Rex

Louis Nyffenegger is the founder and CEO of PentesterLab. On this episode of No Password Required, Louis shares how he built his penetration-testing training company, why empathy is crucial to application security, and what can be learned from having hobbies you’re not good at. He also tells us his favorite pen testing story, explains the early days of smartwatch security, and describes his journey from France to Australia. The entire No Password Required team (Ernie, Jack, Rex, Devin, and Sarina) celebrate Ernie’s final episode by participating in a game show challenge about his life. Learn how many tattoos he has, how many countries he’s been to, and more juicy facts that we’ve all been dying to know.

You can connect with Louis on Twitter here: @snyff

You can learn more about the PentesterLab here: https://www.pentesterlab.com/

Joey deVilla is a Senior R&D Content Engineer at Auth-Zero, a division of Okta. After hours, Joey is known as the Accordion Guy and spends his time playing music and sharing his nerdy takes on his two personal blogs. In this episode, Joey joins Jack and guest-host Tashya Denose (host of the Do We Belong Here podcast) to talk about his love for the tech community, his unique assortment of passions, hobbies, and jobs, and how he continues to trust the serendipity of his life even when the path seems unclear. Tashya and Jack talk about DoNotPay’s $1 million offer to lawyers to let AI take their place before the Supreme Court and what this kind of technology could mean for the future.

You can connect with Joey here: globalnerdy.com  and here: joeydevilla.com

You can learn more about the Legendary Nanaimo Bar here: https://www.nanaimo.ca/about-nanaimo/nanaimo-bars

General (Ret.) Frank McKenzie is the Executive Director of the Global and National Security Institute at the University of South Florida and the Executive Director of Cyber Florida. In April 2022, General McKenzie retired from the Marine Corps after completing over 42 years of service. He joins the No Password Required team to discuss the evolution of his leadership style over time, a typical morning for a four-star military general, and his preference for Star Trek over Star Wars. In honor of the holidays, Ernie and Jack discuss one of the most iconic (and shocking) Christmas movies of all time – Gremlins.

Hannah Sutor is the Senior Product Manager at GitLab and Digital Privacy Advocate at The Privacy Chick. Hannah joins the No Password Required team to talk about how she discovered privacy and cybersecurity in college, what she expects for the future of usernames and passwords, and her adventures while traveling in an RV with her family for a year. Bonus: she also reveals her recipe for the best pumpkin spice latte. Ernie and Jack discuss the proposed U.S. labeling program for IoT consumer devices and some potential cyber and privacy implications.

Charles Shirer is the Chief Executive Officer of GlobalWave Consulting, an IT and cybersecurity consultancy. Known as the @bsdbandit to his 20,000+ Twitter followers, Charles is often considered the most positive person in cybersecurity (and for good reason!). In this episode, Charles joins the No Password Required team to tell us about how his childhood love for video games led to his passion for everything computer-related, what inspires him to share motivational messages on Twitter, and the importance of striving for a positive mindset in life. Jack and Ernie discuss the United Kingdom’s potential privacy enforcement against TikTok, and the regulatory regime for collecting the personal data of minors.

Kayley Melton is the Vice President of Security Awareness Company Courseware and Labs at KnowBe4. Although she can’t share too much about what the “labs” portion of her job entails, let’s face it, the secrecy makes her even cooler. Kayley joins the No Password Required team to tell us about her journey from an Appalachian farm to fine arts major at a self-described “bougie” college, and from there to VP at a leading security awareness company and the challenges that she overcame to get there. Kayley also shares the story of how a Craigslist ad changed her life, who the Chewbacca is to her Han Solo, and the lessons she’s had to learn as a woman in this industry. Ernie, Jack, and Pablo discuss something likely to shock 90s babies; the cybercriminal “TarTarX” has stolen the data of 69 million Neopets users.

Serge Jorgensen is a founding partner and CTO at Sylint Group, where he provides response and remediation guidance on international espionage incidents, cyber-security attacks, and counter cyber-warfare. An engineer by training, he has a bias for action over theory. In this episode, Serge joins the No Password Required team to talk about his time in the industry, his experience coaching sailing at the Paralympic Games, and his favorite childhood toy. Ernie, Jack, and Pablo discuss the cybercriminals that are posing as Twitter employees and journalists to breach academic and Middle East policy data. In the Technologue segment, Pablo teaches the team the history of the world’s largest hacking competition, DEF CON.

Dr. Melissa Dark is the Founder of DARK Enterprises, a non-profit organization dedicated to developing and supporting cybersecurity education at the secondary level. Before that, Dr. Dark worked in graduate and college cybersecurity education for over 20 years, as a professor at Purdue University. In this episode, Dr. Dark joins the No Password Required team to discuss her career in “training the trainers,” the early days of cybersecurity education as an academic subject, and how to encourage cybersecurity awareness among today’s students. Ernie and Jack discuss the Pinellas Park, Florida, cybersecurity analyst alleged to have stolen almost $600,000 in cryptocurrency and how he supposedly did it.

In this episode of No Password Required, cybersecurity executive Larry Whiteside Jr. joins the show for a wide-ranging conversation on the shifting landscape of cyber threats, the rise of hacktivism, and the real-world impact of the Ukraine conflict on global cybersecurity. Larry shares his personal journey into the field and discusses his work with Cyversity, an organization focused on strengthening the cybersecurity workforce through education and professional development.

The discussion explores how cyber insurance is helping businesses manage growing risks, how modern cyber warfare is reshaping global defense strategies, and why mentorship and communication skills are more important than ever in today’s fast-moving tech environment. Larry also opens up about the importance of balancing work and life, defining success beyond the job title, and building a career with long-term impact.

Thomas Vaughn is the current Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of the City of Tallahassee and the former CISO of Florida. A kindhearted introvert who began his career in the Army and then the U.S. Coast Guard, Thomas thrives on helping other people however he can, whether it’s with cybersecurity practices or serving as a volunteer fireman in his spare time. In this episode, Thomas joins the No Password Required team to talk about his journey from the military to cybersecurity, the top-tier candy that he can’t live without, and the philosophical lessons that he carries with him throughout his life. Ernie, Jack, and Pablo discuss the UCF student who created an algorithm to track Elon Musk’s private jet. In the Technologue segment, Pablo explains web tracking and what it means for the everyday internet user.