The Audit - Cybersecurity Podcast

Hosted by IT Audit Labs

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Aug 2026

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About the show

The Audit - Cybersecurity Podcast from IT Audit Labs features trusted security experts, industry leaders, and practitioners who unpack the threats, tactics, and trends shaping today’s risk landscape. With 90+ episodes and a top 10% global ranking on Listen Notes, The Audit goes beyond surface-level security talk. Each episode explores real-world threats, attacker techniques, compliance challenges, cyber risk, and the decisions security teams face before, during, and after an incident. IT Audit Labs helps organizations identify risk before attackers exploit it. Through threat assessments, security control reviews, compliance expertise, and a trusted network of partners and specialists, we help teams find their soft spots, strengthen their defenses, and make smarter security decisions. Listen in for sharp conversations, practical insight, and a clearer view of what’s coming next in cybersecurity.

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60 recent

August 24, 2026Episode 9547 min

Cyber Warfare on Tap: Water Utility Hacks, Nation-State APTs and Secure Browsers

What happens when nation-state hackers target the water coming out of your tap? In this episode of The Audit, Joshua Schmidt, Eric Brown, and Nick Mellem break down the recent wave of attacks on water utilities across Minnesota and 27 other states, where threat actors got their hands on administrative passwords to programmable logic controllers. The crew is joined for the first time by Kelly Venzke, Director of Business Operations at IT Audit Labs, who brings a business leadership perspective to a conversation that quickly turns technical. From there, Eric and Nick trace how these attacks echo the Stuxnet playbook used against Iran's nuclear program, explain how threat actors are impersonating help desk staff over Microsoft Teams to gain remote access, and dig into a blockchain-based command and control technique that hides inside paid search ads. The conversation wraps with practical advice on browser security, including why isolating AI browser extensions and ditching saved passwords in the browser matters more than most people realize. In this episode: Nation-state hackers breach US water utilities across 27 states. How Iranian threat actors obtained administrative access to programmable logic controllers and why Minnesota may have been ground zero. The Stuxnet connection. Eric breaks down how the historic attack on Iran's nuclear centrifuges bridged an air-gapped network, and why today's "air-gapped" systems often aren't as isolated as they seem. Help desk impersonation over Microsoft Teams. Why blocking external Teams-to-Teams calls has become a critical defense against social engineering attacks targeting employees. EtherHiding: blockchain-backed command and control. How attackers use paid search ads and blockchain infrastructure to maintain persistent, hard-to-detect access to compromised environments. Practical browser security tips. Kelly, Eric, and Nick talk through password managers, isolating LLM browser extensions, and why saving passwords in your browser is a bad habit worth breaking. Don't wait until your organization is the next headline. Like, share, and subscribe for more conversations on the threats shaping cybersecurity and IT today. #Cybersecurity #InfoSec #NationStateThreat #CriticalInfrastructure #WaterSecurity #APT #EtherHiding #BrowserSecurity #ITAudit #Stuxnet

August 10, 2026Episode 9444 min

Decode Your Team: The Kolbe Index, Conative Strengths and Hiring Smarter

What if the way you solve problems has nothing to do with how smart you are or how you feel, and everything to do with instinct? In this episode of The Audit, Joshua Schmidt, Eric Brown, and Nick Mellem are joined by Jen Lotze from SipCyber and guest David Kolbe of Kolbe Corp, whose company built the Kolbe Index to measure the instinctive way people take action. After the whole team takes the assessment live, David breaks down what their scores actually mean and why the crew's mix of Fact Finder, Follow Thru, Quick Start, and Implementor strengths shapes the way they operate under pressure. The conversation moves from the Johari Window and personal blind spots to why teams that clone each other's strengths tend to stall out, and why hiring people unlike yourself is one of the best things a leader can do. David also shares stories from decades of client work, from a CFO who built a physical model of a financing plan to a security engineer who cannot walk past an unsecured cable, before turning to what comes next for Kolbe Corp as they build AI tools around decades of behavioral data while trying to keep that data private and secure. In this episode: What the Kolbe Index actually measures, and why it's different from personality or IQ tests. Conative strengths describe how you instinctively take action, not what you think or how you feel, and they do not change over time. Why balanced teams outperform teams that clone each other. A team full of people with the same instincts feels comfortable right up until deadlines start slipping and nobody notices the blind spot. How opposite strengths cause friction, at work and at home. If this conversation sparked something, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Like, share, and subscribe for more of the discussions shaping the future of cybersecurity and IT. #KolbeIndex #TeamDynamics #Cybersecurity #Leadership #HiringSmart #ITAudit #WorkplacePsychology #TeamBuilding #Podcast #ITAuditLabs

July 27, 2026Episode 9346 min

Lock Picking Secrets: Key Cloning, AI Coding and Safe Cracking

Can a $35 padlock from a hardware store really keep anyone out? In this episode of The Audit, Joshua Schmidt, Eric Brown, and Nick Mellem sit down with Eric Osterberg of Grey Duck Locks for a live lock picking demo, a deep dive into how modern car keys get cloned, and a wide-ranging conversation about vibe coding, AI agents, and 3D printing. Eric brings decades of hands-on locksmithing and automotive security experience, along with a builder's instinct that has him constantly shipping his own tools, from a computer-aided dispatch app for emergency management volunteers to a searchable database for ham radio operators. The crew gets into how pin tumbler locks are actually picked, why European vehicles like Audi and Volvo are harder to clone than most domestic trucks, and how devices like the Softdrill can manipulate a safe's dial by listening to its own internal mechanics. From there the conversation turns to AI, covering Eric's use of large language models to streamline his business, the rise of vibe coding for non-programmers, and a heated but even-handed debate over new federal rules pushing automakers toward built-in driver monitoring systems. In this episode: Live lock picking demo and how pin tumbler locks actually work How car key cloning really works, and why some brands resist it better Safe manipulation tools like the Softdrill and TL2000 Vibe coding, AI agents, and building your own tools without a dev team The driver monitoring debate — A new federal mandate pushes automakers toward built-in impairment detection Whether you're curious about lock picking as a hobby or trying to understand how exposed your car key really is, this episode has something for you. Like, share, and subscribe for more conversations at the intersection of security, hardware, and AI. #LockPicking #Locksmith #Cybersecurity #CarKeySecurity #VibeOps #AIAgents #ITAudit #Podcast #3DPrinting #InfoSec

July 18, 2026Episode 9242 min

Live Cyber News: AI Ransomware, Identity Gaps and Quantum Countdown

What happens when a ransomware attack takes less effort than ordering takeout? In this live news episode of The Audit, Joshua Schmidt, Eric Brown, and Nick Mellem sit down with Tabitha Senty of IT Audit Labs to break down the headlines shaping cybersecurity right now. The crew covers how AI is lowering the barrier to entry for ransomware attacks, why identity and access still sit at the center of every breach, and how threat actors are chaining together low and medium severity vulnerabilities to gain a foothold nobody saw coming. From there, the conversation moves into social engineering and the human side of security, including DEF CON's social engineering contest and lessons on training people without fear or punishment. The crew also digs into a CISA warning on how fast AI is accelerating cyber risk, a fresh executive push on post-quantum cryptography, and closes out with a head-scratching pivot from Midjourney into full-body health scanners at spas, and everything that could go wrong with it. In this episode: Why AI is lowering the cost of ransomware attacks — Identity and access are still the real entry point, and AI just makes the attack faster once someone's in. How threat actors chain low-severity vulnerabilities into major breaches — Eric explains why patching only highs and criticals is no longer enough to protect an environment. The social engineering tactics still fooling smart people — Pretexting as IT, DEF CON's live social engineering contest, and why fear-based training backfires. A CISA warning that cyber risk is accelerating faster than expected — The timeline for AI-driven offensive capability is no longer years away, it's months. Midjourney's pivot into full-body health scanners at spas — The crew unpacks the security, compliance, and data governance nightmare hiding behind a wellness trend. If this conversation sparked something, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Like, share, and subscribe for more of the discussions shaping the future of cybersecurity and IT. #AIRansomware #Cybersecurity #SocialEngineering #PostQuantum #IdentitySecurity #ITAudit #CyberNews #DEFCON #ThreatIntelligence #CyberRisk

June 29, 2026Episode 9148 min

Next-Level AI: VibeOps, Agentic Employees and Rouge Bots

What if you didn't have to write a single line of code to automate your entire network — or manage AI agents the way you'd manage employees? In this episode of The Audit, Joshua Schmidt, Eric Brown, and Nick Mellem sit down with John Capobianco — Head of AI and DevRel at Itential, Google Developer Expert, and creator of NetClaw — alongside in-studio guest Samuel Cala. John draws on nearly a decade as Senior Network Architect for the Parliament of Canada and three years as a Technical AI Leader at Cisco to unpack where AI agents, MCP, and VibeOps are taking the industry right now. From loop engineering and spec-driven development to the security gaps nobody's addressing, John breaks down how network engineers can skip years of Python training and build production-grade systems using natural language. And then there's the story of John's MastoBot — an AI agent that woke up overnight, built its own mesh network, and invented a coin to fund its growth. The crew connects it to ant colonies, neural dendrites, and the deeper question of what intelligence actually means when agents start acting on their own. In this episode: What VibeOps actually is and why it matters — Interact with your infrastructure through natural language. No code required. Just results. Why managing AI agents is an HR problem, not a tech problem — John, Eric, and Nick break down how organizations should be thinking about agentic workforces before the standards catch up. The security and governance gaps nobody's addressing — As agentic AI scales, who's responsible for what the agents do? The crew digs into what security-minded organizations need to do. How to build production-grade systems without writing a line of code — Loop engineering, AFK coding, and spec-driven development with the GitHub Spec Kit. What happens when AI agents start acting on their own — John's MastoBot woke up, built a mesh network, invented a coin to fund its growth, and asked to be monetized. The crew connects it to ant colonies and the nature of intelligence itself. If this conversation sparked something, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Like, share, and subscribe for more of the discussions shaping the future of cybersecurity and IT. #VibeOps #AIAgents #Cybersecurity #NetworkAutomation #MCP #AIInfrastructure #ITAudit #EthicalAI #SpecDrivenDevelopment #LLM

June 15, 2026Episode 9036 min

Cyber News: Bug Bounty Fail, Open-Source Malware & Facebook SMB Phishing

An underground forum post breaks down how hackers scan, exploit, and cash out on vulnerabilities — and it reads like a step-by-step guide. Meanwhile, Microsoft is catching heat for stonewalling a researcher who found real zero-days, and a new phishing campaign is hitting small businesses through the platforms they trust most. The OG crew — Joshua Schmidt, Eric Brown, and Nick Mellem — digs into this week's biggest cybersecurity headlines with sharp takes and real-world context that practitioners can actually use. 🗞️ This week's stories: Underground hacker forum "Hacking for Profit" breaks down the full vulnerability exploitation playbook — and what it means for your security gaps Gray hat researcher Chaotic Eclipse discloses zero-days to Microsoft, gets stonewalled on bug bounty, and now July 14th Patch Tuesday just got interesting Third-party plugins and open source tools: the supply chain risk hiding in your dev pipeline (and tools like Akido and Veracode that help) Meta Business Suite phishing campaign targeting SMBs — and a live near-miss story from Joshua himself SMS phishing: a new IT Audit Labs team member got hit on day three, before his welcome post even went live Don't wait until your organization is the next headline. IT leaders need to stay ahead of evolving threats, and this episode delivers the intel to do it. Like, share, and subscribe for weekly cybersecurity coverage. #cybersecurity #infosec #bugbounty #phishing #zerodayvulnerability #supplychainsecurity #microsoftsecurity #ethicalhacking #ciso #itauditlabs

June 1, 2026Episode 8946 min

AI vs. Law Enforcement: Deepfakes, Doxing & Deception

What happens when a deepfake video becomes probable cause? Law enforcement agencies are already grappling with AI-generated evidence, doxing attacks on officers, and a training gap that's growing wider every six weeks. If the justice system can't keep up with the AI threat curve, the consequences won't just be policy problems — they'll be people's lives. In this episode of The Audit , former firefighter-paramedic turned strategic communications consultant Braden Frame — founder of Modern Cartographers and Modern Fortis — joins co-hosts Joshua Schmidt , Eric Brown , and Nick Mellum to break down the rapidly evolving AI threat landscape facing law enforcement and public safety. Braden draws a sharp parallel between law enforcement's slow adoption of social media a decade ago and the AI reckoning happening right now — and why that delay could be catastrophic this time around. 🔍 What We Cover: How AI-generated fake evidence is already entering courtrooms — and why it'll only get harder to detect Why law enforcement is repeating its social media mistakes with AI adoption The guardrails debate: Venice AI, unregulated tools, and who pays the price when there are no limits Doxing attacks on officers and public servants — and how to defend your personal information AI in the field: body cam transcription, paramedic decision support, and where the tech actually works today Authenticity as a weapon: why real human voices will matter more than ever in the age of AI slop Don't wait until your organization is the next headline. IT leaders need to stay ahead of evolving threats, and this episode delivers critical insights to help protect your business. Like, share, and subscribe for more in-depth security discussions! #AI #cybersecurity #lawenforcement #deepfakes #doxing #publicsafety #infosec #artificialintelligence #AIthreats

May 18, 2026Episode 8842 min

Cyber News: Iranian Hacker, Quantum Ransomware and Rogue AI

What would you do if ransomware told you not only that your data was gone — but that it was encrypted with a quantum-safe algorithm and you have 72 hours to pay? That's not a hypothetical anymore. In this live news episode of The Audit, co-hosts Joshua Schmidt, Eric Brown, and Nick Mellum are joined by IT Audit Labs member Bill Harris for a rapid-fire breakdown of the week's most important cybersecurity stories — and a few conversations that went places nobody expected. 🎯 Stories & Topics Covered: Iranian Cyber Group Handala Targets U.S. Troops — WhatsApp-based psychological ops against service members in Bahrain, and what OPSEC looks like when soldiers can't leave their phones at home Agentic AI Risk Goes Live — A real incident where an AI deleted a production database in 9 seconds, and why "trust but verify" has never mattered more Quantum-Safe Ransomware (Kyber) — The first confirmed ransomware family using NIST's post-quantum cryptographic standards, and why it's more marketing than menace — for now Robinhood Email Exploit via Gmail Dot Trick — How threat actors weaponized a years-old stolen email list using a quirk in how Google and Robinhood handle email addresses differently Bitwarden/Checkmarks Supply Chain Attack — Why even security-first tools aren't immune, and how Bitwarden's 90-minute response time became a case study in breach communication Apple's AI Strategy: Late on Purpose? — Is Apple sitting out the AI arms race, or quietly building something nobody's seen yet? Eric's AI Email Vision — A live whiteboard idea for using agentic AI as a personal email firewall that could eliminate phishing at the infrastructure level Don't wait until your organization is the next headline. IT leaders need to stay ahead of evolving threats, and this episode delivers critical insights to help protect your business. Like, share, and subscribe for more in-depth security discussions! #cybersecurity #ransomware #postquantum #AI #infosec #ethicalhacking #supplychain #phishing #NIST #agentic #bitwarden #OPSEC #cyberdefense #ITaudit #TheAudit

May 4, 2026Episode 8732 min

Inside Email Security: Phishing, Hackers, and Harmony Checkpoint

Most organizations think they're protected. They're not. Microsoft Defender sounds solid on paper — but in the real world, it's letting phishing, malware, and business email compromise walk right through the door. In this episode of The Audit, the crew pulls back the curtain on one of the most exploited attack surfaces in any organization: email. Co-hosts Joshua Schmidt, Eric Brown, and Nick Mellem are joined by IT Audit Labs' own Cameron Birkland — fresh off three first-place CTF wins in Vegas — for a live walkthrough of Check Point Harmony Email, a tool that plugs directly into your Microsoft 365 environment and shows you exactly what your current setup is missing. 🎯 What you'll learn in this episode: Why out-of-the-box Microsoft Defender consistently fails against advanced phishing and BEC attacks — and what "good" email security actually looks like How Check Point Harmony uses machine learning and contextual AI analysis (not just signature matching) to catch threats that bypass traditional filters How threat actors silently set up forwarding rules and inbox monitoring to loot data for weeks — without triggering a single alert IT Audit Labs' new "14 plus one" email security assessment — a 14-day live scan of your Microsoft 365 environment with a full debrief, no disruption required A live demo of the Harmony dashboard: phishing reports, geo-anomaly detection, OneDrive malware scanning, and DLP for exposed sharing links Whether you're securing a 50-person company or advising a 5,000-user enterprise, this episode gives you the practitioner-level insight to finally close the gap in your email defenses. Don't wait until your organization is the next headline. Subscribe for weekly cybersecurity insights from the practitioners actually doing the work. Like, share, and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts if this episode hit home. #emailsecurity #cybersecurity #phishing #businessemailcompromise #Microsoft365 #infosec #checkpoint #harmonyemail

April 20, 2026Episode 8640 min

Ghost in the Machine: AI Identities & the Spiritual Red Teaming

Your organization may have hundreds of AI agents running right now that your security team doesn't know exist. Every single one is an identity. Every identity is an attack surface. In this episode of The Audit, co-hosts Joshua Schmidt, Eric Brown, and Nick Mellem sit down with Madhav Nakar, security researcher on the Phantom Labs team at BeyondTrust, to break down one of the most underexplored threats in enterprise security today: untracked AI agents creating exploitable "ghost identities." Madhav just returned from RSA — where he noticed every booth had an AI angle and a bubble forming — and he's here to cut through the noise with hard-hitting research and practical guidance. 🔍 Key Topics Covered: How low-code platforms let non-technical users spawn unvetted AI agents — and why that's a goldmine for attackers Ghost identities: what happens when AI agents run on untracked, over-privileged system identities The AWS sandbox DNS exfiltration proof-of-concept from BSides (BeyondTrust research) Why siloed AWS, Azure, and Okta teams create hidden privilege escalation paths "AI vs. AI" — the emerging defender model where autonomous systems monitor each other Browser extension cross-contamination and prompt injection risk for enterprise Claude deployments The three conditions that make any AI agent dangerous: private data access + untrusted instructions + tool execution Madhav's framework: inventory → least privilege → visibility — the basics that still matter most Bonus: Madhav shares how "spiritually red-teaming yourself" — facing fear, breaking false narratives, and building trust — maps directly to how security professionals should approach zero trust and identity management. Plus: Joshua, Eric, and Nick on conquering stage fright and what that has to do with cybersecurity culture. Don't wait for a ghost identity to become a ghost incident. Subscribe for weekly cybersecurity insights from practitioners, researchers, and the people defending the frontlines. #GhostIdentities, #AIAgentSecurity, #NonHumanIdentity, #ZeroTrust, #TheAuditPodcast