March 12, 2025 • 40 mins
Empower Your Family's Cybersecurity with Expert Insights
In this episode of The Secure Family Podcast, Andy talks with cyber defense expert Reanna Schultz to discuss how families can ensure a safe and fun online experience. Reanna shares her journey into cybersecurity, offers practical tips on creating secure passwords, and advises on how to protect personal data.
She emphasizes the importance of multi-factor authentication and the risks posed by seemingly innocuous social media and online interactions. Parents are given valuable guidelines on how to safeguard their children's online activities.
For more on Reanna: https://www.cyberspeaklabs.com/
Watch the Interview: https://youtu.be/xlXC5gFe3Lg
Take control of your data with DeleteMe. Because they sponsor the podcast you can get 20% off a privacy plan from DeleteMe with promo code: DAD.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:10):
This is The Secure Family Podcast.
Welcome friend.
I'm Andy Murphy, the host andfounder of The Secure Dad.
This show is all about empowering parentsto protect themselves and their family.
I believe that security isthe foundation of happiness.
I want your family to be safe and happy.
The information I share on this podcastis for general information purposes only.
(00:33):
My goal is to empower you tomake safer decisions for yourself
and your family, because oursafety is our own responsibility.
Today, I get to chat with a cyber defenseexpert about what families can do to
make sure that they have a safe, fun,online experience, all of that, and more
coming up on The Secure Family Podcast.
(00:57):
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My guest on the showtoday is Reanna Schultz.
(02:46):
Reanna is the mind behind CyberSpeak Labs.
She helps businesses navigatecyber threats and risks.
She also has a podcast,Defenders and Lab Coats.
When she's not working, she takestime to speak with groups and
schools to help them be cyber safe.
Here's my conversationwith Reanna Schultz.
(03:13):
So, thanks Rhianna forbeing on the show today.
Introduce yourself to everybody.
Hi, uh, my name is Reanna Schultz.
I have been in the cyber fieldfor a little over seven years now.
I have a very diverse, colorfulbackground, uh, primarily in
endpoint security, engineering,network security engineering.
And then I found myway into cyber defense.
(03:35):
So I currently work and lead asecurity operations center team.
And, uh, part-time at nightI try to run my own business.
I teach college classes and of course.
I am a content creator on YouTubeand LinkedIn because why not?
Yeah, I know.
There's just not enoughhours in the day, right?
No, not at all.
(03:55):
Cool.
So like I think some of the questionsI'm gonna ask you today are just
really easy softball questions for you.
Not necessarily for me and my audience,but what got you into like cyber defense?
What, what started you down this path?
Yeah, and I grew up in avery rural Missouri town.
I always make the joke that there'smore cows than people, and so.
(04:19):
I, I didn't really, I'm gonna behonest, like STEM or even computer
science wasn't really mm-hmm.
In my scope, and that's just because ofhow my education was in my upbringing.
You know, we focus moreon, I would say, arts.
And theater and, you know,physical education rather than,
uh, here's a computer, learnhow to program essentially.
(04:41):
And one of the things that my parentsdid, I, I remember I was 17, they sat
me down and they're like, okay, it'stime for you to figure out your life.
And that is a very big question to ask.
It is a 17-year-old.
And of course at the timeI'm like, I don't know.
You know, and I thought aboutbeing a veterinarian, uh,
just because I, I had like.
A ton of chickens, like 60 or 70 chickens.
(05:03):
I, I was very active in FFA and four Hand all of those fun, fun, fun activities
and turns out I'm allergic to cats.
So worked out.
I did not go through veterinarian school.
That would've been a very fun.
Experience.
Um, but one of the things that myschool did offer was career day.
And as part of career day, theywould bring in like parents from
(05:26):
the students and stuff like that.
And one of the parents wasa state highway patrolman.
And one of the things I remember was how.
Passionate.
He was to provide communitysafety and security expertise.
And I said, oh.
I was like, I wanna go bea state highway patrolman.
I was like, this is fun.
Like, this guy's really excited, youknow, he's really serving the community.
(05:47):
And then of course you geta cool car because why not?
And I, I was, I, well, I came home andI was really excited to tell my parents.
I was like, I'm gonna go do this.
And they're like.
Okay.
And I was like, you guys toldme to go figure out my life?
And I figured it out and they're like,okay, you know what you wanna do?
What do you wanna do now?
And um, I went to my schoolcounselor and I said, Hey, I'm
(06:10):
pretty much bored in high school.
Like I know what I wanna do and it's, I.It's exciting to me, like, what do I need?
And they're like, well, you cangraduate early if you want it.
I was like, wait, that's an optionin high school to graduate early.
So I remember being 17, I was scared.
I graduated high school early.
I went in and took the A CT, I got thelowest score I possibly could to go
(06:32):
to college because I thought it wasa waste of time, and I had moved out.
And it was one of the most scaryexperiences I've ever had, and
everything was on my own dollar.
Um, my college was on my own timeand I ended up working at Buffalo
Wild Wings throughout my university.
(06:52):
And I was serving chickento pay for my studies.
And when I was going through mycollege classes, uh, criminal
justice classes were so.
Boring.
And I apologize for anyone listening tothis that is a CJ major or a law major.
I don't know how you doit, but they would probably
say the same thing.
You know,
I, I remember showing up toclass and I was like, who cares?
(07:15):
You know, like, I'm like, why arewe making a big deal about who, like
what neighbor accidentally mowedthe other neighbors on like, who
cares that this is a court case?
I was like, no, this is not for me.
And.
I went back to that moment where I reallythought I, this was, this was for me.
And of course, again, it worked out.
(07:36):
I'm five foot two, I'm super short.
Like I couldn't even imagine tacklinganyone tall and big when I'm just
literally a very tiny person.
And, uh, it's, so I again, right.
I did some reflection.
I was like, why, why did Ireally wanna go into this field?
It was because of how passionatethat Highway Patrolman was.
(07:57):
So I did some reflecting and I thoughtto myself, what, what made me passionate?
And I was thinking aboutthe activities I was doing.
I really enjoyed Waitressing for most ofthe time, mostly because of the money.
And then I was also thinking whatother curriculum activities I'm doing.
And weightlifting was somethingI was really, really into.
I was.
Super big in a bodybuilding andcreating dietary plans for other
(08:22):
people and things like that.
So I was like, okay, cool.
Maybe this is something I should pursue.
So I changed my majorto physical therapy and.
I hated physical therapy.
Again.
I was like, who cares aboutthe bones of the body?
You know, like I just want a bulk.
I literally took a class called PE and Iplayed kickball for an entire semester.
(08:42):
I paid money to play kickball, not evenat a competitive league, and so I. I
thought to myself, I was like, why?
Why am I not enjoying this?
And around that time, especially whenyou go through college, you have to
take courses called elective courses.
And one of my elective courses was atechnology course, and the only class
(09:03):
that was open during that semesterwas a Python programming course.
Okay.
And I. I knew nothing about programming.
I didn't even really knowanything about computer science.
I was just like, whatever.
You know, it's a 1100 class.
It should be pretty easy, especiallyif it's an elective course.
I walked in and I fellin love with this class.
I really thought to myself, why isthis so different compared to the other
(09:27):
two majors I thought I would enjoy?
And I realize it's the type of thinking.
Um, with criminal justice andphysical therapy, it's a lot
of black and white answers.
Essentially.
It's yes or no, like this is correct.
This is not, this ishow you spell something.
This is not how you spell something.
And it's a very direct,linear type of thinking.
Mm-hmm.
And with Python programming, I realizedI could be creative with my solutions.
(09:50):
I can.
Have diverse types ofways to get to an answer.
It allowed me to think outside thebox rather than just be set on a path.
And you know, some people I like,especially engineers, right, they are very
straightforward to the answer and somepeople are very successful in those areas.
For me it wasn't, I liketo forge my own path.
(10:10):
I always make a joke that I'm amongof those people whenever you play.
A, um, one of those RPGgames or Open World games.
I go off of the main quest and Ijust do all the side quests and I'm
like, oh yeah, I probably shouldgo back and, you know, do the thing
that the game is designed for.
So, right.
Um, that is me to a t andeventually, of course, that led.
To me getting into cybersecurity.
(10:32):
So I ended up, one of the bigthings that someone taught me very
early on in college is your networth is your network, essentially.
Mm-hmm.
And that is so true.
So I tried getting as engagedas I could in the community.
I tried making connections toas many people as I could and
just really building my personalbrand, which led me to my first.
(10:54):
Job, essentially.
And I was very blessed.
I worked at a Fortune 50company my first three and a
half years, and Wow, very good.
Decided to go go to a startup.
Yeah.
I decided to go to a startupright after, realize I am.
I do not like startups.
It is not for me.
I like the busy life of the hustleand bustle, and eventually found
my way back to corporate America.
So here we are now, a very long-winded.
(11:15):
Story too.
A very, no, a very simple question.
Well, no, but like I've alreadylearned that you're a self-starter.
You're very hardworking.
You are very passionate about stuffand that's, I find that key element
and a lot of the guests that I have onthis show, because they are people who
are just like, I know what I'm good atand I want you to know what I know so
(11:35):
that you don't get yourself in trouble.
You know, that sort of thing.
Yeah, absolutely.
And so that's why.
That's why I think you're gonnahelp us out here with stuff.
So again, this is going to be such alow question for you, but like everybody
listening to this has a password and somepeople are really good about making, you
know, pass phrases and stuff like that.
(11:55):
So other people are still using password.
1, 2, 3, 4. Um, what are some tips thatyou have for making secure passwords
that we can remember, or do we just needto jump right to a password manager?
I.
Yeah.
And this is such a, it's such aquestion and I, I often get asked
very frequently, specifically byclose friends and family, right?
(12:17):
Um, I will not name the family memberbecause they often watch my podcast, but,
um, one of the passwords that they usefor Facebook was Facebook one period.
And it was such a surprise when allof a sudden they were getting messages
from their Facebook friends and they'relike, Hey, I think your Facebook got
a. Got hacked and they're like, what?
(12:38):
Why?
And it's just like, no idea why?
No idea why here.
And I always tell people as ofwell, like you have to be very self,
it's not just passwords, right?
It's what you're doingwith your email address.
Too.
Mm-hmm.
The more you use your email address,the wider your digital footprint
is because now you're creatingyourself an online identity.
(13:00):
And a lot of people arelike, well, I don't care.
You know, if my account gets hacked,I don't care about any of this.
And I'm like, you absolutelyshould think about like.
Social media, for example.
Think about all of the personalinformation that is on your
social media, your house, okay?
Mm-hmm.
Well, why would you care about your house?
Well, now people canspam you with garbage.
(13:21):
Physically.
It is a thing.
It is a very common thing.
And another thing that peoplereally don't think about is the
privacy of their own children.
You know?
Mm-hmm.
Children in today's world, right?
You, they don't have a right asto maybe they're part of a family
vlog now, like they're part ofthat business now they're on social
media, now they're making tiktoks.
(13:41):
Now.
It's all these things.
This stuff does not go away, and itfollows you all the way until you die.
And what's even more wild is how people.
It's so easy, especially with employers,that you're able to just pull up someone's
account and essentially see everything.
Mm-hmm.
And it's one thing to Google yourself,but now with all of these open AI tools,
(14:04):
you can literally ask chat GPT aboutyourself and it will fetch all of that
information for you automatically.
And so it starts withwhy is that important?
Well.
How important is your self image?
How important is yourfamily or your friends?
Um, you can't control what peoplescreenshot and potentially use
to blackmail you down the road.
Yep.
(14:24):
And a lot of people just really,really don't think about that.
Mm-hmm.
And, um.
So starting with the why, it leads to,how important is the risk of using a bad
password If you now, don't get me wrong,there's some things I will absolutely
use a very terrible, crummy passwordin the moment of like, I submit a lot
of talks to, um, a lot of differentconferences and sometimes I just need
(14:48):
a one time password to submit the talkand I will never use that account again.
You know, most of the time itgets deleted just because of
how that service is offered.
I. I don't really use avery strong password for it.
Mm-hmm.
Now there's things that I absolutely willuse, um, a password manager for just so
I don't have to generate the password ora lot of the times, the passwords that
(15:11):
are built into majority smartphones nowwhere it just auto-populates it for you.
Mm-hmm.
And I take some things very serious,like my banking account, for example.
I Reannable biometrics, I Reannable,um, auto-generated passwords and also
MFA, because to me, if my passworddoes get compromised, it's a thing, uh,
(15:34):
regardless of how complex the passwordis, essentially it can be compromised.
There is a risk.
But Elise, if I Reannable MFA,it reduces access to my account.
Mm-hmm.
And most of the time it's justa text message to your phone.
Right.
And it takes Right.
Three seconds to turn on.
It's literally a, aradio button in settings.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
(15:54):
So to me it just, it's a personalquestion, a personal preference
as to what, how, how much isyour data worth essentially, and.
Regardless of the password and howit's used, turn on that MFA option.
Uh, because if your account does get soldon the undergrounds, it, a lease isn't
(16:16):
worth a whole lot at this point, so.
Mm-hmm.
Gotcha.
Right.
So, um, you know, speaking of, youknow, multifactor authentication, like
I have been sitting on my couch on aFriday night and I get a message from
Instagram saying, Hey, here's your,your, your link for your password reset.
And I'm like, I didn't do this, you know?
Yep.
And I'm like, okay, well,you know, somebody's trying
(16:37):
to hack my account again.
Mm-hmm.
So I'm gonna go monitor this for alittle while and see what's going on.
Um, so yeah, like I can personallyattest that, you know, those things
work, but a lot of people have thismisconception that, you know, if they
come up with their own like secretpassword, that nobody can guess it.
But hackers are notguessing your passwords.
Right.
They're using programs kind of.
(16:58):
Yep.
Walk us through what they're doing.
Yeah.
So in the industry, I would say theprofessional term is called rift kitties.
Mm-hmm.
And, uh, and essentially what they do,there's a lot of different security
tools that you can use that are free.
Um, they're not illegal.
They become illegal with intentand purpose and how you use it.
(17:20):
But a lot of times people will useessentially what's called a rainbow table,
which is a range of different passwordcomplexities, links, everything else.
And a lot of times they might be used withthese open source tools or now, uh, threat
actors or using these open AI models tomake more complex rainbow tables, more
(17:41):
complex scripts that allow them to.
Essentially guess quotations aroundthe word, guess your password.
And there is a table thatwas, I believe it was in 2022.
It tells you about thecomplexity of your password.
So the length, how manynumbers, special characters.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Phrases, all these other things.
Yeah.
(18:01):
And how long it could potentiallybe hacked, but now a lot of stuff
is getting automated where mm-hmm.
It's a, mm-hmm.
Probably more efficient, faster way,especially if you're using specific, uh,
programming languages to make that query.
Um.
More efficient for thethreat actor side as well.
So even if Right, if you'resaying, Hey, my password is, I
(18:25):
love rubber duckies followed bythe year in an exclamation point.
Yeah.
It's a very quote unquote strong password.
How did you know my password?
Did you, oh my gosh.
Because that's it.
It's, uh, I don't know, maybe it'sbecause, uh, sesame tree's, uh, starting
to become popular again with Elmo.
Yeah.
But, um, it's, it's oneof those things like.
(18:47):
At end of the day, a password isnot gonna be a hundred percent.
That's why I have a job, you know,to find people that are trying
to do these malicious things.
Very true.
So, um, you know, a lot of us, weall have our wifi networks at home.
There are people who will just takeit right outta the box, plug it in,
and they're just sort of thankful,gosh, that the thing turns on.
Gosh, oh my gosh.
(19:07):
But they're still, gosh, the default, youknow, username and password from Netgear
or TP Link or whoever and I, and evenme, I know that all of those are online.
Like you can go look them up, likethe manufacturer will sometimes.
List the common passwords or whatever.
So if I get a new wifi systemor anything like that, what do I
(19:27):
need to do to make sure that, youknow, my neighbor can't get it?
Or a malicious actor.
You can't get it either.
Yeah.
Oh, oh my goodness.
Um, I don't know how many times Ihave logged in with admin, admin
on, um, my, my friends and families.
Sure.
And then just to prove a point, right.
You can go in and just change the passwordso that way you're completely locked out
(19:50):
and then you have to go through customers.
It's, it's a good lesson learned foranyone, but I always recommend people,
especially when you're moving intoa new home like an apartment mm-hmm.
Or condo or whatever.
The people setting up the wifi.
Most of the time they are technicallytrained to walk you through on
how to change the username, howto change the default password.
(20:12):
In fact, I believe Google Fibernow, that's part of the setup is
so you have to change it while thetechnical support person is there.
Okay.
Just to get rid of the.
The built-in things as well.
Um, a lot of the times with a lotof newer, uh, network providers.
Now, if you're out in a ruralarea, I'm sorry, I do feel for you.
(20:33):
Um, and your wifi bandwidth.
Uh, I remember growing up Icouldn't watch Netflix as the
same time as my sister, so Gotcha.
One of us, we would have to share.
Um, but most of the time a lot ofthese modern day network providers,
essentially they offer you a private wifi.
So the.
This is private wifi that islimited to your friends and family.
(20:55):
So the network bandwidth is separatein how it's used, and you can throttle
it to your personal home needs.
And then you have a guest wifi.
So the guest wifi might be mm-hmm.
Username guest, password guest.
Right.
And it's.
Quote, unquote, separate fromyour home network as well.
So it allows that bandwidth tonot be as strong and um, doesn't
(21:17):
ruin what you're doing essentiallyto impact your day to day.
So there's a lot ofthings that you can do.
I also recommend people to call asupport person probably once a year to
come out and just make sure everythingis updated up to code and mm-hmm.
You don't have to worryabout it because it is.
Very, very frequent that not only dopasswords and usernames get guessed
(21:43):
very, very, very frequently, but alsoexploiting those servers as well and
taking over, especially if you havesmart home devices, like you can
start your dishwasher on your phone.
You can start your oven on yourphone, or hey, I can check my fridge
now and see what I'm running out of.
(22:03):
All these things areconnected to your wifi.
And personally, I don't like to thinkabout my oven randomly turning on and
then being set to 700 degrees becausesomeone was curious if they could do it.
Mm-hmm.
And it's just, it's a veryscary thought to have.
And I again, right, just making sureit's updated, making sure that the
(22:24):
default credentials are changed.
And if you're listening to thisand you're like, I don't even.
Like it's, it's a weirdpassword that they gave me.
That's still a default password.
Yes.
That most of the times it's sharedwith other customers as well.
And I guarantee you there is probably apage on Reddit or GitHub that is shared
(22:45):
amongst the entire community as, hey,these are common used passwords with
network providers that you can use to tryto essentially get into Sosa neighbor's
wifi and just steal off of it for a bit.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
A lot of people think, and, and youkind of alluded to this a little while
ago, and I think this is importantand I wanna get your take on this.
(23:07):
Yeah.
People say, oh, nobody cares about me.
Nobody would ever hack my Facebook.
I'm a boring person.
I don't have anything to hide.
What do you say to that?
I say even I, even the janitorthat works at a school is a
way for someone to get in.
Everyone is an entry point.
(23:28):
Mm-hmm.
And.
One thing that people don't think aboutoften is if we wanna use the wifi one
as an example, you get on that wifi.
It is key to the kingdom, to someone'spersonal network, especially if you
save your passwords in your browser.
It is so easy.
To get those passwords because it'sjust a, it's literally just a click
(23:50):
of a button for a threat actor.
And so now if you really think abouteverything that you saved in your
browser, think about your financialinformation, think about everything
else, and then on top of that.
Threat actors run this as a business,like this is their full-time job.
Mm-hmm.
And people don't really think about that.
It doesn't matter who you are, thatis still a dollar amount to them.
(24:13):
Um, especially if someonemight work in sales.
It doesn't matter how smallthe commission is, it's still a
commission to them at end of the day.
Um, the only differences is.
Threat actors probably don't put iton their IRS taxes, but, um Right.
But you know, to them, if theysell passwords and usernames in the
underground market for a dollar andthey get 50 people to buy that username
(24:38):
and password, that's 50 bucks to them.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
So even if you might be Joe Schmothat works at a small business
market, you know, that's a normalnine to five employee and comes home
to a normal family, that's still a.
Dollar sign to someone.
Yeah.
That's still commissioned for someonewho is really trying to sell it.
And I think it's just such a mis um,misconception in today's world where
(25:02):
people are like, well, these threatactors are targeting these very big and
expensive companies to know they're not.
A lot of the times they're trying to.
Collect information from people thatdon't think that they're a target, because
again, they're making that commission.
And especially threat actors.
They're snake oil salesmen too.
Um, I don't know how many articlesI have seen in the last year where
(25:26):
people talk about chat, GPT gettinghacked and stealing all of this user
information when in reality thosestolen creds are from other types of
malware, and the credentials are also.
Allows a threat actor toauthenticate into chat GPT.
So it didn't come from chat GPT,but threat actors are selling it
(25:46):
as, Hey, we, we hack chat, GPT.
Here's the credentials you can useto get into chat GPT, and it's.
It's making a car shiny, even though it'smissing wheels and a fender, essentially.
Gotcha.
And so people, people don't reallythink about that side of cyber
because it is a business, you know?
(26:07):
Right.
People are making commission,
right?
Yeah.
Somebody thinks, oh, it's justsomebody who directly wants to hurt me.
It is an individual who knows me.
And that's not the case.
You're just, like you said,you're just a dollar sign.
To so many people, like you've got, youknow, four people living in your house.
Well, that's $4 signs right there.
Yep.
You know?
Got it.
Alright.
(26:27):
So we've got a lot of parents who arelistening to the show today and they are,
you know, our kids are living a much moredigital life than you and I ever did.
Um, what are some, what are somethings that parents can do to make
sure that their kids are making gooddecisions online, whether that's.
Gaming or social media or,you know, whatever it is that
(26:48):
they're doing, what are some kindof guidelines you can give us
there?
Oh my goodness.
I, I can get on a whole soap for this.
Um, so there was, I, I doa lot of different talks.
I'll go to local high schoolssometimes or middle schools.
And this is a question I oftenget asked is, Hey, can you
talk about social media safety?
Can you talk about this?
Can you talk about that?
(27:09):
Mm-hmm.
And I was, um, it was 2000 and.
11 was when I joined Facebook.
So that was the first time I ever wason social media, and especially one of
the things I, oh, I, if I can just tellteReannage Reanna, uh, don't do this.
You know, I cringe aboutsome of the things I did.
Yeah, we're all there.
But, but one, uh, my Instagram does notexist for a reason, but, um, one of the
(27:35):
things that I remember in my youth was.
The amount of satisfaction that we getwhen we add people, when we like, when
we comment, when we just get, mm-hmm.
So, mm-hmm.
Like so caught up in thisfast pace environment.
And of course, you know, as you matureyour, your mannerisms change obviously.
But again, I use this phraseearlier in this podcast, digital
(27:58):
footprint, it goes mm-hmm.
Everywhere.
And one of the talks that I did fora school is I went to a website.
And, um, the teacher, I essentiallyasked for her, you know, first and last
name and I made sure I spelt it right.
And I used this tool.
I looked up her first and last name,and then I also added the school
(28:22):
district she taught at, and you can.
Essentially see every single time someone,uh, posts publicly on Twitter or Facebook
and x and from there I was able to locateher house and then I was able to see the
kids that she posted, and then of coursetheir kids have social media, so now I can
see literally where their kids walk to thefriend's house and back from the friend's
(28:46):
house because they're sitting there, youknow, chatting on Messenger and everything
that's public and the kids that.
Saw this, like their eyes just got so big.
Mm-hmm.
And I said Snapchat.
I said, that doesn't go away.
I said, there are legal obligationsfor data to be stored on these servers.
(29:08):
I was like, just because you can'tsee it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
And I said, it is by law you haveto have x, y, z worth of data.
So, and then like thekids' eyes got really big.
I'm like, I'll let you think aboutwhat you've been sending for the
last month to, to your so set friend.
And, um, so it was just one ofthose like eye awakening moments.
And especially as a parent, youdon't, it's one thing to post a
(29:31):
picture about your own kid, right?
You're the parent's guardian, right?
I trust that you have bad judge, like youhave bad or good judgment in that sense.
But then when you think about whatyour kids are doing and how you
cannot control the moment they hitposts, it is out of your wheelhouse.
And um, I always tell parents.
I said, look, in the settings ofyour kids' social media profile, I go
(29:55):
back to make sure MFA is Reannabled.
Mm-hmm.
I always tell parents to also, uh,go through and limit what data is
being shared outside and you canliterally just Google how to secure
my Instagram account, how to secure.
Mm-hmm.
My Snapchat account, there is so manyarticles that is even written by the.
(30:16):
People that own Instagram and Snapchatand TikTok, and tell you how to limit
your data usage because it is important.
It's not something that is hidden,but a lot of the times it's not
disabled by default because again,these social media platforms will be
selling your data to third party sites.
Mm-hmm.
That can use it for marketing,but what they don't.
(30:38):
Control is what those third parties do.
And so those third parties couldpotentially sell it to other websites.
And so now everything isfollowing, um, your child around.
And so this is where they, Imean, you're not gonna let your
kid go hang out, you know, in thebad part downtown of a big city.
Um, I always like to use that forsocial media or even online as well.
(31:00):
12. Like if your kids are looking upbad things, it's essentially gonna be
populated everywhere they go now becauseit's tied to their digital footprint.
And it takes mm-hmm.
Very, very long time for theonline algorithms to change, to
make it rainbows and unicorns.
Again, I call it theinternet rehab, essentially.
Right.
And another, and another thingI always recommend to people is.
(31:24):
You're not gonna go up to a randomperson that's sitting on the side of a
highway asking for money, asking who,what their name is, how their day is
like, especially if they look shady.
Mm-hmm.
Or maybe they look clean and it turnsout they are not a good person at all.
Mm-hmm.
Like, you're not gonna pickup a random hitchhiker.
It's like that with social media.
You do not wanna add just.
(31:45):
Random people.
Do not talk to strangers.
Step one, do not talk to strangers.
If you do not know theperson, then whatever.
Of course, like LinkedIn and myopinion's a little bit different because
it's more of a professional network.
But still don't just be handingout just random conversations.
Don't be posting pictures.
And especially on video gaming platforms,it is notorious for kids to get scammed.
(32:09):
Mm-hmm.
Out
of money using their parents' credit cardand they have no idea because someone.
Someone might have a sad storyor someone might be needing this.
And my, my biggest advice is do notbe nice, like, to all my people.
Mm-hmm.
Like, just because they have a sadstory, just because they might seem
innocent, it doesn't mean anything.
(32:31):
Um, I, I've learned this the very hardway and it's something I preach to a lot
of parents is everyone has a sad story.
It's just, we're, we'reraised to be empathetic.
We're raised to be friendlyto people, and we wanna help.
Right?
We're good people.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
You don't know the person, don't,like, everyone has a sad story
(32:53):
and you know, it's, you just don'tknow who's on the other side.
Right.
And you know, you make such a good pointabout don't be nice to other people, but
you don't necessarily have to be rude,but you don't have to be, you don't
have to do what they want you to do.
And that's, I think, correct.
That's, that's hard for an adult,let alone a teReannager with peer
(33:15):
pressure and all of that sort of stuff.
So it really is more like, Hey, youknow, this person may want money or they
may want to like give you something.
That sort of thing.
Just, yeah, say no because I, I thinkthere's a lot of times that people
get labeled as toxic because theydon't, you know, do what the, the
crowd is doing and that sort of thing.
So you're really just saying.
Be empathetic, but drawthe line right there.
(33:37):
Just don't take action.
Right.
Yeah.
And there's, I always encourageparents, um, of course, like it, it
gets really hard because you don'twanna break your own kids' trust at all.
Sure.
But I always tell parents,make sure you have.
Proper monitoring apps, make sure you havelocation Reannabled on your kid's phone.
Mm-hmm.
Like have these discussionsas to why it's important.
(34:00):
And then because one day they willbe a parent and they will understand
why having so said things and ofcourse like you wanna trust your
kid's privacy and everything as well.
But there is a middle ground asto you don't want something to
be a surprise one day mm-hmm.
As a parent.
And then ask, what couldI have done different?
Right.
And there's a. There's a tonof free stuff that you can do.
(34:22):
Um, there's some apps thatif a website hits a specific
category, you can get an alert.
Uh, same thing with your networkprovider on your wifi, you can set
up specific alerts or block specifictypes of, you know, adult content
or, you know, maybe things such aslike promotion of alcohol or mm-hmm.
You know, illegal activities like.
(34:42):
Every website has their own category andyou can go in and set up these alerts to
moderate, um, especially even app usage.
Um, if you see app usage going very,very high in a specific app, and this can
be iMessage, this can be a texting app.
Like you can set up these alertsthrough these different platforms and
(35:03):
it's something I absolutely recommendbecause then you're not sitting there
scrolling through your kid's phone.
Um, it's a way to automate it and know if.
Something suspiciousor weird is happening.
Right.
You know, I had to sit down and, uh, havethe discussion with my son about, you
know, um, he's big into gaming now and hewanted to get a headset so that he could
(35:24):
talk to people and all that sort of stuff.
And, you know, I, it was one ofthose things that was like, alright,
don't tell him everything all atonce 'cause you'll overwhelm him.
So I really had to like, pull backon it and it was like, you know.
We're, we're only gonna talkto the people who we know.
You can talk to me.
Yeah, you can talk to your friends.
You need to ask permissionfor this sort of stuff.
And you know, one of them, you know,it's because people just, gosh,
(35:44):
they just flip out on video games.
They will say horrible things andpain to kids and hurt their, yeah.
And hurt their feelingsand all that sort of stuff.
And then of course you have peoplewho are, you know, predators who
were trying to get your kids to moveto a Discord server to talk about
and watch these pictures and stuff.
So it was like, Hey man, likethis is where we're gonna start.
And you can't, you can't justhave one conversation, right?
(36:05):
It's gotta be like a continual thing.
Yeah, it does.
And and it's, I always like to use theanalogy, it's like teaching your kids to
drive, like you want, you want them tobe able to go experience the world, but
you want to make sure it's in a safe way.
And I always say there's like these randomsafety checks that happen for a reason.
Like, oh, you see a policeofficer sitting on the off ramp
(36:28):
to a highway doing speed checks.
Okay, well that's.
A subtle reminder to slow down, you know?
Mm-hmm.
Remember like the basicsand stuff like that.
And another thing that I always try totell parents is like, when something bad
does happen to a kid, um, like the feelingof being blackmailed and stuff like that,
it's, it's a very, it's a very hard conconversation to have and just be like,
(36:53):
no matter how bad the situation is, like.
I am here to support you and everythingelse because a lot of times kids
are, 'cause they don't realizewhat happened until it's too late.
Uh, 'cause to them, you know,it's, it's something else and
whatever their personal reason is.
And it's really hard on aparent's side because it's like,
that's your baby, you know?
(37:15):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
It is.
Yeah.
And I think, um, any parent who'sever had to go through this would
tell their friends and neighborshave the conversation now.
So you don't have to have it later andtry to rebuild them at the same time.
Like just go ahead andtalk to 'em about it.
You know, you're not gonnaruin your kids' innocence.
A lot of people areafraid of that, you know?
(37:36):
Yeah, go ahead.
Have the conversation now, becauseif you don't, somebody else is, and
it's not gonna go like you want it.
Yeah, it's very, and you know,like, especially being young, we
were all there once and we're like,nothing bad will happen to us.
And then, you know, that one thinghappens, you're like, oh man.
And then like as you getolder you're like, oh my gosh.
(37:56):
Like if my mom and dad knew, you know?
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah, for sure.
Well, Rina, thank you so much for, fortalking to us today and, you know, really
educating us on, on what's going on.
Where can people find outmore about you online?
Oh yes.
Um, I am everywhere except forInstagram for obvious reasons.
Um, you can visit my website.
(38:18):
It's https uh, cyber speak labs.com.
Uh, you can find a lot ofmy community stuff there.
I am on LinkedIn.
I am on x. You can find me on X as cyberReanna with one r. I do post a lot of fun.
YouTube shorts and stuff like that onthere that talks about corporate America
(38:38):
and, and a little bit of what's likebeing on the cyber defense side every day.
Uh, long story short, it is just a bunchof fires and a dumpster, you know, rowing
down the river in a very slow pace.
Yep.
That is my day to day.
Gotcha.
Um, but, but for the most part, I dohave, if you do have a kid that is
wanting to get into cybersecurity mm-hmm.
Or just.
Start building their network and brand.
I do run my own Discord server.
(39:00):
It is moderated.
I have very good admins that makesure no illegal activity is promoted.
It is a great place to learn and networkand ask questions and it's a very
positive community out there as well.
There is some good to thecyber side, so, um, education
is always key, in my opinion.
Very cool.
Uh, again, thank you for yourtime today and good luck with
(39:21):
everything that you're doing.
I hope you get to put out acouple of dumpster fires today.
Every day.
Well, that wraps up another episodeof The Secure Family Podcast.
Thank you friend for listening.
Thanks again to Reannafor being on the show.
(39:41):
For more on her visit CyberSpeakLabs.com.
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(40:22):
I'm Andy Murphy reminding you thatour safety is our own responsibility.
This is The Secure Family Podcast.
Welcome friend.
I'm Andy Murphy, the host andfounder of The Secure Dad.
This show is all about empowering parentsto protect themselves and their family.
I believe that security isthe foundation of happiness.
I want your family to be safe and happy.
The information I share on this podcastis for general information purposes only.
(00:33):
My goal is to empower you tomake safer decisions for yourself
and your family, because oursafety is our own responsibility.
Today, I get to chat with a cyber defenseexpert about what families can do to
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My guest on the showtoday is Reanna Schultz.
(02:46):
Reanna is the mind behind CyberSpeak Labs.
She helps businesses navigatecyber threats and risks.
She also has a podcast,Defenders and Lab Coats.
When she's not working, she takestime to speak with groups and
schools to help them be cyber safe.
Here's my conversationwith Reanna Schultz.
(03:13):
So, thanks Rhianna forbeing on the show today.
Introduce yourself to everybody.
Hi, uh, my name is Reanna Schultz.
I have been in the cyber fieldfor a little over seven years now.
I have a very diverse, colorfulbackground, uh, primarily in
endpoint security, engineering,network security engineering.
And then I found myway into cyber defense.
(03:35):
So I currently work and lead asecurity operations center team.
And, uh, part-time at nightI try to run my own business.
I teach college classes and of course.
I am a content creator on YouTubeand LinkedIn because why not?
Yeah, I know.
There's just not enoughhours in the day, right?
No, not at all.
(03:55):
Cool.
So like I think some of the questionsI'm gonna ask you today are just
really easy softball questions for you.
Not necessarily for me and my audience,but what got you into like cyber defense?
What, what started you down this path?
Yeah, and I grew up in avery rural Missouri town.
I always make the joke that there'smore cows than people, and so.
(04:19):
I, I didn't really, I'm gonna behonest, like STEM or even computer
science wasn't really mm-hmm.
In my scope, and that's just because ofhow my education was in my upbringing.
You know, we focus moreon, I would say, arts.
And theater and, you know,physical education rather than,
uh, here's a computer, learnhow to program essentially.
(04:41):
And one of the things that my parentsdid, I, I remember I was 17, they sat
me down and they're like, okay, it'stime for you to figure out your life.
And that is a very big question to ask.
It is a 17-year-old.
And of course at the timeI'm like, I don't know.
You know, and I thought aboutbeing a veterinarian, uh,
just because I, I had like.
A ton of chickens, like 60 or 70 chickens.
(05:03):
I, I was very active in FFA and four Hand all of those fun, fun, fun activities
and turns out I'm allergic to cats.
So worked out.
I did not go through veterinarian school.
That would've been a very fun.
Experience.
Um, but one of the things that myschool did offer was career day.
And as part of career day, theywould bring in like parents from
(05:26):
the students and stuff like that.
And one of the parents wasa state highway patrolman.
And one of the things I remember was how.
Passionate.
He was to provide communitysafety and security expertise.
And I said, oh.
I was like, I wanna go bea state highway patrolman.
I was like, this is fun.
Like, this guy's really excited, youknow, he's really serving the community.
(05:47):
And then of course you geta cool car because why not?
And I, I was, I, well, I came home andI was really excited to tell my parents.
I was like, I'm gonna go do this.
And they're like.
Okay.
And I was like, you guys toldme to go figure out my life?
And I figured it out and they're like,okay, you know what you wanna do?
What do you wanna do now?
And um, I went to my schoolcounselor and I said, Hey, I'm
(06:10):
pretty much bored in high school.
Like I know what I wanna do and it's, I.It's exciting to me, like, what do I need?
And they're like, well, you cangraduate early if you want it.
I was like, wait, that's an optionin high school to graduate early.
So I remember being 17, I was scared.
I graduated high school early.
I went in and took the A CT, I got thelowest score I possibly could to go
(06:32):
to college because I thought it wasa waste of time, and I had moved out.
And it was one of the most scaryexperiences I've ever had, and
everything was on my own dollar.
Um, my college was on my own timeand I ended up working at Buffalo
Wild Wings throughout my university.
(06:52):
And I was serving chickento pay for my studies.
And when I was going through mycollege classes, uh, criminal
justice classes were so.
Boring.
And I apologize for anyone listening tothis that is a CJ major or a law major.
I don't know how you doit, but they would probably
say the same thing.
You know,
I, I remember showing up toclass and I was like, who cares?
(07:15):
You know, like, I'm like, why arewe making a big deal about who, like
what neighbor accidentally mowedthe other neighbors on like, who
cares that this is a court case?
I was like, no, this is not for me.
And.
I went back to that moment where I reallythought I, this was, this was for me.
And of course, again, it worked out.
(07:36):
I'm five foot two, I'm super short.
Like I couldn't even imagine tacklinganyone tall and big when I'm just
literally a very tiny person.
And, uh, it's, so I again, right.
I did some reflection.
I was like, why, why did Ireally wanna go into this field?
It was because of how passionatethat Highway Patrolman was.
(07:57):
So I did some reflecting and I thoughtto myself, what, what made me passionate?
And I was thinking aboutthe activities I was doing.
I really enjoyed Waitressing for most ofthe time, mostly because of the money.
And then I was also thinking whatother curriculum activities I'm doing.
And weightlifting was somethingI was really, really into.
I was.
Super big in a bodybuilding andcreating dietary plans for other
(08:22):
people and things like that.
So I was like, okay, cool.
Maybe this is something I should pursue.
So I changed my majorto physical therapy and.
I hated physical therapy.
Again.
I was like, who cares aboutthe bones of the body?
You know, like I just want a bulk.
I literally took a class called PE and Iplayed kickball for an entire semester.
(08:42):
I paid money to play kickball, not evenat a competitive league, and so I. I
thought to myself, I was like, why?
Why am I not enjoying this?
And around that time, especially whenyou go through college, you have to
take courses called elective courses.
And one of my elective courses was atechnology course, and the only class
(09:03):
that was open during that semesterwas a Python programming course.
Okay.
And I. I knew nothing about programming.
I didn't even really knowanything about computer science.
I was just like, whatever.
You know, it's a 1100 class.
It should be pretty easy, especiallyif it's an elective course.
I walked in and I fellin love with this class.
I really thought to myself, why isthis so different compared to the other
(09:27):
two majors I thought I would enjoy?
And I realize it's the type of thinking.
Um, with criminal justice andphysical therapy, it's a lot
of black and white answers.
Essentially.
It's yes or no, like this is correct.
This is not, this ishow you spell something.
This is not how you spell something.
And it's a very direct,linear type of thinking.
Mm-hmm.
And with Python programming, I realizedI could be creative with my solutions.
(09:50):
I can.
Have diverse types ofways to get to an answer.
It allowed me to think outside thebox rather than just be set on a path.
And you know, some people I like,especially engineers, right, they are very
straightforward to the answer and somepeople are very successful in those areas.
For me it wasn't, I liketo forge my own path.
(10:10):
I always make a joke that I'm amongof those people whenever you play.
A, um, one of those RPGgames or Open World games.
I go off of the main quest and Ijust do all the side quests and I'm
like, oh yeah, I probably shouldgo back and, you know, do the thing
that the game is designed for.
So, right.
Um, that is me to a t andeventually, of course, that led.
To me getting into cybersecurity.
(10:32):
So I ended up, one of the bigthings that someone taught me very
early on in college is your networth is your network, essentially.
Mm-hmm.
And that is so true.
So I tried getting as engagedas I could in the community.
I tried making connections toas many people as I could and
just really building my personalbrand, which led me to my first.
(10:54):
Job, essentially.
And I was very blessed.
I worked at a Fortune 50company my first three and a
half years, and Wow, very good.
Decided to go go to a startup.
Yeah.
I decided to go to a startupright after, realize I am.
I do not like startups.
It is not for me.
I like the busy life of the hustleand bustle, and eventually found
my way back to corporate America.
So here we are now, a very long-winded.
(11:15):
Story too.
A very, no, a very simple question.
Well, no, but like I've alreadylearned that you're a self-starter.
You're very hardworking.
You are very passionate about stuffand that's, I find that key element
and a lot of the guests that I have onthis show, because they are people who
are just like, I know what I'm good atand I want you to know what I know so
(11:35):
that you don't get yourself in trouble.
You know, that sort of thing.
Yeah, absolutely.
And so that's why.
That's why I think you're gonnahelp us out here with stuff.
So again, this is going to be such alow question for you, but like everybody
listening to this has a password and somepeople are really good about making, you
know, pass phrases and stuff like that.
(11:55):
So other people are still using password.
1, 2, 3, 4. Um, what are some tips thatyou have for making secure passwords
that we can remember, or do we just needto jump right to a password manager?
I.
Yeah.
And this is such a, it's such aquestion and I, I often get asked
very frequently, specifically byclose friends and family, right?
(12:17):
Um, I will not name the family memberbecause they often watch my podcast, but,
um, one of the passwords that they usefor Facebook was Facebook one period.
And it was such a surprise when allof a sudden they were getting messages
from their Facebook friends and they'relike, Hey, I think your Facebook got
a. Got hacked and they're like, what?
(12:38):
Why?
And it's just like, no idea why?
No idea why here.
And I always tell people as ofwell, like you have to be very self,
it's not just passwords, right?
It's what you're doingwith your email address.
Too.
Mm-hmm.
The more you use your email address,the wider your digital footprint
is because now you're creatingyourself an online identity.
(13:00):
And a lot of people arelike, well, I don't care.
You know, if my account gets hacked,I don't care about any of this.
And I'm like, you absolutelyshould think about like.
Social media, for example.
Think about all of the personalinformation that is on your
social media, your house, okay?
Mm-hmm.
Well, why would you care about your house?
Well, now people canspam you with garbage.
(13:21):
Physically.
It is a thing.
It is a very common thing.
And another thing that peoplereally don't think about is the
privacy of their own children.
You know?
Mm-hmm.
Children in today's world, right?
You, they don't have a right asto maybe they're part of a family
vlog now, like they're part ofthat business now they're on social
media, now they're making tiktoks.
(13:41):
Now.
It's all these things.
This stuff does not go away, and itfollows you all the way until you die.
And what's even more wild is how people.
It's so easy, especially with employers,that you're able to just pull up someone's
account and essentially see everything.
Mm-hmm.
And it's one thing to Google yourself,but now with all of these open AI tools,
(14:04):
you can literally ask chat GPT aboutyourself and it will fetch all of that
information for you automatically.
And so it starts withwhy is that important?
Well.
How important is your self image?
How important is yourfamily or your friends?
Um, you can't control what peoplescreenshot and potentially use
to blackmail you down the road.
Yep.
(14:24):
And a lot of people just really,really don't think about that.
Mm-hmm.
And, um.
So starting with the why, it leads to,how important is the risk of using a bad
password If you now, don't get me wrong,there's some things I will absolutely
use a very terrible, crummy passwordin the moment of like, I submit a lot
of talks to, um, a lot of differentconferences and sometimes I just need
(14:48):
a one time password to submit the talkand I will never use that account again.
You know, most of the time itgets deleted just because of
how that service is offered.
I. I don't really use avery strong password for it.
Mm-hmm.
Now there's things that I absolutely willuse, um, a password manager for just so
I don't have to generate the password ora lot of the times, the passwords that
(15:11):
are built into majority smartphones nowwhere it just auto-populates it for you.
Mm-hmm.
And I take some things very serious,like my banking account, for example.
I Reannable biometrics, I Reannable,um, auto-generated passwords and also
MFA, because to me, if my passworddoes get compromised, it's a thing, uh,
(15:34):
regardless of how complex the passwordis, essentially it can be compromised.
There is a risk.
But Elise, if I Reannable MFA,it reduces access to my account.
Mm-hmm.
And most of the time it's justa text message to your phone.
Right.
And it takes Right.
Three seconds to turn on.
It's literally a, aradio button in settings.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
(15:54):
So to me it just, it's a personalquestion, a personal preference
as to what, how, how much isyour data worth essentially, and.
Regardless of the password and howit's used, turn on that MFA option.
Uh, because if your account does get soldon the undergrounds, it, a lease isn't
(16:16):
worth a whole lot at this point, so.
Mm-hmm.
Gotcha.
Right.
So, um, you know, speaking of, youknow, multifactor authentication, like
I have been sitting on my couch on aFriday night and I get a message from
Instagram saying, Hey, here's your,your, your link for your password reset.
And I'm like, I didn't do this, you know?
Yep.
And I'm like, okay, well,you know, somebody's trying
(16:37):
to hack my account again.
Mm-hmm.
So I'm gonna go monitor this for alittle while and see what's going on.
Um, so yeah, like I can personallyattest that, you know, those things
work, but a lot of people have thismisconception that, you know, if they
come up with their own like secretpassword, that nobody can guess it.
But hackers are notguessing your passwords.
Right.
They're using programs kind of.
(16:58):
Yep.
Walk us through what they're doing.
Yeah.
So in the industry, I would say theprofessional term is called rift kitties.
Mm-hmm.
And, uh, and essentially what they do,there's a lot of different security
tools that you can use that are free.
Um, they're not illegal.
They become illegal with intentand purpose and how you use it.
(17:20):
But a lot of times people will useessentially what's called a rainbow table,
which is a range of different passwordcomplexities, links, everything else.
And a lot of times they might be used withthese open source tools or now, uh, threat
actors or using these open AI models tomake more complex rainbow tables, more
(17:41):
complex scripts that allow them to.
Essentially guess quotations aroundthe word, guess your password.
And there is a table thatwas, I believe it was in 2022.
It tells you about thecomplexity of your password.
So the length, how manynumbers, special characters.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Phrases, all these other things.
Yeah.
(18:01):
And how long it could potentiallybe hacked, but now a lot of stuff
is getting automated where mm-hmm.
It's a, mm-hmm.
Probably more efficient, faster way,especially if you're using specific, uh,
programming languages to make that query.
Um.
More efficient for thethreat actor side as well.
So even if Right, if you'resaying, Hey, my password is, I
(18:25):
love rubber duckies followed bythe year in an exclamation point.
Yeah.
It's a very quote unquote strong password.
How did you know my password?
Did you, oh my gosh.
Because that's it.
It's, uh, I don't know, maybe it'sbecause, uh, sesame tree's, uh, starting
to become popular again with Elmo.
Yeah.
But, um, it's, it's oneof those things like.
(18:47):
At end of the day, a password isnot gonna be a hundred percent.
That's why I have a job, you know,to find people that are trying
to do these malicious things.
Very true.
So, um, you know, a lot of us, weall have our wifi networks at home.
There are people who will just takeit right outta the box, plug it in,
and they're just sort of thankful,gosh, that the thing turns on.
Gosh, oh my gosh.
(19:07):
But they're still, gosh, the default, youknow, username and password from Netgear
or TP Link or whoever and I, and evenme, I know that all of those are online.
Like you can go look them up, likethe manufacturer will sometimes.
List the common passwords or whatever.
So if I get a new wifi systemor anything like that, what do I
(19:27):
need to do to make sure that, youknow, my neighbor can't get it?
Or a malicious actor.
You can't get it either.
Yeah.
Oh, oh my goodness.
Um, I don't know how many times Ihave logged in with admin, admin
on, um, my, my friends and families.
Sure.
And then just to prove a point, right.
You can go in and just change the passwordso that way you're completely locked out
(19:50):
and then you have to go through customers.
It's, it's a good lesson learned foranyone, but I always recommend people,
especially when you're moving intoa new home like an apartment mm-hmm.
Or condo or whatever.
The people setting up the wifi.
Most of the time they are technicallytrained to walk you through on
how to change the username, howto change the default password.
(20:12):
In fact, I believe Google Fibernow, that's part of the setup is
so you have to change it while thetechnical support person is there.
Okay.
Just to get rid of the.
The built-in things as well.
Um, a lot of the times with a lotof newer, uh, network providers.
Now, if you're out in a ruralarea, I'm sorry, I do feel for you.
(20:33):
Um, and your wifi bandwidth.
Uh, I remember growing up Icouldn't watch Netflix as the
same time as my sister, so Gotcha.
One of us, we would have to share.
Um, but most of the time a lot ofthese modern day network providers,
essentially they offer you a private wifi.
So the.
This is private wifi that islimited to your friends and family.
(20:55):
So the network bandwidth is separatein how it's used, and you can throttle
it to your personal home needs.
And then you have a guest wifi.
So the guest wifi might be mm-hmm.
Username guest, password guest.
Right.
And it's.
Quote, unquote, separate fromyour home network as well.
So it allows that bandwidth tonot be as strong and um, doesn't
(21:17):
ruin what you're doing essentiallyto impact your day to day.
So there's a lot ofthings that you can do.
I also recommend people to call asupport person probably once a year to
come out and just make sure everythingis updated up to code and mm-hmm.
You don't have to worryabout it because it is.
Very, very frequent that not only dopasswords and usernames get guessed
(21:43):
very, very, very frequently, but alsoexploiting those servers as well and
taking over, especially if you havesmart home devices, like you can
start your dishwasher on your phone.
You can start your oven on yourphone, or hey, I can check my fridge
now and see what I'm running out of.
(22:03):
All these things areconnected to your wifi.
And personally, I don't like to thinkabout my oven randomly turning on and
then being set to 700 degrees becausesomeone was curious if they could do it.
Mm-hmm.
And it's just, it's a veryscary thought to have.
And I again, right, just making sureit's updated, making sure that the
(22:24):
default credentials are changed.
And if you're listening to thisand you're like, I don't even.
Like it's, it's a weirdpassword that they gave me.
That's still a default password.
Yes.
That most of the times it's sharedwith other customers as well.
And I guarantee you there is probably apage on Reddit or GitHub that is shared
(22:45):
amongst the entire community as, hey,these are common used passwords with
network providers that you can use to tryto essentially get into Sosa neighbor's
wifi and just steal off of it for a bit.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
A lot of people think, and, and youkind of alluded to this a little while
ago, and I think this is importantand I wanna get your take on this.
(23:07):
Yeah.
People say, oh, nobody cares about me.
Nobody would ever hack my Facebook.
I'm a boring person.
I don't have anything to hide.
What do you say to that?
I say even I, even the janitorthat works at a school is a
way for someone to get in.
Everyone is an entry point.
(23:28):
Mm-hmm.
And.
One thing that people don't think aboutoften is if we wanna use the wifi one
as an example, you get on that wifi.
It is key to the kingdom, to someone'spersonal network, especially if you
save your passwords in your browser.
It is so easy.
To get those passwords because it'sjust a, it's literally just a click
(23:50):
of a button for a threat actor.
And so now if you really think abouteverything that you saved in your
browser, think about your financialinformation, think about everything
else, and then on top of that.
Threat actors run this as a business,like this is their full-time job.
Mm-hmm.
And people don't really think about that.
It doesn't matter who you are, thatis still a dollar amount to them.
(24:13):
Um, especially if someonemight work in sales.
It doesn't matter how smallthe commission is, it's still a
commission to them at end of the day.
Um, the only differences is.
Threat actors probably don't put iton their IRS taxes, but, um Right.
But you know, to them, if theysell passwords and usernames in the
underground market for a dollar andthey get 50 people to buy that username
(24:38):
and password, that's 50 bucks to them.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
So even if you might be Joe Schmothat works at a small business
market, you know, that's a normalnine to five employee and comes home
to a normal family, that's still a.
Dollar sign to someone.
Yeah.
That's still commissioned for someonewho is really trying to sell it.
And I think it's just such a mis um,misconception in today's world where
(25:02):
people are like, well, these threatactors are targeting these very big and
expensive companies to know they're not.
A lot of the times they're trying to.
Collect information from people thatdon't think that they're a target, because
again, they're making that commission.
And especially threat actors.
They're snake oil salesmen too.
Um, I don't know how many articlesI have seen in the last year where
(25:26):
people talk about chat, GPT gettinghacked and stealing all of this user
information when in reality thosestolen creds are from other types of
malware, and the credentials are also.
Allows a threat actor toauthenticate into chat GPT.
So it didn't come from chat GPT,but threat actors are selling it
(25:46):
as, Hey, we, we hack chat, GPT.
Here's the credentials you can useto get into chat GPT, and it's.
It's making a car shiny, even though it'smissing wheels and a fender, essentially.
Gotcha.
And so people, people don't reallythink about that side of cyber
because it is a business, you know?
(26:07):
Right.
People are making commission,
right?
Yeah.
Somebody thinks, oh, it's justsomebody who directly wants to hurt me.
It is an individual who knows me.
And that's not the case.
You're just, like you said,you're just a dollar sign.
To so many people, like you've got, youknow, four people living in your house.
Well, that's $4 signs right there.
Yep.
You know?
Got it.
Alright.
(26:27):
So we've got a lot of parents who arelistening to the show today and they are,
you know, our kids are living a much moredigital life than you and I ever did.
Um, what are some, what are somethings that parents can do to make
sure that their kids are making gooddecisions online, whether that's.
Gaming or social media or,you know, whatever it is that
(26:48):
they're doing, what are some kindof guidelines you can give us
there?
Oh my goodness.
I, I can get on a whole soap for this.
Um, so there was, I, I doa lot of different talks.
I'll go to local high schoolssometimes or middle schools.
And this is a question I oftenget asked is, Hey, can you
talk about social media safety?
Can you talk about this?
Can you talk about that?
(27:09):
Mm-hmm.
And I was, um, it was 2000 and.
11 was when I joined Facebook.
So that was the first time I ever wason social media, and especially one of
the things I, oh, I, if I can just tellteReannage Reanna, uh, don't do this.
You know, I cringe aboutsome of the things I did.
Yeah, we're all there.
But, but one, uh, my Instagram does notexist for a reason, but, um, one of the
(27:35):
things that I remember in my youth was.
The amount of satisfaction that we getwhen we add people, when we like, when
we comment, when we just get, mm-hmm.
So, mm-hmm.
Like so caught up in thisfast pace environment.
And of course, you know, as you matureyour, your mannerisms change obviously.
But again, I use this phraseearlier in this podcast, digital
(27:58):
footprint, it goes mm-hmm.
Everywhere.
And one of the talks that I did fora school is I went to a website.
And, um, the teacher, I essentiallyasked for her, you know, first and last
name and I made sure I spelt it right.
And I used this tool.
I looked up her first and last name,and then I also added the school
(28:22):
district she taught at, and you can.
Essentially see every single time someone,uh, posts publicly on Twitter or Facebook
and x and from there I was able to locateher house and then I was able to see the
kids that she posted, and then of coursetheir kids have social media, so now I can
see literally where their kids walk to thefriend's house and back from the friend's
(28:46):
house because they're sitting there, youknow, chatting on Messenger and everything
that's public and the kids that.
Saw this, like their eyes just got so big.
Mm-hmm.
And I said Snapchat.
I said, that doesn't go away.
I said, there are legal obligationsfor data to be stored on these servers.
(29:08):
I was like, just because you can'tsee it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
And I said, it is by law you haveto have x, y, z worth of data.
So, and then like thekids' eyes got really big.
I'm like, I'll let you think aboutwhat you've been sending for the
last month to, to your so set friend.
And, um, so it was just one ofthose like eye awakening moments.
And especially as a parent, youdon't, it's one thing to post a
(29:31):
picture about your own kid, right?
You're the parent's guardian, right?
I trust that you have bad judge, like youhave bad or good judgment in that sense.
But then when you think about whatyour kids are doing and how you
cannot control the moment they hitposts, it is out of your wheelhouse.
And um, I always tell parents.
I said, look, in the settings ofyour kids' social media profile, I go
(29:55):
back to make sure MFA is Reannabled.
Mm-hmm.
I always tell parents to also, uh,go through and limit what data is
being shared outside and you canliterally just Google how to secure
my Instagram account, how to secure.
Mm-hmm.
My Snapchat account, there is so manyarticles that is even written by the.
(30:16):
People that own Instagram and Snapchatand TikTok, and tell you how to limit
your data usage because it is important.
It's not something that is hidden,but a lot of the times it's not
disabled by default because again,these social media platforms will be
selling your data to third party sites.
Mm-hmm.
That can use it for marketing,but what they don't.
(30:38):
Control is what those third parties do.
And so those third parties couldpotentially sell it to other websites.
And so now everything isfollowing, um, your child around.
And so this is where they, Imean, you're not gonna let your
kid go hang out, you know, in thebad part downtown of a big city.
Um, I always like to use that forsocial media or even online as well.
(31:00):
12. Like if your kids are looking upbad things, it's essentially gonna be
populated everywhere they go now becauseit's tied to their digital footprint.
And it takes mm-hmm.
Very, very long time for theonline algorithms to change, to
make it rainbows and unicorns.
Again, I call it theinternet rehab, essentially.
Right.
And another, and another thingI always recommend to people is.
(31:24):
You're not gonna go up to a randomperson that's sitting on the side of a
highway asking for money, asking who,what their name is, how their day is
like, especially if they look shady.
Mm-hmm.
Or maybe they look clean and it turnsout they are not a good person at all.
Mm-hmm.
Like, you're not gonna pickup a random hitchhiker.
It's like that with social media.
You do not wanna add just.
(31:45):
Random people.
Do not talk to strangers.
Step one, do not talk to strangers.
If you do not know theperson, then whatever.
Of course, like LinkedIn and myopinion's a little bit different because
it's more of a professional network.
But still don't just be handingout just random conversations.
Don't be posting pictures.
And especially on video gaming platforms,it is notorious for kids to get scammed.
(32:09):
Mm-hmm.
Out
of money using their parents' credit cardand they have no idea because someone.
Someone might have a sad storyor someone might be needing this.
And my, my biggest advice is do notbe nice, like, to all my people.
Mm-hmm.
Like, just because they have a sadstory, just because they might seem
innocent, it doesn't mean anything.
(32:31):
Um, I, I've learned this the very hardway and it's something I preach to a lot
of parents is everyone has a sad story.
It's just, we're, we'reraised to be empathetic.
We're raised to be friendlyto people, and we wanna help.
Right?
We're good people.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
You don't know the person, don't,like, everyone has a sad story
(32:53):
and you know, it's, you just don'tknow who's on the other side.
Right.
And you know, you make such a good pointabout don't be nice to other people, but
you don't necessarily have to be rude,but you don't have to be, you don't
have to do what they want you to do.
And that's, I think, correct.
That's, that's hard for an adult,let alone a teReannager with peer
(33:15):
pressure and all of that sort of stuff.
So it really is more like, Hey, youknow, this person may want money or they
may want to like give you something.
That sort of thing.
Just, yeah, say no because I, I thinkthere's a lot of times that people
get labeled as toxic because theydon't, you know, do what the, the
crowd is doing and that sort of thing.
So you're really just saying.
Be empathetic, but drawthe line right there.
(33:37):
Just don't take action.
Right.
Yeah.
And there's, I always encourageparents, um, of course, like it, it
gets really hard because you don'twanna break your own kids' trust at all.
Sure.
But I always tell parents,make sure you have.
Proper monitoring apps, make sure you havelocation Reannabled on your kid's phone.
Mm-hmm.
Like have these discussionsas to why it's important.
(34:00):
And then because one day they willbe a parent and they will understand
why having so said things and ofcourse like you wanna trust your
kid's privacy and everything as well.
But there is a middle ground asto you don't want something to
be a surprise one day mm-hmm.
As a parent.
And then ask, what couldI have done different?
Right.
And there's a. There's a tonof free stuff that you can do.
(34:22):
Um, there's some apps thatif a website hits a specific
category, you can get an alert.
Uh, same thing with your networkprovider on your wifi, you can set
up specific alerts or block specifictypes of, you know, adult content
or, you know, maybe things such aslike promotion of alcohol or mm-hmm.
You know, illegal activities like.
(34:42):
Every website has their own category andyou can go in and set up these alerts to
moderate, um, especially even app usage.
Um, if you see app usage going very,very high in a specific app, and this can
be iMessage, this can be a texting app.
Like you can set up these alertsthrough these different platforms and
(35:03):
it's something I absolutely recommendbecause then you're not sitting there
scrolling through your kid's phone.
Um, it's a way to automate it and know if.
Something suspiciousor weird is happening.
Right.
You know, I had to sit down and, uh, havethe discussion with my son about, you
know, um, he's big into gaming now and hewanted to get a headset so that he could
(35:24):
talk to people and all that sort of stuff.
And, you know, I, it was one ofthose things that was like, alright,
don't tell him everything all atonce 'cause you'll overwhelm him.
So I really had to like, pull backon it and it was like, you know.
We're, we're only gonna talkto the people who we know.
You can talk to me.
Yeah, you can talk to your friends.
You need to ask permissionfor this sort of stuff.
And you know, one of them, you know,it's because people just, gosh,
(35:44):
they just flip out on video games.
They will say horrible things andpain to kids and hurt their, yeah.
And hurt their feelingsand all that sort of stuff.
And then of course you have peoplewho are, you know, predators who
were trying to get your kids to moveto a Discord server to talk about
and watch these pictures and stuff.
So it was like, Hey man, likethis is where we're gonna start.
And you can't, you can't justhave one conversation, right?
(36:05):
It's gotta be like a continual thing.
Yeah, it does.
And and it's, I always like to use theanalogy, it's like teaching your kids to
drive, like you want, you want them tobe able to go experience the world, but
you want to make sure it's in a safe way.
And I always say there's like these randomsafety checks that happen for a reason.
Like, oh, you see a policeofficer sitting on the off ramp
(36:28):
to a highway doing speed checks.
Okay, well that's.
A subtle reminder to slow down, you know?
Mm-hmm.
Remember like the basicsand stuff like that.
And another thing that I always try totell parents is like, when something bad
does happen to a kid, um, like the feelingof being blackmailed and stuff like that,
it's, it's a very, it's a very hard conconversation to have and just be like,
(36:53):
no matter how bad the situation is, like.
I am here to support you and everythingelse because a lot of times kids
are, 'cause they don't realizewhat happened until it's too late.
Uh, 'cause to them, you know,it's, it's something else and
whatever their personal reason is.
And it's really hard on aparent's side because it's like,
that's your baby, you know?
(37:15):
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
It is.
Yeah.
And I think, um, any parent who'sever had to go through this would
tell their friends and neighborshave the conversation now.
So you don't have to have it later andtry to rebuild them at the same time.
Like just go ahead andtalk to 'em about it.
You know, you're not gonnaruin your kids' innocence.
A lot of people areafraid of that, you know?
(37:36):
Yeah, go ahead.
Have the conversation now, becauseif you don't, somebody else is, and
it's not gonna go like you want it.
Yeah, it's very, and you know,like, especially being young, we
were all there once and we're like,nothing bad will happen to us.
And then, you know, that one thinghappens, you're like, oh man.
And then like as you getolder you're like, oh my gosh.
(37:56):
Like if my mom and dad knew, you know?
Oh yeah.
Oh yeah, for sure.
Well, Rina, thank you so much for, fortalking to us today and, you know, really
educating us on, on what's going on.
Where can people find outmore about you online?
Oh yes.
Um, I am everywhere except forInstagram for obvious reasons.
Um, you can visit my website.
(38:18):
It's https uh, cyber speak labs.com.
Uh, you can find a lot ofmy community stuff there.
I am on LinkedIn.
I am on x. You can find me on X as cyberReanna with one r. I do post a lot of fun.
YouTube shorts and stuff like that onthere that talks about corporate America
(38:38):
and, and a little bit of what's likebeing on the cyber defense side every day.
Uh, long story short, it is just a bunchof fires and a dumpster, you know, rowing
down the river in a very slow pace.
Yep.
That is my day to day.
Gotcha.
Um, but, but for the most part, I dohave, if you do have a kid that is
wanting to get into cybersecurity mm-hmm.
Or just.
Start building their network and brand.
I do run my own Discord server.
(39:00):
It is moderated.
I have very good admins that makesure no illegal activity is promoted.
It is a great place to learn and networkand ask questions and it's a very
positive community out there as well.
There is some good to thecyber side, so, um, education
is always key, in my opinion.
Very cool.
Uh, again, thank you for yourtime today and good luck with
(39:21):
everything that you're doing.
I hope you get to put out acouple of dumpster fires today.
Every day.
Well, that wraps up another episodeof The Secure Family Podcast.
Thank you friend for listening.
Thanks again to Reannafor being on the show.
(39:41):
For more on her visit CyberSpeakLabs.com.
Take back your privacy and personaldata with help from DeleteMe.
Get 20% off a privacy plan whenusing the code Dad at checkout,
DeleteMe Is the official dataremoval service of The Secured Dad.
Protect your devices from pryingeyes with SLNT, Faraday solutions.
(40:01):
Use the code, The Secure Dadfor 10% off your purchase.
There's a link for youin today's show notes.
If you'd like to know moreabout The Secure Dad, join
me on Instagram and TikTok.
My username for bothplatforms is The Secure Dad.
And of course, my website isavailable 24/7 at TheSecureDad.com.
(40:22):
I'm Andy Murphy reminding you thatour safety is our own responsibility.
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