When it comes to Cybersecurity/InfoSec podcasts, there are about three categories that I can think of: Entry-Level/Narrative, General Information/News, and Technical/Pseudo-Technical. Here’s how I would describe the three.
Entry-Level/Narrative: These podcasts are more focused on telling compelling stories that are accessible for the average person without any need for pre-existing knowledge in the field. As a result, they don’t include a lot of detail when it comes to the technical aspects of the hacks discussed. This would include: Darknet Diaries, Malicious Life, Modem Mischief, Hunting Warhead, What The Shell?, etc.
General Information/News: These podcasts focus more on current news and developments in the InfoSec world. Some examples are: Hacked, Hacker & The Fed, Click Here, etc.
Technical/Pseudo-Technical: This last category provides a little more technical detail than most other podcasts in the cybersecurity realm. Some examples of these would be The Hacker Mind, Error Code, Critical Thinking: A Bug Bounty Podcast, etc.
From these three categories, here are my favorites.
Former FBI Special Agent Chris Tarbell and former Anonymous/LulzSec “Hacktivist” Hector Monsegur (a.k.a Sabu), who Tarbell caught and turned into an informant, cover current news in the world of cybersecurity while also working in relevant personal stories and light details of how hacks were pulled off and common InfoSec terms.
Former NPR Investigations Correspondent Dina Temple-Raston covers everything from Hacking to Misinformation, Cyber Warfare, and Ransomware with a level of professionalism, production values, and research that should make her former employer proud.
The first podcast on my list hosted by award-winning journalist Robert Vamosi. The Hacker Mind tells the story of topics in information security that are both old and new and provides a nice amount of technical detail for their listeners.
Another podcast hosted by Robert Vamosi, Error Code “provides you both context and conversation with some of the best minds working toward code resilience and dependability today. Work that can lead to autonomous vehicles and smart cities. Error Code is your window into solving tomorrow’s IoT problems today.” It’s mostly focused on IoT and OT issues in the world today and the history of those issues.
Critical Thinking: A Bug Bounty Podcast
Out of all the “technical” podcasts on my list, this one is definitely the most detailed. In fact if you don’t have any knowledge of web application vulnerabilities, HTTP, HTML, Javascript, and other web-design related topics you may find it a bit difficult to listen to. The hosts Justin Gardner and Joel Margolis have a tremendous amount of knowledge about bug bounty work and interview some major figures in the scene.
Darknet Diaries is probably the first show people think of when you mention “narrative cybersecurity podcasts.” Host Jack Rhysider has done a phenomenal job of weaving compelling tales from the world of hacking and information security for his listeners, as evidenced by the show’s success.
Hands-On-KB 