Legitimate Cybersecurity Podcasts

The Vatican just issued a massive warning about AI — and it might be the most unexpected twist in the religion-tech debate yet. Frank and Dustin dive deep into the rising spiritual panic around artificial intelligence: AI as a therapist, AI as a partner, AI as a spiritual advisor… and the truly wild question: Should an AI ever be baptized?

In this episode of Legitimate Cybersecurity, we explore why major religious leaders are su...

What happens when the most secure museum on Earth has a Wi-Fi password that’s literally “louvre”?

💎 $100 million in jewels disappear, and the world’s best art collection learns what Defense in Dumb really means.

In this episode of Legitimate Cybersecurity, Frank Downs and Dr. Dustin Brewer unpack how the Louvre Museum was robbed in broad daylight — not just by thieves, but by bad passwords, unpatched servers, and leadership ...

Tonight’s Halloween special gets deliciously weird. 🦇 Dustin and Frank unpack four true tech “hauntings”:

• The Ghost in the Printer—Why old JetDirects spit hieroglyphics at night.

• Laughing Alexa—The infamous 2018 bug that creeped out the world.

• #GhostText—When delayed SMS messages arrived from the… beyond.

• Grace Hopper’s Moth—The first literal computer “bug,” preserved in a logbook.

We translate spooky glitches into ...

Are we watching the ladder get pulled up? A new Harvard-linked analysis shows companies that adopt generative AI hire 7.7% fewer junior roles — a subtle shift with massive consequences for cybersecurity, tech, and the middle class. Frank Downs and Dr. Dustin Brewer break down what’s really happening: the automation sugar high, the hollowing of mid-tier careers, why experience over degree over certifications is driving gatekeeping, ...

What happens when ONE “cloud” hiccup in Virginia slams the brakes on your life—smart beds trap sleepers, Alexa goes dumb, Venmo sputters, and enterprise apps face-plant? Frank & Dr. Dustin break down Monday’s AWS DNS outage, why the internet’s “old bones” (DNS/IPv4) still run everything, how dependency hell spreads a local failure worldwide, and whether Web3/IPv6/real decentralization can stop the next domino run.

👂 Audio l...

Your AI assistant is helpful… until it isn’t. In this episode, Frank and Dustin break down the zero-touch exploits (EchoLeak & ShadowLeak) that can hijack AI integrations like email and office suites, quietly exfiltrate your prompts and IP, and even leak them to attacker infrastructure—no clicks required. We also talk about why your chats aren’t protected by legal privilege, how AI activity factored into the California wildfire...

Why train when you can just hire?” In this episode, BlueVoyant Senior Vulnerability & Risk Analyst James Gustafson explains why that mindset—and the myth that AI can replace fundamentals—is putting orgs at risk. From Army “combat cable guy” to enterprise VM leader, James breaks down how to move from scan → prioritize → fix, how to develop junior talent without gatekeeping, and where AI actually helps (and where it absolutely do...

What if your “credit score” wasn’t the full story?

Frank and Dr. Dustin uncover LexisNexis, the massive data broker quietly collecting everything about you — from your social posts and insurance claims to your driving habits (even roller coasters count).

💥 In this episode:

The hidden company that knows more about you than Equifax or Experian

Why you can’t easily see, freeze, or delete your LexisNexis file

The outrageo...

Dr. Dustin Brewer just passed his dissertation defense (👑 incoming), so we celebrated the only way we know how: by tackling Reddit’s most controversial cybersecurity questions—no fluff, real talk.

In this episode, Frank Downs and (now) Dr. Dustin break down:

How to brief a non-technical board so they actually fund security (tie risk to $$, ops impact, and avoid doom-mongering).

What should already be automated (network to...

Why should you listen to us? Honestly—you shouldn’t. But if you do, know this: we’re not just two jokers talking theory.

In this episode of Legitimate Cybersecurity, Frank Downs and Dustin Brewer open up about their real beginnings—from accidental entry into US Intelligence after 9/11, to packet-hunting puzzles, Wi-Fi tinkering, and Linux dependency hell, to Dustin’s Coast Guard days that led him into DoD cyber operations and ba...

Are algorithms helping—or handling—you? Frank and Dustin dive into how recommender systems, data brokers, and AI-powered platforms shape your news, drives, purchases, health, and even relationships. From TikTok fear-mongering to Cambridge Analytica, OPM’s breach fallout, Google Maps routing incentives, Amazon “sponsored” defaults, and Facebook’s engagement shift—this episode asks the hard question: are you in control, or are you be...

What do submarines, Linux servers, Apple X Servers, and SOC analysts all have in common? They were all part of Chris Adkins’ path into cybersecurity. In this episode of Legitimate Cybersecurity, Frank and Dustin dive deep with Chris as he shares his unique journey from being a sonar technician in the U.S. Navy to breaking into cyber through a SOC—and eventually advising top companies through breaches and building cyber programs.

Former FBI agent and attorney Vincent “Vinnie” D’Agostino (now Head of Digital Forensics & Incident Response at BlueVoyant) joins us to unpack dark web takedowns, real DFIR process, and how a “range” of skills (law, tech, stand-up, curiosity) compounds into cyber success.

We cover:

How a team helped take down the dark web—twice

DFIR reality vs myth: scoping, persistence hunts, EDR triage, due diligence in M&A

Th...

ChatGPT-5 is here — but is it really the leap forward everyone’s claiming? In this episode of Legitimate Cybersecurity, Frank and Dustin break down the hype vs. reality. From coding disasters that “look pretty but don’t work,” to AI being more like “that coworker who makes everything harder,” we explore what this means for hackers, defenders, and the future of cybersecurity.

👉 Is ChatGPT-5 truly artificial intelligence, or just...

What if you could break down every cyberattack into just 7 steps?

In this episode of Legitimate Cybersecurity, Frank and Dustin dive deep into the Cyber Kill Chain — Lockheed Martin’s 7-stage framework for understanding and stopping attacks — and compare it to the MITRE ATT&CK framework, hacker methodology, and even… honeypots, magicians, and Christopher Nolan films.

We cover:

The 7 stages: Recon, Weaponization, Delivery...

Quantum computing is no longer science fiction—it’s a ticking clock for modern encryption. In this episode of Legitimate Cybersecurity, Frank and Dustin break down Q-Day, the moment when quantum computers may render current cryptography useless. We explore how close we really are, the science (and hype) behind quantum technology, and what CISOs should be doing NOW to prepare. Along the way, expect tangents about Star Trek, Ant-Man,...

Today on Legitimate Cybersecurity, Frank and Dustin dive deep into the weird, wild, and worrying world of IoT (Internet of Things) — from smart thermostats and connected doorknobs to pacemakers with IP addresses and hacked fish tanks.

You’ll hear real-life stories of IoT gone wrong (including a connected beer brewer used for hacking), explore the creepy rise of biohacking and RFID implants, and find out what happens when Roombas...

Dr. Charles Harry — former NSA leader, cybersecurity strategist, and professor at the University of Maryland — joins Legitimate Cybersecurity to expose the hidden gaps in U.S. cyber defense. From nation-state strategy to local school vulnerabilities, this episode uncovers why most cybersecurity efforts are missing the mark… and how to fix it.

We explore:

Strategic cyber risk (not just IT vulnerabilities)

Mapping 50,000+ ex...

🎙 In this episode of Legitimate Cybersecurity, we dive deep into the unsettling reality of AI in modern cybercrime.

Senator Marco Rubio was impersonated by AI in a high-level cyber deception campaign, and that's just the beginning.

Frank and Dustin unpack:

🧠 Deepfake threats to democracy

🔐 Signal messaging & nation-state exploitation

🧪 Data poisoning and post-truth dangers

🛡️ AI in cybersecurity: helper or ...