AI might analyze your logs in seconds, but only the community can put you in the room that changes your career.

In this solo episode, Ron Eddings discusses the powerful balance between human connection and artificial intelligence in shaping the future of cybersecurity and beyond. From the sacrifices that sparked his career to the mentors who opened doors, Ron shares personal stories that show why community will always be your ultimate competitive edge, even as AI advances into the SOC. He also runs live AI experiments on ransomware response and log analysis, revealing what AI can (and can’t) do for practitioners right now.

Impactful Moments:

00:00 - Introduction

02:00 - Why community is your first advantage

03:30 - The sacrifice that launched Ron’s career

04:40 - Meeting mentor Marcus Carey

06:00 - Early opportunities in cybersecurity

07:00 - The power of hacker spaces

09:00 - How mentors open hidden doors

10:00 - RSA and Black Hat as career accelerators

13:00 - The most underrated LinkedIn feature

15:00 - The HVS mastermind community

16:00 - Reality check on GPT-5

18:00 - AI builds an IR playbook

20:00 - Critical do’s and don’ts in incident response

23:00 - Why hallucinations matter in cybersecurity AI

25:00 - AI makes sense of raw logs

28:00 - Can AI replace tier one analysts?

30:00 - Where AI still falls short

31:00 - Final challenge: Strengthen your community

Links:

Connect with our Ron on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronaldeddings/

Register for our livestream with Gerry Auger: https://www.linkedin.com/events/7359290642633539586/

Check out the links to the OpenAI ChatGPT threads here:

Incident Analysis Summary: https://chatgpt.com/share/689fa61f-3498-8006-9989-ff8221f97b01

Ransomware Incident Playbook: https://chatgpt.com/share/689fa63f-86ec-8006-8355-642d4d38808e

Check out our upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams

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