ShadowTalk: Powered by ReliaQuest
Want to hear what industry experts really think about the cyber threats they face? ShadowTalk is a weekly cybersecurity podcast, made by practitioners for practitioners, featuring analytical insights on the latest cybersecurity news and threat research. Threat Intelligence Analyst John Dilgen brings extensive expertise in cyber threat intelligence and incident response, specializing in researching threats impacting ReliaQuest customers. John and his guests provide practical perspectives on the week’s top cybersecurity news and share knowledge and best practices to help businesses mitigate the most pertinent cyber threats. With over 1,000 customers worldwide and 1,200 teammates across six global operating centers, ReliaQuest delivers security outcomes for the most trusted enterprise brands in the world. Learn more at www.reliaquest.com.
Episodes
What factors have driven the top ransomware and extortion groups' success in early 2026? And how should organizations structure their defenses to protect against them?
Join hosts Alexandra and John as they discuss:
- How Akira is exploiting unknown assets inherited through M&A
- Why ShinyHunters' vishing and SaaS misconfiguration models work
- How The Gentlemen grew 588% quarter-over-quarter
Two questions your organiza...
Black Basta disbanded in February 2025, but their playbook didn't go with them. In March 2026, 77% of observed incidents targeted executives and directors, and attackers moved from first contact to malicious script execution in as little as 12 minutes. The tactic has been automated, refined, and is now running faster than most SOCs can respond.
Join hosts Alexandra and John as they discuss:
- How attackers leverage Microsoft ...
89% of organizations that suffered a SaaS breach last year believed they had appropriate visibility. They had the logs — what they lacked was detection on what mattered. The Vercel incident shows exactly how costly that gap can be.
Join hosts Brandon and John as they discuss:
- How a third-party OAuth chain may have exposed Vercel's internal data
- Why SaaS visibility gaps leave organizations exposed
- The controls that can break t...
Resources: https://linktr.ee/ReliaQuestShadowTalk
Join hosts John and Alex, alongside special guest and ReliaQuest CTO Joe Partlow, as they discuss:
- How Claude Mythos autonomously generated exploits
- Why AI is accelerating CVE volume
- Defense strategies organizations need now
Joe Partlow: CTO of ReliaQuest, a leading Information Security provider and is currently involved with new product initiatives along with research and devel...
Resources: https://linktr.ee/ReliaQuestShadowTalk
Join hosts John and Tehman as they break down two of the most consequential supply chain attacks of 2026:
- How DPRK actors socially engineered a NPM maintainer
- Why hijacked GitHub versions are a CI/CD wake-up call
- The three gaps every security team needs to close
John Dilgen: Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst at ReliaQuest, where he specializes in researching cyber threats impact...
Resources: https://linktr.ee/ReliaQuestShadowTalk
Join hosts Alexandra and John, live from Exponent 2026, alongside top security leaders as they discuss:
- How organizations keep pace with attackers
- Why one in four incidents starts with social engineering
- How automated response is helping organizations
Chris Thompson: CISO of Caris Life Sciences, a leading, next-generation AI TechBio company and precision medicine pioneer. Chris...
Resources: https://linktr.ee/ReliaQuestShadowTalk
Join hosts Brandon and John as they discuss:
- How Handala wiped 200,000 devices by weaponizing a trusted platform
- Why your organization doesn't need to be a direct target to be at risk
- How AI-enhanced malware is helping attackers get faster
John Dilgen: Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst at ReliaQuest, where he specializes in researching cyber threats impacting ReliaQuest cus...
Resources: https://linktr.ee/ReliaQuestShadowTalk
Join hosts John and Alex as they discuss:
- How a Chinese APT maintained access for over a year
- Why North Korean impersonation surged 116%
- Why attackers exploit the same foundational gaps
John Dilgen: Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst at ReliaQuest, where he specializes in researching cyber threats impacting ReliaQuest customers. With a strong technical background, he previously s...
Resources: https://linktr.ee/ReliaQuestShadowTalk
Join hosts Tehman and John as they discuss:
- Why ransomware now prioritizes exfiltration over encryption
- How attackers can exfiltrate your data in just 6 minutes
- Why proactive darkweb monitoring is critical
John Dilgen: Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst at ReliaQuest, where he specializes in researching cyber threats impacting ReliaQuest customers. With a strong technical backgr...
Resources: https://linktr.ee/ReliaQuestShadowTalk
Join hosts Brandon and John as they discuss:
- How attacker breakout times dropped to as little as 4 minutes
- Why ClickFix surged 200%
- Why behavioral detection is critical
John Dilgen: Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst at ReliaQuest, where he specializes in researching cyber threats impacting ReliaQuest customers. With a strong technical background, he previously served as an Inci...
Resources: https://linktr.ee/ReliaQuestShadowTalk
Join hosts John and Tehman as they discuss:
- What attackers prefer over custom malware
- How signature-based detection fails
- Proactive governance vs. reactive triage
John Dilgen: Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst at ReliaQuest, where he specializes in researching cyber threats impacting ReliaQuest customers. With a strong technical background, he previously served as an Incident Re...
Resources: https://linktr.ee/ReliaQuestShadowTalk
Join hosts Brandon and John as they discuss:
- Why extortion payment rates are the lowest ever
- Organizations paying ransomware but refusing data extortion demands
- Why defenders need both visibility and speed
John Dilgen: Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst at ReliaQuest, where he specializes in researching cyber threats impacting ReliaQuest customers. With a strong technical backgro...
Resources: https://linktr.ee/ReliaQuestShadowTalk
Join hosts Brandon and John as they discuss:
- Why traditional patch cycles can't beat attackers exploiting vulnerabilities in 24 hours
- The shift from reactive patching to predictive intelligence using EPSS and CISA KEV
- How to defend against zero-days when patching isn't an option
John Dilgen: Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst at ReliaQuest, where he specializes in resea...
Resources: https://linktr.ee/ReliaQuestShadowTalk
Join hosts John and Tehman as they discuss:
- Why phishing emails are no longer the top malware delivery method
- Emerging social engineering tactics: vishing, copy and paste abuse, and software impersonation
- How campaigns have evolved from Black Basta to ShinyHunters
John Dilgen: Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst at ReliaQuest, where he specializes in researching cyber threats impa...
Resources: https://linktr.ee/ReliaQuestShadowTalk
John and Tehman as they discuss:
- How AI is enabling large-scale, high-speed attacks
- Nation-states weaponizing AI for attack automation
- The rise of sophisticated AI-generated malware
John Dilgen: Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst at ReliaQuest, where he specializes in researching cyber threats impacting ReliaQuest customers. With a strong technical background, he previously serve...
Resources: https://linktr.ee/ReliaQuestShadowTalk
Join hosts Brandon and John as they discuss:
- How supply-chain attacks evolved
- Campaigns targeting NPM package maintainers
- Actionable defense strategies
Brandon Tirado: Director of Threat Research for ReliaQuest. A skilled cyber defense professional with a unique combination of management and hands-on experience. With a deep understanding of adversary motives and the tactics, tec...
Resources: https://linktr.ee/ReliaQuestShadowTalk
Join hosts Brandon and Tehman as they discuss:
- The resurgence of LockBit 5.0 and its December 2025 surge in named organizations
- How top ransomware groups like Qilin, Akira, and Clop dominated in 2025.
- Actionable defense strategies for organizations to proactively combat ransomware in 2026
Brandon Tirado: Director of Threat Research for ReliaQuest. Brandon is a skilled cyber defe...
Resources: https://linktr.ee/ReliaQuestShadowTalk
Join host John and intelligence analyst Ivan as they discuss:
- React2Shell Exploits Flood the Internet as Attacks Continue (1:06)
- ClickFix Style Attack Leveraging Grok and ChatGPT for Malware Delivery (7:39)
- New ConsentFix Attack Hijacking Microsoft Accounts via Azure CLI (13:50)
- Holiday Season Attack Risks: Phishing, Ransomware, and Defense Recommendations (18:22)
John Dilgen: Cy...
Resources: https://linktr.ee/ReliaQuestShadowTalk
Join host John along with systems security engineer Corey and intelligence analyst Hayden as they discuss:
- Chinese Threat Groups Exploiting the React2Shell Vulnerability (1:18)
- CISA Issues Alert on Persistent Brickstorm Backdoor Attacks (9:05)
- ShadyPanda Hackers Turn Millions of Browsers into Weapons (13:36)
- Storm-0249’s Shift to Targeted EDR Exploitation (20:09)
John Dilgen: Cyb...
Resources: https://linktr.ee/ReliaQuestShadowTalk
Join host John and intelligence analysts Alex and Hayden as they discuss:
- Scattered Lapsus$ Hunters Targeting Zendesk (1:14)
- Microsoft Teams Guest Access Phishing Bypass (3:37)
- Dark AI Tools Enhancing Threat Actors (6:08)
- Silver Fox’s Campaign: Chinese APT Spotlight (10:05)
John Dilgen: Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst at ReliaQuest, where he specializes in researching cyber thr...
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