BarCode

Crogl calls it a Knowledge Engine for Security Operations, and the idea is simple: analysts are drowning in alerts, and cutting corners isn't the fix. Every alert deserves a real look. So Crogl built an AI that works alongside the analyst, not instead of them, an assistant one investor called an "Iron Man suit" for security researchers. The goal isn't to replace the team. It's to make every single analyst as effective as the whole team combined. Monzy Merza, Co-founder and CEO of Crogl, joins us today on BarCode to talk community, what's coming at Black Hat, and why the best defense in cybersecurity might just be showing up and sharing what you know.SYMLINKS[Crogl] - https://crogl.com An AI-powered security operations platform that helps security teams investigate alerts, perform threat hunting, and automate cybersecurity workflows while keeping customer data within their own environment.[Monzy Mirza – LinkedIn] - https://www.linkedin.com/in/monzymerza/ The official LinkedIn profile of Monzy Mirza, Co-founder and CEO of Crogl, where he shares insights on AI, cybersecurity, and security operations.[MITRE ATT&CK® Framework] - https://attack.mitre.org/ A globally recognized cybersecurity knowledge base maintained by MITRE that documents adversary tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs). Crogl references the framework for investigating security alerts and threat hunting.[CISA] - https://www.cisa.gov/ The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The episode discusses using CISA advisories, such as those related to Volt Typhoon, as inputs for threat hunting.[Volt Typhoon Advisory] - https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories CISA's collection of official cybersecurity advisories, including guidance on the Volt Typhoon threat actor. The episode references uploading these advisories into Crogl for automated threat hunting.[Slack] - https://slack.com/ A workplace collaboration platform. Crogl provides customers with access to a Slack community where users can interact directly with the engineering team and provide product feedback.[Black Hat USA] - https://www.blackhat.com/us-25/ One of the world's leading cybersecurity conferences. Monzy mentions that the Crogl team will host a booth, hackathon, and community sessions during Black Hat.

In March 2012, the FBI surrounded a hurricane-rated steel door in Galveston, Texas. Behind it sat 30 year old Higinio Ochoa, drinking coffee in his boxers, flushing his one-time pad passwords down the toilet before letting federal agents inside. The operation to capture "w0rmer" had finally terminated.The process had initialized years earlier in childhood IRC rooms and 2600 chat channels. Ochoa taught himself to hack on dial-up connections, installing FreeBSD from thirty floppy disks at eleven years old. By his twenties, he was running cameras and internet infrastructure for Occupy Wall Street camps. When he witnessed police beating a woman having a seizure during a raid, something switched. The technical skills pivoted toward purpose.Cabin Crew launched with surgical precision. Ochoa mass-scanned police systems for SQL injections and admin pages, often not knowing which department he'd compromised until crafting the press release. He signed every hack, tagged every defacement, live-tweeted FBI taunts. His girlfriend posed in a bikini outside the Alabama Department of Public Safety holding signs that read "PwN3D by w0rmer" with GPS coordinates embedded in the photo metadata.Today he consults for governments and holds battlefield accommodations from Ukraine. The smooth hands that once broke into Secret Service-designed systems now defend critical infrastructure at levels where people could die if information leaks.TIMSTAMPS00:00 The Early Days of Hacking04:22 From Hobbyist to Activist08:30 The Shift to Purposeful Hacking13:16 The Rise of Cabin Crew17:58 The Psychology of Hacking and Branding21:11 The Origins of Wormer: A Hacker's Journey25:10 The FBI's Approach: How They Caught Me27:50 The Day of Reckoning: My Arrest Experience32:44 Life in the System: Mental Struggles and Adaptations36:18 Navigating Post-Prison Life: Challenges and Restrictions44:40 Navigating Life Post-Incarceration47:27 The Struggles of Redemption51:19 Finding Opportunities in a Stigmatized Field55:23 The Evolution of a Hacker's Journey58:46 Contributions to Information Security01:01:19 Words of Wisdom for Aspiring Hackers01:05:42 The Dream of a Cybersecurity Bar[Higinio “w0rmer” Ochoa – LinkedIn] - https://www.linkedin.com/in/x0hig Professional profile of Higinio Ochoa, a former Anonymous-affiliated hacktivist turned cybersecurity consultant, where he shares insights on security, research, and his work in the industry.[DEF CON Hacker Conference] - https://defcon.org/ One of the world’s largest and most influential cybersecurity and hacker conferences, referenced in the episode as a key part of early hacker culture and later professional engagement.Sakura Samurai – https://sakurasamurai.com - Defunct security research groupCISA – https://cisa.gov - Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security AgencyCloudflare – https://cloudflare.com - Content delivery network and securityDefCon – https://defcon.org - Annual hacker conferenceElectronic Frontier Foundation – https://eff.org - Digital rights organizationFBI – https://fbi.gov - Federal Bureau of InvestigationPirate Bay – https://thepiratebay.org - File sharing platform2600 Magazine – https://2600.com - Hacker publication and communityAnonymous – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anonymous_(hacker_group) - Hacktivist collective

The Microsoft offices in downtown Houston initialized something in 2010 that its founders never intended to scale. Michael Farnum and his team triggered a regional conference with 120 attendees, built for the Texas cyber community. No grand ambitions. No national aspirations. Just a gathering for people who knew each other, wanted to learn together, and could afford to show up without corporate sponsorship covering a $2,700 entry fee.Meanwhile, Philip Wylie was running monthly meetups in Denton, traveling constantly, and discovering that building community meant something different than building an audience. The former professional wrestler turned pentester had launched DC940, authored bestselling books, and established himself as a global keynote speaker. But by fall 2024, the logistics became unsustainable. He stepped down from his DefCon group leadership role.That same night, walking away from the venue, an idea crystallized. The Dallas-Fort Worth area housed one of the world's largest cybersecurity communities, yet lacked a proper hacker conference. So Wylie sent a text message to Farnum. No expectations beyond advice. Within weeks, they had formalized a partnership that would bring CyberHackCon to the Plano Event Center, the same venue that hosted DalHackCon two decades earlier.What started as Houston's 15-year regional experiment had evolved into a national conference ecosystem. Companies were bypassing Black Hat and RSA entirely, sending whole teams to what was becoming CyberSecCon instead. The infrastructure now includes youth programs, executive events, OT-focused conferences, media arms, venture advisory, and nonprofit partnerships. Five full-time employees orchestrate an operation that refuses to gate its primary educational content behind paywalls, maintains community as the entry point for everything, and somehow preserves the feel of a high school reunion even as it approaches 400 attendees.TIMESTAMPS00:00 Building Community in Cybersecurity05:15 The Evolution of HusekCon to CyberSecCon12:00 The CyberSec Community Ecosystem20:14 Introducing Cyber Hack Con29:04 Call for Papers: Seeking Deep Tech Talks32:20 Engagement and Community Involvement33:44 Conference Experiences: Big vs. Small39:03 Post-Conference Content and Accessibility40:48 Creative Concepts: Cybersecurity-Themed Bar IdeasSYMLINKS[CyberSecCon] - https://www.cybrseccon.com/ Official website of CyberSecCon, a community-driven cybersecurity conference focused on accessibility, education, and bringing together professionals across all experience levels.[CyberSec Media] - https://www.cybrsecmedia.com/ Media platform that publishes cybersecurity talks, videos, and educational content from CyberSecCon and related community initiatives, available for free access.[DEF CON] - https://defcon.org/ One of the world’s largest and most well-known hacker conferences, recognized for its deep technical content, hands-on learning, and strong hacker culture.[Michael Farnum – LinkedIn] - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mfarnum Professional profile of Michael Farnum, cybersecurity leader and co-founder of CyberSecCon, where he shares insights on community building and industry initiatives.[Phillip Wylie – LinkedIn] - https://www.linkedin.com/in/phillipwylie Professional profile of Phillip Wylie, penetration tester, instructor, and keynote speaker with extensive experience in cybersecurity and community mentorship.

Twenty-one years old, sitting at an e-machines computer in Oregon. AOL chatrooms visable through the scanlines of a 17" beige CRT monitor. The social engineering protocol initializes without a name, without formal training. Just need driving innovation. Packages arrive at the house. Things he couldn't afford now flowing through manipulation vectors his young mind discovered by instinct.The judicial system terminates this operation quickly. Join the military or go to jail. Too pretty for prison, Rich Green chooses the army in 2002. Combat communications for five years until special forces assessment and selection activates a new trajectory. Close target access missions. Network taps and Wi-Fi exploitation in cartel safe houses. No help desk background, no certifications. Pure offensive operations training his neural pathways for a different kind of warfare.Retirement executes in April 2022, triggering contractor status at the DoD schoolhouse. Teaching the same skills they'd programmed into him. SANS identifies the teaching aptitude and extracts him from government work. The classroom becomes his new operational environment. June 2022, Sith 2 incorporates as his own company. Security, infrastructure, threat hunting, hardening.Now he's pulling 415 pounds in the gym while filming TikTok videos about password managers, running SANS courses in Singapore, oprates Cith 2, then chairing virtual summits at 2 AM without missing a beat. The nuclear reactor in a skin suit who responds to every troll comment with Southern charm until they start using password managers. His real dream remains teaching world history to middle schoolers.TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Introduction and Background02:44 Military Journey and Cybersecurity Career05:29 Teaching and Content Creation08:29 The Importance of Listening and Learning11:18 Energy and Engagement in Content Creation14:13 Sith2: Building a Brand and Community17:10 Fitness and Personal Accountability19:38 Content Creation Challenges and Mindset26:04 The Impact of Teaching and Mentorship26:29 Fueling Motivation Through Negativity27:36 Engaging with Trolls and Negative Comments29:42 Navigating Different Social Media Platforms33:07 AI in Cybersecurity and Content Creation37:38 The Future of AI and Human Creativity40:10 Unique Bar Experiences and Travel Stories42:18 Creating a Cybersecurity-Themed BarSYMLINKS[Sith2 Official Website] – http://www.sith2.com Rich Green’s main platform for cybersecurity content, consulting, blogs, and podcast episodes.[LinkedIn] – https://www.linkedin.com/in/secgreene Professional profile where Rich shares cybersecurity insights, teaching content, and industry updates.[X (Twitter)] – https://twitter.com/secgreene Platform for quick thoughts, updates, and conversations around cybersecurity and tech.[SANS Profile] – https://www.sans.org/profiles/rich-greene Official instructor profile showcasing his work, credentials, and contributions within SANS cybersecurity training.[Instagram] – https://www.instagram.com/secgreene A mix of cybersecurity content, personal updates, and lifestyle posts including fitness and daily routines.

In the back office of his father’s telecommunications business, something in five-year-old Ryan Williams initialized. Programming in BASIC on a Commodore 64, he typed endless lines of code from a magazine, waiting three hours for a Mandelbrot set to render pixel by pixel across the screen. He was disappointed with the result, but the process had already taken hold. Years later, Williams was setting up a Formula One driver’s party when his phone rang. Pack it down. COVID wiped out his entire music career, his production company, and $40K in a single moment. Everything he’d built over two decades as a touring DJ and musician terminated without warning.By eleven, he was hacking payphones with McDonald’s straws and engaging in underground BBSs after answering questions about death metal. But music became his focus, taking him from classical orchestras to rock bands to DJ tours across Australia and overseas. It was a life of little responsibility and constant motion, until March 2020 forced a hard stop. At rock bottom, Williams enrolled in a cybersecurity course at a local TAFE college. He quickly realized he was ahead of his classmates, but that wouldn’t be enough among 12,000 graduates nationwide. So he went online, consuming everything he could while documenting his path as D8RH8R from the hills of Victoria. Now he works as a lead security engineer at Applied Computing Technologies, breaking AI models deployed in critical infrastructure. He runs Smart Security Solutions, publishes HVCK Magazine, builds offensive security training, and operates Solo Hobo, providing pro bono assessments for organizations with no budget. The man who once lived for sold-out shows now works in the quiet RF spectrum of Victoria’s hills, pushing physics-based AI models until they fail.TIMESTAMPS00:00:00 - Introduction and guest background00:05:11 - Early computer addiction and origin story00:07:30 - Music career and COVID impact00:09:10 - Transition into cybersecurity education00:13:22 - Data Hater persona meaning explained00:16:22 - Lessons learned the hard way00:20:03 - Adversarial AI security role00:28:00 - Solo Hobo pro bono security00:35:00 - Hack Magazine and Academy vision00:45:00 - Business model and creative processLINKSApplied Computing Technologies – https://www.appliedct.com.au - AI platform company for critical infrastructureAttackIQ Academy – https://www.attackiq.com/academy/ - Cyber security training platformB-Sides Brisbane – https://bsidesbrisbane.com - Information security conferencePADDOK's AI Red Team Course – https://www.youtube.com/c/PADDOK - Adversarial AI security trainingHack Magazine – https://hackmagazine.org - Cybersecurity publicationSolo Hobo – https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanwilliams-datahater/ - Pro bono security assessmentsTAFE – https://www.tafe.edu.au - Technical education colleges AustraliaOrbital AI Platform – https://orbital.ai - AI platform for industrial applications