Talking Cloud with an emphasis on Cloud Security

I feel incredibly fortunate having stumbled into the industry back in 1983. Needless to say, there have been numerous signifiant milestones and technological advancements in the last nearly four decades. In this episode my guest can claim the company he co-founded invented one of the most significant cyber security advancements and introduced IPS; heretofore only IDS was available. Marc Willebeek-LeMair was on the front lines of reshaping cyber security with in-line IDS. Now, with his new company SPYDERBAT, where he is founder and CEO, he’s at it again.

It was episode 18 in October 2020 when we first had Shira Shamban, Co-Founder and CEO of Solvo on TalkingCloud. Back then, she and David had only recently launched their cloud security startup so, in this episode, we get to hear how much Shira and her team at Solvo have learned and, how much they have evolved and grown.

Supply chain breaches are in the headlines like never before...and seemingly increasing every day. Exacerbating the risks is the rapid and widespread increase in use of cloud including SaaS, code repositories and open-source code use. In this episode you'll hear Eran Orzel, Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) and Founding Member at Argon Security discuss the use cases they address and some of the unique aspects of the Argon solution.

In episode 37 I have the pleasure to speak with Sitaraman (Ram) Lakshminarayanan, Director, Security Architecture at Guardant Health...As you will hear, I find it easier to write Ram's name than to say it! :^D Ram has several years of experience as a security architect. His roots are in software development and this provides him with keen insights and understandings of the challenges in building and securing todays cloud native environments and applications. 

In this episode, we are introduced to "AccessOps" by the creator of the term and co-founder of stealth-startup Stack Identity. Venkat Raghavan discusses his current passion; addressing the challenges of access and access control in the cloud-native world. Today, virtually everything has an 'identity and these identities are given access to data. Not all of these are human. In fact, many are non-human including micro-services, functions, applications, and other assets. Regardless of their form, all 'identities' need to be managed. AccessOps is the new category Stack Identity has created to address this exploding cloud-native challenge. 

Well, it's taking a bit longer than I'd hoped but, I finally got the opportunity to sit down with one of the best cyber security professionals in the business. He's been at the same company for more than 20 years and has repeatedly reinvented himself and the cyber security offerings available from his employer. He has led the various cyber security practices of this giant telco since he first created them! I hope you enjoy episode #35 with my special guest, Terry Hect, Director, Security Center of Excellence at AT&T.

Nearly a decade ago Nick Lippis Co-Founded ONUG, and today the ONUG community has expanded to over 5,000 strong and continues growing.  In this episode, you'll hear Nick discuss the exciting project ONUG is spearheading to provide enterprises with, as he explains, critical and currently missing "...connective tissue..." for multi-cloud, hybrid deployments. You'll hear Nick explain their plans for a "cupcake, birthday cake, and wedding cake" and how you can get involved. To learn more about ONUG go to www.onug.net

If you've ever heard of Aston Martin and know, even a little, about cars you know, Aston Martin is not a typical automobile. The same could be said about their CISO; Robin is anything but typical. In our thirty-third episode, we travel across the pond (again) to the UK to talk with Robin Smith, Head of Cyber and Information Security. Hear why Robin quotes Einstein ("We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.") and believes the problems and challenges we face in the cloud will take a new way of thinking...what he calls liquid thinking.

In episode 32, we speak with Mr. Joe Sullivan, and while you may not know or recognize his name, I'm betting every penny I have, you know one or more of his previous employers where he led cybersecurity. Ever heard of eBay, PayPal, Uber, or Facebook? Now at Cloudflare, Inc., Joe and I have a fun and engaging conversation covering numerous topics including zero trust, the good and bad of the internet, and the challenges securing today's hyper-connected computing environment.

In this episode, my conversation is with Sean Mcdermott, President & CEO, Founder RedMonocle | Windward Consulting Group. This recording of Talking Cloud is sure to not disappoint! With +24 years as a consultant, Sean offers several keen insights and considerations. You can learn more about Sean and his company, RedMonocle here: https://www.redmonocle.com/

For our 30th episode, we have a highly experienced cloud executive as our guest.  Mr. Dustin Milberg has nearly as many years in the industry as TalkingCloud has episodes. As the Field CTO, Dustin engages with executives every day discussing their journey to the cloud. Hear Dustin share his thoughts, insights, and recommendations and why he says migrating to the cloud is all about the journey, not the destination.  You'll also hear Dustin subtly remind me not everyone is familiar with an Etch-a-Sketch!

In episode 29 we have our first discussion with an executive from the university industry. John McClure is the Chief Information Security Officer at Laureate International Universities. As the CISO for an organization with tens of thousands of employees and hundreds of thousands of university students, John offers some interesting insights and considerations about our changing cyber-security landscape and the benefits realized as a result of the 'forced' digital transformation we've all been through.

March 2021 has been an outstanding month for TalkingCloud. So far, we've had outstanding special guests and we are finishing the month strong. In this episode, we get to hear the views and perspectives of a CIO. Jeff Ton is a highly seasoned and experienced technologist starting his illustrious career first as a 'programmer' and then on to management. He decided he wanted to be a CIO and reached his goal decades ago. Now, among other things, Jeff is an author, speaker, and explorer. You can connect with Jeff on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jtonindy/

A few months ago, I noticed a post on LinkedIn featuring one of my contacts and his recent promotion to America's Sales Leader for Amazon Web Services (AWS) Security at Amazon. I was pleasantly surprised when I read it was Brendan Staveley. I worked with Brendan at Check Point Software Technologies, Ltd. Point Software; it was his first job after graduating college. Fast-forward a little more than two decades and experiences at Fortinet and Cisco, Brendan now leads a lean team of AWS Security specialists covering the western hemisphere. I had a great time catching up with Brendan and hearing his comments and thoughts about the cloud. Hear Brendan discuss "empathy" and why it's a priority when assisting customers in their migration of workloads to the public cloud.

In this episode(what ended up to be our longest yet) we talk with Mike Morrato, Service Director-Security Architecture, and Engineering at Trace3. Mike and I have both been working with technology for many years and subsequently, we cover a huge swath of topics and technologies and discuss the interesting similarities and key differences between past and current technologies offerings. Hear what Mike suggests you need to do before, and after you begin using the cloud.

In our 25th episode are we shifting the conversation to data management and data back-up with Michael Litschin from Cohesity.  As Director of Technical Strategy and Field CTO, Mike is accustomed to explaining the complex in simple terms. Mike explains how the cloud has influenced data management, data backup, and data archival.

I absolutely love hosting TalkingCloud! I get to meet and speak with brilliant executives and entrepreneurs about the most exciting segment of the technology industry today...Cloud computing. And, this is an episode you'll not want to miss because I'm talking with the Head of Cloud Security Products for Check Point Software Technologies, TJ (Tsion) Gonen. TJ came to Check Point through the acquisition of Protego Labs and has had (and continues to have) a significant influence on what once was a single product and is now the CloudGuard security platform. Hear TJ discuss his views of Cloud and how current technology trends are influencing development, family, and the future of computing overall.

In this episode, I had a great discussion with long-time colleague and friend (oh, and did I mention Legend within the halls of Check Point Software) to talk about numerous things, including just how far computing and the cloud have come. But, as PhoneBoy correctly points out, what's driving the cloud is the need to compute...from anywhere. Also, you'll want to listen to his Checkmates podcast. You can find it here: https://community.checkpoint.com/t5/CheckMates-Go-Cyber-Security/bg-p/checkmates-go

In our first new episode of 2021 we meet and speak with the two Co-Founders of Multi-Cloud Leadership Alliance (www.multicloudleadership.com) Leah McLean and Sandhya Gorman. Both of these ladies have years and years of experience in technology and the cloud and formed the MCLA to assist organizations as they seek to navigate the vast and varied waters of the cloud providers. In less than one year, the MCLA boasts over 150 members and growing. If you're interested in improving your standings and relationships with cloud providers such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Alibaba, and others, look no further than MCLA. 

2020 has been a remarkable and unforgettable year. We at TalkingCloud are doing all we can to load the month and finish the year with tons of great discussions from all around the world. In this, our 21st episode, we go to Singapore and talk with Andy Waroma, Founder of Cloud Comrade, the only South-East Asia headquartered AWS Partner Network Premier Tier Consulting Partner, Google Premier Partner, and Microsoft Gold Cloud Competency Partner. Hear how Andy set out on a two-week vacation from Finland that turned into now more than twenty years and counting in Singapore.