit down with Ashley Rose, CEO and co-founder of Living Security, to unpack why classic security awareness training (SAT) often produces neat dashboards with flimsy outcomes, and what it takes to build a security culture that people actually engage with. Ashley shares her non-traditional path into cybersecurity, how marketing principles map nicely to behavior change, and why the security team has to become approachable if we want employees to ask questions, report issues, and stop working around controls. We trace Living Security’s early days running security escape rooms, then zoom out to the bigger shift: human risk management (HRM) as a true risk management function. That means moving beyond completion rates and phishing simulations to quantify likelihood and impact using real signals across behavior, threat, and identity. We get specific about what that looks like in practice: endpoint compliance, MFA adoption, password hygiene, dark web credential exposure, privilege levels, and blast radius. The payoff is prioritization and focus, including the uncomfortable reality that a small percentage of users can drive a majority of measurable risk. We also dig into the hard parts that make or break programs: integrating data in messy enterprises, avoiding noisy alert floods, and operationalizing outcomes through automation and adaptive controls. One of the most practical takeaways is simple but sharp: make the secure path the easiest one to follow. When people repeat risky actions, it often signals friction and broken business processes, not “bad users.” We close by looking ahead to a hybrid workforce where humans and AI agents share access, shifting the workforce attack surface again. If you’re a CISO, security leader, or practitioner trying to prove ROI, reduce phishing and insider risk, and modernize security awareness into measurable human risk management, hit play. Subscribe, share with a teammate, and leave a review, then tell us: what’s the most broken workflow in your organization that security should fix first? 🔗 Connect with Us & Get in Touch Tune in to Simplifying Cyber wherever you get your podcasts, or watch exclusive video content right here on the channel. Subscribe for hot takes on emerging technologies, tips and tricks for everyone looking to stay secure, and in-depth conversations about complex cybersecurity topics. No gatekeeping and no BS. We’re here to simplify. Official Website: www.revealrisk.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/reveal-risk 🤘 Stay Secure with Us If this content helped you understand cybersecurity better, please give it a thumbs up, subscribe to our channel for more expert insights, and hit the notification bell so you don't miss our latest updates. Reveal Risk delivers cybersecurity results, not just reports.

May 6, 2026Episode 1643 min

From NIL Dollars to Data: New High Stakes in College Sports

Send us Fan Mail What happens when college athletes suddenly become brands… and targets? In this episode of Simplifying Cyber , we sit down with sports law expert Matt Banker to unpack the fast-moving world of NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) and the cybersecurity risks hiding beneath the surface. From hacked athlete data and fake endorsement deals to deepfakes, shady agents, and social engineering scams, we explore how money in college sports is creating a whole new attack surface. 💸 We also dig into: Real-world cases of data breaches in college athletics How third-party tools and “shadow tech” are quietly increasing risk The role of parents, athletes, and schools in preventing fraud Why NIL deals are as much about contracts and compliance as they are about cyber awareness Whether you’re in cybersecurity, college athletics, or just curious how AI and money are reshaping sports, this episode connects the dots in a way you won’t hear anywhere else. 🎧 Listen now and learn how to stay one step ahead—on and off the field. 🔗 Connect with Us & Get in Touch Tune in to Simplifying Cyber wherever you get your podcasts, or watch exclusive video content right here on the channel. Subscribe for hot takes on emerging technologies, tips and tricks for everyone looking to stay secure, and in-depth conversations about complex cybersecurity topics. No gatekeeping and no BS. We’re here to simplify. Official Website: www.revealrisk.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/reveal-risk 🤘 Stay Secure with Us If this content helped you understand cybersecurity better, please give it a thumbs up, subscribe to our channel for more expert insights, and hit the notification bell so you don't miss our latest updates. Reveal Risk delivers cybersecurity results, not just reports.

April 28, 2026Episode 1528 min

Cyber Insurance, Unfiltered

Send us Fan Mail The fastest way to turn a cyber incident into a business disaster isn’t ransomware, it’s confusion. We sit down with Violet Sullivan, AVP and Cyber Solutions Team Lead at Crum & Forster, who has worked across cyber law, breach notification, digital forensics and incident response, and now cyber insurance. That vantage point lets her translate what each group needs when pressure is high and everyone is speaking a different language. We get practical about the moments that create real-world chaos: overlapping roles like “breach coach,” acronyms that make leaders freeze, and the dangerous assumption that someone else already handled comms or law enforcement outreach. Violet breaks down a cleaner way to run the response by focusing on function: legal help, technical help, and operational help. We also talk about why crisis communications deserves a seat at the table early, how PR teams organize messaging by audience, and how to avoid the cleanup phase that happens when people speak too soon. Then we zoom out to the contract that quietly shapes the whole response: cyber insurance. Violet explains why insurance is not “admitting defeat,” but a risk transfer mechanism that can fund response vendors and influence decisions when you cannot afford mistakes. We also tackle emerging AI risks, including more believable social engineering and the legal concern that sharing privileged legal advice with AI tools may put attorney-client privilege at risk. If you want clearer incident response planning, better tabletop exercises, and fewer “who has the ball?” moments, hit play. Subscribe, share this with your security or legal team, and leave a review with the one part of your response plan you want to simplify next. 🔗 Connect with Us & Get in Touch Tune in to Simplifying Cyber wherever you get your podcasts, or watch exclusive video content right here on the channel. Subscribe for hot takes on emerging technologies, tips and tricks for everyone looking to stay secure, and in-depth conversations about complex cybersecurity topics. No gatekeeping and no BS. We’re here to simplify. Official Website: www.revealrisk.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/reveal-risk 🤘 Stay Secure with Us If this content helped you understand cybersecurity better, please give it a thumbs up, subscribe to our channel for more expert insights, and hit the notification bell so you don't miss our latest updates. Reveal Risk delivers cybersecurity results, not just reports.

April 16, 2026Episode 1543 min

Shame, Spinach, and the Human Side of Cybercrime

Send us Fan Mail When a romance fraud expert, bestselling author, and professional scam-troll meets two cybersecurity pros obsessed with deepfakes and social engineering, you get one of the most eye‑opening – and strangely funny – episodes we’ve ever recorded. In this episode of Simplifying Cyber, British author Becky Holmes (aka “Death to Spinach” and author of Keanu Reeves Is Not In Love With You) joins Aaron Pritz and Cody Rivers to unpack the murky world of online romance fraud, celebrity imposters, and how emerging AI and deepfake tech are supercharging social engineering. We cover: How Becky accidentally fell into the world of romance scams during lockdown by trolling “handsome soldiers” in her DMs Why smart, successful, emotionally stable people still fall for romance fraud — and why the “it could never be me” mindset is so dangerous The brutal impact of victim blaming and victim shaming in romance scams, and how media narratives make reporting even harder What really happens behind celebrity scams (including fake Keanu Reeves, “meet and greet” offers, and wild opening lines from fraudsters) How scammers use emotional hot states, urgency, fear, and love to bypass even strong rational defenses Why shame is one of the most powerful tools in a scammer’s arsenal — in both personal and corporate cyber attacks The parallels between romance fraud and corporate phishing, smishing, and business email compromise (BEC) How security teams often “tech-splain” and bury the message in jargon normal people will never read Why user awareness, empathy, and culture are just as critical as firewalls and MFA Then it gets real. Aaron and Cody put Becky in the middle of a live deepfake and AI demo using publicly available tools — starting with a fake kidnapping video, escalating into nightmare spinach scenarios (she really hates spinach), and ending in her “dream” deepfake wedding. Along the way, they show how shockingly easy it is to: Deepfake a real person from a single photo Clone a voice with just a few seconds of audio Create emotionally manipulative video pleas that could fool friends, parents, or grandparents. 🔗 Connect with Us & Get in Touch Tune in to Simplifying Cyber wherever you get your podcasts, or watch exclusive video content right here on the channel. Subscribe for hot takes on emerging technologies, tips and tricks for everyone looking to stay secure, and in-depth conversations about complex cybersecurity topics. No gatekeeping and no BS. We’re here to simplify. Official Website: www.revealrisk.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/reveal-risk 🤘 Stay Secure with Us If this content helped you understand cybersecurity better, please give it a thumbs up, subscribe to our channel for more expert insights, and hit the notification bell so you don't miss our latest updates. Reveal Risk delivers cybersecurity results, not just reports.

March 24, 2026Episode 1627 min

From Audit to the CISO Seat

Send us Fan Mail A contract clause can change your entire security roadmap overnight, and in healthcare the stakes are higher than most industries want to admit. We sit down with Brian Waltz, longtime healthcare technology leader and former CISO at Cardinal Health, to unpack how cyber risk becomes business risk the moment patient care, diagnostics, or critical operations get disrupted. We start with Brian’s path from audit to executive security leadership and why an auditor’s skepticism can be a superpower when it’s paired with empathy and clear communication. From there, we dig into governance, risk, and compliance as more than a rearview mirror. Brian shares how he gets leaders to define what a “bad day” looks like, then ties technical threats to financial impact, operational impact, and regulatory exposure so decisions don’t stall in jargon. Subscribe for more, share this with a security leader or business partner, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. 🔗 Connect with Us & Get in Touch Tune in to Simplifying Cyber wherever you get your podcasts, or watch exclusive video content right here on the channel. Subscribe for hot takes on emerging technologies, tips and tricks for everyone looking to stay secure, and in-depth conversations about complex cybersecurity topics. No gatekeeping and no BS. We’re here to simplify. Official Website: www.revealrisk.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/reveal-risk 🤘 Stay Secure with Us If this content helped you understand cybersecurity better, please give it a thumbs up, subscribe to our channel for more expert insights, and hit the notification bell so you don't miss our latest updates. Reveal Risk delivers cybersecurity results, not just reports.

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