Legitimate Cybersecurity Podcasts

Getting into cybersecurity takes more than collecting certifications. How should you weigh a degree, hands-on experience, and the skills employers need?

Frank Downs and Dr. Dustin Brewer return with more cybersecurity career questions submitted by listeners and students: how to choose a specialty, what credentials actually accomplish, and which skills to build first.

Last episode covered getting your foot in the door. This time...

How do you get a cybersecurity job without experience—and which certifications are actually worth your money? Frank and Dustin answer.

Frank Downs and Dr. Dustin Brewer tackle three career questions submitted by listeners and students: how to land your first cybersecurity job, how to choose certifications, and how to stand out to employers.

Dustin’s path ran through the Coast Guard and the NSA. Frank was preparing t...

Police officers used Flock Safety cameras to track exes and other personal targets. Flock’s security chief explains what its cameras record, who can search the data, and what the company says is changing now.

In this episode, Frank Downs and Dr. Dustin Brewer sit down with Chris Castaldo, Chief Information Security Officer at Flock Safety, for a direct conversation about the nationwide license-plate-reader network appearing...

Private equity is moving into the infrastructure beneath your internet—and the real prize may be control over who gets data first.

Frank Downs and Dr. Dustin Brewer examine the undersea cables carrying the world’s communications and why financial firms increasingly see them as valuable digital real estate.

These cables connect countries, financial markets, cloud services, governments, and billions of people. But whe...

Grok Build reportedly uploaded entire Git repositories—including files it never opened, full Git history, and deleted secrets—to xAI-controlled cloud storage.

In this episode of Legitimate Cybersecurity, Frank Downs and Dr. Dustin Brewer unpack what that means for anyone allowing an AI coding agent inside a real computer.

Independent researcher CerebLab captured Grok Build packaging a complete repository into a Git ...

Hackers no longer need to steal your password. Software vulnerabilities have overtaken stolen credentials as the leading way attackers break into breached organizations.

According to Verizon’s 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report, exploitation of software flaws now accounts for 31% of breach entry points. After years of companies concentrating on phishing, password security, and employee training, attackers may have found...

A $3 pair of kids’ shoes rang up for almost $19 at checkout. Mistake, dynamic pricing, or something much creepier?

In this episode of Legitimate Cybersecurity, Frank Downs and Dr. Dustin Brewer break down a viral Walmart pricing story and ask the bigger question hiding behind it: what happens when stores, apps, location tracking, purchase history, and data brokers all meet at the register?

This is not just about one pair ...

Your work laptop may be training the AI that eventually replaces you — and Meta just gave us a preview of how creepy that future could get.

In this episode of Legitimate Cybersecurity, Frank Downs and Dr. Dustin Brewer discuss reports about Meta’s Model Capability Initiative, a program designed to collect employee computer activity such as mouse movements, clicks, keystrokes, and occasional screenshots to help train A...

Most people think cyber war is about better hackers, better tools, and deeper access.

But the real danger may be AI turning scattered attacks into coordinated campaigns.

In this episode of Legitimate Cybersecurity, hosts Frank Downs and Dustin Brewer talk with Dr. Charlie Harry about why cyber has often been powerful tactically but weak strategically — and why that may be changing fast.

Charlie explains why cyber operati...

You may have gone to Madison Square Garden for a game or concert.

But the bigger question is whether the venue was quietly building a file on you.

In this episode of Legitimate Cybersecurity, Frank Downs and Dustin Brewer break down the alleged Madison Square Garden data leak, the ShinyHunters claims, facial recognition concerns, VIP dossiers, biometric surveillance, and why modern venues may be collecting far more information t...

The SpaceX IPO is being sold as rockets, innovation, and the future of space.

But investors may have also bought into a private network with battlefield, intelligence, and surveillance potential.

In this episode of Legitimate Cybersecurity, Frank Downs and Dr. Dustin Brewer examine what the SpaceX IPO really means when you look beyond rockets and stock hype. Starlink has already proven how powerful satellite internet can be in r...

The hacker isn't a thousand miles away in a hoodie. He's standing at your desk in a polo shirt, holding a clipboard, asking to plug something into your computer. And law firms are the target.

Frank Downs and Dustin Brewer break down the Silent Ransom Group — the crew skipping the phishing email and walking straight through the front door.

In this episode of Legitimate Cybersecurity, Frank and Dustin dig into SRG (aka Luna...

Researchers just found thousands of AI-built apps leaking medical records, financial data, and customer PII straight to the open internet. The scary part isn't that AI writes code — it's that it writes code just well enough that nobody asks questions.

Frank Downs and Dustin Brewer break down the hidden cost of vibe coding: insecure-by-default software shipped to production, AI tools replacing the junior developers who'd gro...

AI companies are running out of easy data — and the next target may be your private files, calendars, medical records, photos, and desktop activity.

AI pioneer Dr. Jonathan Schaeffer joins Frank Downs and Dustin Brewer to explain why today’s AI tools are powerful, flawed, and increasingly hungry for personal data.

In this episode of Legitimate Cybersecurity, Frank and Dustin talk with Dr. Jonathan Schaeffer, Universi...

Your ex may still have access to your accounts, your phone, or your private life — even after you changed your password.

This episode explains how cyberstalking hides inside logged-in devices, shared biometrics, old account access, and security questions people close to you already know.

On this episode of Legitimate Cybersecurity, hosts Frank Downs and Dr. Dustin Brewer break down real cyberstalking cases involving toxic ...

One could be hidden in your car, purse, luggage, or jacket — and it may cost less than dinner.

Bluetooth trackers were built to find lost keys, but they can also turn nearby phones into a surveillance network.

In this episode of Legitimate Cybersecurity, hosts Frank Downs and Dr. Dustin Brewer break down how AirTags, Tile trackers, Samsung SmartTags, Find My-compatible devices, and other Bluetooth beacons can be abused for...

Gloria Globman — CTO of Acclaimed Technical Services, former Senior Cyber Advisor at the US Embassy in Tokyo, US Navy veteran, and Presidential Rank Award recipient — joins Frank Downs and Dustin Brewer to translate what's really happening on your home network. Every smart device is a tiny computer with a camera, a microphone, and an internet connection, constantly talking to its manufacturer, the cloud, and other devic...