The Defender's Log Podcast
Deep in the digital shadows, where threats hide behind any random byte, a fearless crew of cybersecurity warriors guards the line between chaos and order. Their epic battles, rarely spoken of - until today.
All Episodes
When Privacy Creates Blind Spots
Andrew Campling
Andrew Campling examines encryption, internet standards, and the trade-offs between absolute privacy, defender visibility, and online safety.
Why Your Logs Should Get Quieter With Every Layer
Dhruv Ahuja
Chaser Systems founder Dhruv Ahuja discusses infrastructure security, Zero Trust egress allowlisting, malware containment, and cleaner security logs.
The First Line of Defense Is Being Informed
Matthew Dufresne
Matthew Dufresne traces three decades of connectivity and explains how CanadaGPT uses government data and provenance to deliver informed answers.
Attackers Move at AI Speed. Can Policy Keep Up?
Dr. Amit Elazari
Dr. Amit Elazari explores cyber policy, public-private coalitions, policy-as-code, and how regulation can anticipate AI-driven security threats.
From Crisis to Prevention: Rethinking Cybersecurity Leadership
Philippe Johnston
Philippe Johnston shares lessons from military service and cyber crisis leadership, including playbooks and the shift from response to prevention.
Deep in the Dark Matter: What Security Chiefs See That Others Don't
John Todd, Andreas Taudte & Andrew Campling
John Todd, Andreas Taudte, and Andrew Campling examine malicious domains, encrypted DNS, and the visibility gaps confronting network defenders.
Defending the Kids: DNS, Filters, and the Fight for Safer Schools
Tom Newton
Tom Newton discusses DNS filtering, child protection, and online safety through his work with Smoothwall and the Internet Watch Foundation.
Protective DNS and the Future of Cyber Defense Architecture
Cricket Liu
Cricket Liu traces DNS from internet phonebook to defensive layer and explores how protective DNS can strengthen modern cybersecurity architecture.
Why DNS Is Your First Line of Cyber Defense
Chris Buijs
Chris Buijs explains why DNS is a security layer, where set-it-and-forget-it approaches fail, and how defenders can make filtering proactive.
The Psychology Behind a Cyber Breach and the Leaders Who Survive It
Nim Nadarajah
CISO Nim Nadarajah examines incident-response leadership, the psychology of a cyber crisis, and how executives guide teams through uncertainty.
How to Think, Not What to Think: Raising Resilient Minds in a Tech-Driven World
Mitch Prior
Mitch Prior explores human intuition, thinking, education, and the importance of understanding why—not merely what—to think in a Zero Trust world.
Defense Before Offense: Leadership, Risk, and the Cost of Bad Decisions
Steven Elliott
Steven Elliott connects military operations, financial leadership, and cybersecurity to show why defensive decisions must come before offense.
Speed, Risk, and Responsibility in the Age of AI
Rafael Ramirez
Rafael Ramirez navigates the rapidly shifting landscape of AI security, exploring how artificial intelligence has evolved from simple chatbots into powerful, autonomous agentic systems. He outlines seven pillars of SME security - Governance, Data Integrity, Hygiene, Third-Party Risk, AI Threat Detection, the Three T's (Technology, Trust, Talent), and Incident Response - and argues that Talent remains the most critical ingredient in a Zero Trust world.
Inside the DNS Battlefield: Malware, Tunnels & the Future of Network Defense
Johannes Weber
Johannes Weber explores the hidden world of DNS security, revealing how 90% of malware uses DNS in its kill chain. He explains DNS exfiltration, tunneling, and domain generation algorithms (DGAs) as key attack vectors, and discusses defenses including recursive resolvers, DNSSEC, and the trade-offs of DNS over HTTPS in enterprise environments.
The Defender's Mentality - From Film Sets to Cyber Resilience
Francois Driessen, Co-Founder ADAMnetworks
Francois Driessen explores the intersection of human psychology, extreme risk, and cybersecurity. His background in film production and technical diving taught him that resilience must be built into the system. He advocates for a Zero Trust "True Proactive" approach - security by design with a default deny posture that stops threats before they connect.
27 Years of Defending the Web: Inside Peter Lowe's Blocklist
Peter Lowe
Peter Lowe reflects on 27 years of maintaining a blocklist and explains the human judgment, privacy principles, and persistence behind web defense.
The Architect of the Internet on the Future of Trust
Dr. Paul Mockapetris, Inventor of DNS
Paul Mockapetris, the architect of DNS, discusses the evolving role of the Domain Name System from a simple directory to a sophisticated security tool. He posits that modern networking requires "making sure DNS doesn't work when you don't want it to," comparing DNS filtering to essential services like spam filters and firewalls.
The Hidden Layer of Cybersecurity: DNS & DDI Defense
Andreas Taudte
Andreas Taudte explains why DNS, DHCP, and IP address management are critical defensive layers against tunneling, data loss, and network threats.
The Dark Truth About Modern Cyber Threats
Joshua Domagalski, CISO Astronomer
Joshua Domagalski shares his journey from offense to defense and why defensive cybersecurity presents a more complex and worthwhile challenge. He discusses AI adoption challenges, Zero Trust Architecture, and why humility is key in recognizing that cyber is a human-made problem.
Inside DNS Threat Intelligence: Privacy, Security & Innovation
Tim Adams, Founder Scout DNS
Tim Adams shares how he transitioned from a wireless network integrator to building Scout DNS. He advocates for moving beyond traditional threat feeds to a zero-trust model that blocks unclassified domains and predicts a fractured internet with differing regional privacy standards.
Defending the Frontline: Ransomware, AI, and Real-World Lessons
Alexander Rau, Partner Cyber Security, KPMG
Alexander Rau discusses the evolving incident response landscape. The past summer was the busiest on record, driven by zero-day firewall vulnerabilities. Threat actors are now using AI chatbots for ransom negotiations, and MFA is no longer a silver bullet against Business Email Compromise.
Cyber Warriors & Digital Shadows: Insights from Canada's Cybersecurity Leader
Sami Khoury, Senior Official for Cybersecurity, Government of Canada
Sami Khoury shares his 33-year career at the Communication Security Establishment (CSE). He discusses how cyber defense is a team sport, identifies ransomware as the top threat to Canadian organizations, and emphasizes proactive defense and collaboration.
Beyond the Firewall: How Attackers Weaponize Your DNS
Josh Kuo, Infoblox Educator
Josh Kuo explains how attackers exploit DNS for tunneling, command and control, and data exfiltration—and how defenders can disrupt those channels.
A Defender's Journey: From Passion Project to Protecting Children Online
Will Earp, Lead Engineer SWGfL
Will Earp shares how a passion project became a career building web technology that protects children and supports safer online experiences.
Understanding Microsoft Zero Trust DNS
Aditi Patange, Microsoft
Aditi Patange from Microsoft explains Zero Trust DNS, a new enterprise security feature in Windows 11 that blocks all outbound connections by default. The feature was created in response to a U.S. government cybersecurity executive order requiring solutions without TLS termination.
Breaking Barriers: IPv6 Adoption and DNS Transformation
Tommy Jensen
Tommy Jensen, an internet technologist specializing in IPv6 and Zero Trust, discusses the critical importance of migrating to IPv6 and the necessity of overcoming legacy systems. The episode explores encrypted DNS, TLS termination implications, and the future of the internet.
Defending the DNS: How Quad9 Protects the Internet
John Todd, CTO Quad9
Quad9 CTO John Todd explains how its nonprofit recursive DNS service combines infrastructure and threat intelligence to block malicious domains.
Cybersecurity Explained: Privacy, Threats, and the Future
Chester Wisniewski
Host David Redekop and guest Chet Wisniewski discuss the dynamic world of cybersecurity. Wisniewski traces his journey from early BBS and phone network exploration to becoming a cybersecurity expert. They delve into the evolution of hacking, the emergence of profitable cybercrime, and the critical distinction between privacy and security.