November 3, 2025 • 26 mins
What if everything AI tells you about cybersecurity costs is completely wrong? The Audit crew unpacks a shocking data black hole that has infected every major AI model—plus field-tested tech that actually works.
In this laid-back Field Notes episode, Joshua Schmidt, Eric Brown, and Nick Mellum return from Gartner's CIO Symposium with insights that'll make you question your AI outputs. From discovering that the "trillions in cybercrime" statistic is pure fiction (the real number is 16.6 billion) to hands-on reviews of Starlink Mobile and Nothing earbuds, this episode delivers practical intelligence you won't find in vendor pitches.
Don't wait for the next data breach to question your assumptions. Subscribe for monthly Field Notes episodes that cut through the noise with honest, technical conversations you can trust.
#cybersecurity #AI #artificalintelligence #GartnerCIO #infosec #starlink #fieldnotes #cybertrends #datasecurity #AIbias
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:04):
Morning, everybody.
Morning.
Yeah.
Hanging out here with Eric andNick from IT Audit Labs.
Now, Nick, I was it at uhGartner CIO Symposium last week
down in uh Orlando, and I Ibrought back a couple of tips
and tricks.
We can get into that, but I gotsome other things too.
(00:26):
Want to talk about roastingcoffee, skim milk.
I can't wait about that.
Skim milk, uh, Starlink, andthen a couple of ear pods I'm
trying out.
SPEAKER_02 (00:37):
You can't prepare today.
Well, just dive in.
I was dumb when you jumped intothe gardener thing.
I was gonna ask if you guysspent more time at an amusement
park than you did at theconference, but no, no, it was
all business down there.
SPEAKER_00 (00:48):
It was all business, it was the front half of the
mullet.
You know, it's all business upfront.
All business.
Nick, um, we're gonna trysomething right now.
You do you have an AI, um, yourfavorite AI tool in front of
you?
I do, always do.
All right, which one are youusing?
We'll go with Claude.
Claude, all right, I'm gonna useperplexity.
(01:08):
Okay, so in Claude, you're gonnatype this.
This is a data black hole fromum all AI models.
So you're gonna type in this,Nick.
What is the total cost ofcybercrime to the world?
And then let me know what numberyou get.
I'm doing it too, I'm doing itin perplexity.
SPEAKER_02 (01:30):
All right, it's generating eight uh I got eight
to ten trillion annually January25.
SPEAKER_00 (01:40):
I've got 10.5 trillion.
So we both got numbers that arein the trillions, right?
So that is a complete um and anutter falsity.
So the the the reason for thisin well, just the the math
(02:01):
behind it.
So um eight to ten trilliondollars.
If you took a thousand dollarsfrom everyone in the planet,
that's what it would take to getto to ten trillion dollars.
So half of those people arekids, and the other half don't
have a thousand dollars.
Right.
So it the the number is justcompletely made up, and it all
(02:27):
ai um models suffer from it.
So the if you think about thatnumber, that would be you know,
it's what's the cost ofcybercrime, but it can't be that
that high because there's justnot that much profit made from
all companies in the world, fromyou know, the smallest mom and
(02:48):
pop selling cookies at thefarmers market to NVIDIA, right?
Um, so the the real number fromthe FBI is 16.6 billion, not
trillion, billion.
That's huge.
Credit card fraud makes up 10billion.
So that that number is justcompletely wrong.
(03:08):
One of the Gartner analysts gavea presentation on it, and he's
been trying to go out and andtalk to the person that created
that number, but he's beentrying to get this change.
But it's it's just interestingto see how susceptible AI models
can be to different biases, likethe anchoring bias, which is the
(03:29):
preferential treatment to thefirst data point, um, recency
bias.
So something that was was uhviewed last, and this is um an
example of data gravity where AItends to believe the the thing
that has the most data pointsaround it or the most
sensationalism around it.
(03:51):
And the analyst was saying thatlarge models are more risky than
small models because of this.
SPEAKER_02 (03:57):
And I think we've talked about this in the past,
and it's a perfect example of Ithink of how we use AI as a tool
and not like the gospel, right?
It's it shouldn't be the endgoal, but it can get you there,
or it can it can work in tandemwith you.
So, you know, I guess if we hada question, it would be how do
general users know whensomething like this is untrue?
(04:20):
You know, is there something youmight look for, or did or did
the did the guy at the gardenergive an example of what they're
looking for and how they know,or is it just case by case
basis?
SPEAKER_00 (04:29):
I I think it's case by case, but it it's more of an
awareness campaign of like youknow, these are the things that
we've got to be aware of, andthen part of it too is common
sense.
Like you've got to maybequestion, right?
Just insecurity, like we do, wequestion everything every day.
You continue to questioneverything, right?
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (04:46):
You know, it's like yeah, that's really interesting
to hear to hear.
And uh, you know, because youknow you hear 16 billion or the
figure in that area to 10trillion, 10 and a half
trillion.
That's night and day different,you know, not even close.
SPEAKER_00 (05:03):
We we we were recently helping a customer out
that you know had thousands ofpeople or thousands of endpoints
and um working to remove localadmin, and people were just I
mean, you you thought it wouldlike we were just taking away
their for firstborn, right?
No, we have to have can't work,just like rolling around on the
ground.
I mean, yes, we can't do it.
(05:24):
Um took away local admin, nobodyhas local admin, not a problem.
Not a problem.
It's just that you know, wewe've got to question and
continue to uh to challengeeverything.
SPEAKER_02 (05:36):
Well, yeah, and along those lines, it's it's
okay to be uncomfortable, andit's okay to have your staff be
a little bit uncomfortable.
It's just about the uh culturethat you create and you know
ongoing training, but you know,something like a YubiKey or
something like that, or takingaway local admin things that
should just be a given.
You know, we we should nevercreate a space where people are
(05:57):
comfortable to have local admin.
SPEAKER_00 (05:59):
Yeah.
I told the team the other day,Nick, um, that I said, Oh, you
know, I'm starting to we'reworking on this this um uh
Windows 11 cleanup.
And um I was like, oh good, I'mstarting to finally get some
complaints because if I'm notgetting complaints, then it
means we're not going, we're notdriving hard enough and fast
enough.
SPEAKER_02 (06:19):
Yep, I'm with you.
Um another military thing I hadis one of my senior leaders once
said if the junior enlistedpersonnel are not complaining,
something's wrong.
Right?
Like you'd rather have themcomplaining than not, because
either they're breakingsomething or somebody's getting
in trouble or something of thenature.
At least they've got somethingto focus on.
SPEAKER_00 (06:40):
Sure.
SPEAKER_02 (06:41):
They're complaining.
SPEAKER_00 (06:42):
Sure.
SPEAKER_02 (06:42):
Interesting take.
But anyways.
SPEAKER_00 (06:45):
So yeah, the the conference was good.
Um, Nick, everybody dressed up.
This was a CIO conference, not asecurity conference, right?
Security conference.
Um, you're gonna you're gonnahave uh you're gonna be in
shorts, right?
You're gonna have a variety oft-shirts.
Yeah, um, the size of thet-shirt is probably gonna
(07:05):
average around double X andthey'll go up to 5X, right?
You know, it's like it's X.
Yeah.
Um this conference, Nick,nobody's in t-shirt.
Um like that.
Nobody's even in jeans exceptfor me, because I didn't give a
shit.
Um somebody had a class up thejoint.
(07:28):
We've got we everybody should beshorts and t-shirt, but no,
people are dressed up like youknow, they're uh they meant
business.
So now I know for next year.
Not gonna do anything different,but I mean, at least I know.
Yeah, expect.
But it was uh yeah, it was a funconference.
Learned learned a lot of things,some cool stuff on deep fakes,
(07:48):
um, and a lot of talk on AI andAI agents and how organizations
are using agents.
So, on one extreme, Bank of NewYork was using agents as digital
employees, and they took it tothe extreme where these digital
employees are having an identityin the system, they're getting
(08:10):
performance reviews, and theyare really an integrated part of
the team.
And they're they're largelyusing the the digital engineers
for um uh level one support.
SPEAKER_02 (08:26):
Well, and that takes a lot of weight off because a
lot of times we go to a modellike using like a ticketing
quarterback, somebody just likefield tickets and dish that dish
them off.
If you can have AI take thatover, you know, that that can
streamline things.
It's interesting to hear.
You were saying that thisconference is less technical,
(08:47):
more you know, senior leader, itor I should say, is it less
technical because it's focusedmore on senior leaders, or are
they still very technical?
Um like in the doc tracks.
SPEAKER_00 (08:59):
It it's less technical than you would have at
like a Wild West Hack and Fest,right?
You know, you there you're notseeing any code on the screen,
so to speak.
Okay, yep.
Um, but um it it it was maybetechnical from a 50,000 foot
view.
SPEAKER_02 (09:18):
Yeah, I mean you guys sent pictures that looked
like a real snazzy place, lookedlike a really awesome venue, um,
and looks like you guys arehaving a lot of fun.
Is this uh uh is this one youwould recommend others to go to,
or is this one you're gonna addto your calendar every year?
SPEAKER_00 (09:32):
I I I think so.
You know, we we went down umwith uh with a customer, so it
yeah, it was it was good.
I think it was a good you know,just kind of team building
experience too.
Always um I don't know if thecontent's gonna change that much
year over year, and it's anexpensive conf conference.
So I kind of have to, you know,think about the time away.
(09:53):
It's a long conference too.
It goes from Sunday to Thursday.
SPEAKER_02 (09:57):
That is really long.
I think generally we see themlike two solid days.
SPEAKER_01 (10:02):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (10:02):
And that's you know, maybe a half day on the end.
Um, but yeah, usually like aThursday or Wild West, I guess,
starts Wednesday night and endson Friday midday or early
evening.
So that's cool.
Glad you guys had a good timeand you know, I'm back on the
saddle, but uh interesting aboutthe AI talks.
There's I think every time wecome back or you know, I've gone
(10:22):
to a conference, there'ssomething a sticky topic you
come back with that's reallyinteresting that we can
integrate into work or that wecan cycle through um and chat
about and spread that knowledge.
But yeah, really cool, uh,really cool talks uh that you
guys uh heard.
Now, I think what everybody isprobably most excited about is
(10:44):
um the coffee roasting.
SPEAKER_00 (10:46):
Okay.
We've been waiting for this.
Um there's an aviation piece tothis, right?
I gotta give credit wherecredit's due.
Um, so I started taking theseglider lessons um a couple years
ago, right?
And the glider, they tow you up.
Glider looks like an airplanewith really long wings.
So you get in the thing, you'resitting front to back,
(11:06):
instructors behind you, you'rein the nose, and you hook up to
another airplane and it toes youup, and then like at between
3,000 and 5,000 feet, you pullthe rope, and then you're just
gliding back down, right?
And the gliders have these hugeratios of like 30 to 1.
So for every 30 feet forward,they'll drop a foot.
(11:26):
So you you you have some timeand you're finding thermals
underneath clouds, and you know,it's it's a whole thing.
But anyway, um the uh the placethat I went to to do the the the
glider instruction, um, I I getthere the the in the morning,
and the guy's got a popcornpopper out inside the hangar,
(11:48):
and it smells like roastingcoffee, right?
So I'm like, what's going onhere?
He's like, Oh, you want a cup?
Sure.
So he he uh he he's got thebeans, he gets the beans green,
throws in this popcorn popper,and roasts them, then grinds
them, and then makes the coffee.
So I was like, okay, all right,this is cool, I gotta do it, you
(12:08):
know.
So um there's a whole thingabout the right type of popcorn
popper that that you need.
And I think the best one is thepoppery two, which is like a
popcorn popper from the 80s.
Okay.
Kind of that that taller onewith the oh sure, you know what
I mean?
Yeah, the air popper.
(12:30):
So uh the the hot air basicallyspins the beans, heats them up.
You're listening for the firstcrack, and then this chaff is
flying off of them.
Um, and then you know, aftermaybe five minutes or so, the
beans are are dark enough thatyou're supposed to let them rest
overnight, and then you grindthem.
Um I I thought when we groundthem right then and there after
(12:52):
roasting them, they tastedpretty good.
Uh, but I gave it a shot overthe weekend.
There's uh a company calledSweet Maria's that sells both
green beans and roasted beans,and they have the full
instructions on everything thatyou need to know on how to roast
them.
And um pretty cheap to do.
You know, you buy buy uh um acouple bags of the green beans
(13:16):
and then go through the process.
And you know, it takes maybefrom you know set up to tear
down maybe 15 minutes.
SPEAKER_02 (13:24):
Oh, that's nothing.
That's nothing.
Yeah, I'm on the I'm on theirwebsite right now.
Cool.
SPEAKER_00 (13:30):
We might have to make an order today and give
this a shot.
I had to get the uh I mean youcan get crazy with uh the
roasting machines, like you canget these drum machines and all
this other business, but likejust to get started, doing a
half a cup at a time, the um theair popper, the popcorn air
popper is the way to go.
Um and you can find these thingson eBay.
(13:54):
So Sweet Maria's also has thereview of the different type of
air poppers that you would wantto use.
I think I got mine on eBay,maybe 30 bucks.
And then you use like a pourover to to brew the coffee?
Um, yeah, I use uh either theMocha Master or um a uh French
(14:15):
press.
SPEAKER_02 (14:16):
Your bougie with the coffee.
This is we're learning here.
We're learning.
SPEAKER_00 (14:21):
You're not using like folders or something, are
you?
No, you you like the blackrifle.
We do silence coffee, or whatare you doing?
SPEAKER_02 (14:29):
Um uh Keurig with a pot.
So not it can do the one cup,but it's you know, programmed to
it's got the pod system andeverything.
You can just change out thelittle top piece.
Oh, I see if you want to do it,but then it's always got a pot
in the bottom.
SPEAKER_00 (14:45):
So well, are you grinding your own coffee?
SPEAKER_02 (14:48):
No, we did in the past.
Yeah, it comes uh it comesground.
Two kids under three.
We gotta prioritize.
SPEAKER_00 (14:58):
You're not grinding your own coffee?
SPEAKER_02 (15:01):
No, that's what we're learning right now.
We're learning about this, but Idid have a grinder way back,
just one of the cheap ones fromTarget, you know, like the
little canister, you put it inthere, and it's no, that's for
spices, Nick.
SPEAKER_00 (15:12):
A blade grinder.
No, learn it.
You're gonna poison yourself.
Um, you need a conical burrgrinder, right?
Okay.
And um the uh uh what is it?
The fellows ode, I think it'sthe ode two now, is a pretty
decent conical uh actually no,I'm sorry, that's a flat burr
(15:34):
grinder.
That's a decent one.
I'm looking at it right now.
Um yeah.
Present to yourself, Nick.
We're getting serious here.
SPEAKER_02 (15:44):
Maybe we can get coffee grinders engraved with
the IT Auto Labs logo.
SPEAKER_00 (15:48):
They were down there at the conference, Nick, they
were engraving f whiskey flasks.
SPEAKER_02 (15:53):
Really?
That's now that's cool.
On the spot?
SPEAKER_00 (15:56):
On the spot, laser engraving whiskey flasks.
SPEAKER_02 (15:59):
It's kind of like that.
Just made me think about thetattoo machine you got at a
conference a couple years ago.
SPEAKER_00 (16:06):
That was a definite no, that was at um uh what was
that one?
That was the electronicsconference in January.
Yes.
See, yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (16:16):
Yeah.
Just to touch on that realquick, is it how is it is it
printing off like like a kid'stattoo that you would like use
water then?
Or is it how is it doing it?
SPEAKER_00 (16:25):
It's printing ink.
SPEAKER_02 (16:28):
Just onto a piece of paper, and then you just go like
this?
SPEAKER_00 (16:31):
No, like it it prints as you press it down your
skin.
So it kind of rolls off ontoyour skin.
Things you learn here.
So with the coffee, Nick, umtrying to get healthy.
And I was using half and half,Nick, as cream in the coffee.
(16:51):
Okay, it was great.
Um now I'm using um 0%, and itsucks.
It's terrible.
SPEAKER_02 (17:04):
We use uh and have been for years.
It's we just creamer, it's uhmade by Chibani.
SPEAKER_00 (17:10):
Oh, sure.
SPEAKER_02 (17:11):
Like the yogurt company and uh yeah, that that
stuff's great.
It's expensive.
I think so.
I think it is.
Look it up.
Um I think it's a sweet is itsweet cream?
I can't sweet cream, cold brewsomething.
I don't my wife gets it, but Ilike it.
It's like in a blue kind ofsquarish bottle.
SPEAKER_00 (17:34):
See, I can't do all the sugars, all the cholesterol,
all that, Nick.
SPEAKER_02 (17:38):
Yeah, we uh yeah, we cut out the sugar um a little
while back as well.
So I don't think this has muchof any sugar in it, if I
remember right.
SPEAKER_00 (17:47):
My brother and his and and uh his wife were in town
um a couple weeks back stayingwith us, and um he was getting
like 1% or 2% or something, andthen she had this 0% organic um
lactose-free, right?
So, I mean, it's basically likeyou're drinking chalky water,
(18:09):
and uh after they left, I'mlike, well, you know what, I'm
gonna do it.
I'm gonna just switch because Ifigure I want to get to the
black coffee and I'm gonna weanmyself down.
So this zero percent, I mean,you I'd rather have somebody
throw it on me than drink it,but yeah, I gotta do it.
SPEAKER_02 (18:26):
What's the difference between zero percent
and skim?
Like wouldn't they be liketechnically the same?
SPEAKER_00 (18:33):
It's terrible, it's the same thing, whatever it is.
Yeah, but I'm actually used toit now, so it's good, it's fine.
SPEAKER_02 (18:41):
You said to get on it.
Yeah, well, you got anythingelse?
Uh cybersecurity.
SPEAKER_00 (18:48):
Um trying out Starlink mobile.
Oh, that's right.
Because I live out here in thesticks.
SPEAKER_02 (18:54):
And you didn't use my code, did you?
unknown (18:56):
Gosh dang it.
SPEAKER_00 (18:57):
I didn't know you had a code.
SPEAKER_02 (18:59):
Man, here we go.
We could both could have gotfree months.
SPEAKER_00 (19:04):
I'm on a month-to-month plan.
I guess I could quit and re-signup.
Oh no, no, it's not where you'realready integrated.
So it's uh I've been I've beentrying the mobile, threw it in
the sunroof of the car, likesuction cupped up.
Um, did you get the mini?
Yeah, I got the mini.
SPEAKER_02 (19:19):
Nice.
That's awesome for that.
I've seen people with Tesla'slike the suction cup, and it
just stays there.
SPEAKER_00 (19:24):
Yes, great.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (19:26):
Well, like, okay, I'm here.
That's awesome.
What's the experience has beengood?
SPEAKER_00 (19:30):
It was tough to like if I left the house, then I I go
through a dead zone no matterwhich way I leave to go.
So, you know, there's conferencecalls like on my way out of here
and on my way home, and I woulddrop for you know a couple of
seconds, or if I'm talking, andit always seemed like I'm in the
middle of talking when I gothrough the doorway.
(19:52):
Um, but now so far I've onlytried it, I've been using it for
a couple of days.
SPEAKER_02 (19:57):
This is the extent IT Auto Labs goes for their
customers.
They put Starlink on the roof oftheir cars to make sure they can
stay in a meeting.
SPEAKER_00 (20:03):
Exactly.
I tell you.
And the last thing I got foryou, Nick, um, I was down to
that that CIO conference, and Ihappened to to um in one of the
breakout kind of like areaswhere you could get snacks and
stuff.
I was just sitting therecatching up on email, and I was
sitting across the table from aperson, um, and and she had this
um ear earphone that was um kindof sitting on the outside of her
(20:29):
ear.
And uh I'm always on the questfor better um like airpods or
whatever, right?
Like earphones because the I Iheard good things about the
bows, but I I've not tried them.
They're they're kind ofexpensive.
But the um AirPods, I I knowpeople like them, they suck for
(20:50):
conference calls, right?
Like every time I switch fromthe phone, even on speakerphone,
to the airpods, people are like,you sound terrible.
Really?
So um I don't like those.
I mean, they're great forlistening to music if you're out
exercising or whatever, butanyway, so I'm looking for
always looking for betterairpods, and um so you know,
(21:13):
she's got this set up, and Istart talking to her about it.
She's like, Yeah, they're calleduh nothing, and then they're the
nothing open ones, and I thinkthey're 99.
SPEAKER_02 (21:23):
Yeah, they make phone, nothing makes the nothing
phone, so yes, I know, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (21:28):
So I I picked up a set of those.
I just got them hooked upyesterday, so today's gonna be
the first day that I'm that I'mgonna try them out.
SPEAKER_02 (21:36):
You'll have to report back because I'm
interested to hear on uh howthose are.
I you I do use AirPods, the uhrecent, somewhat recently
released the Pro 3, and they aresignificantly better than the
second generation, just for likeeven sound cancellation, um
general audio quality, but I doalso take a lot of phone calls
(22:00):
meetings uh on a phone.
SPEAKER_00 (22:02):
Um you always sound good, so maybe maybe it's
improved.
SPEAKER_02 (22:07):
Yeah, I like them.
I like them, but I'm curious tosee how those are.
I know Sony makes the littleearbuds too, like the Boaz ones
that I've heard good thingsabout.
But see, the problem with Apple,or not the problem, I guess the
good thing is once you get inthere, you're so integrated that
you want to use the the thingsthat just like work.
Like you don't you just open thecase and it's like boom, they're
connected, you know.
(22:27):
Like that ecosystem is just sotight and tidy.
So, but yeah, I'm interested tohear how the nothing ones work
with, you know, especially notan Android phone, but you know,
if it's just Bluetooth, there'snot a whole lot of integration
that would need to happenanyways.
Well, we digested a lot.
You unpacked a lot.
Anything else you want to leaveeverybody with?
(22:49):
Hopefully, we're next hopefullynext time everybody joins,
they've got uh they're grindingtheir own coffee and roasting
their own beans and has Starlinkon the roof of their car.
See the what going back to theStarlink real quick.
The nice thing about the minione, and I don't think the
Starlink I have the regular one,the bigger one.
(23:09):
That one I don't think can runoff USB-C.
It's too big.
So that because the nice thingabout you is you can just drop
down to your you know back seatat USB ports, I'm sure, and and
get power that way.
So that's actually a really easysystem.
SPEAKER_00 (23:23):
Well, yes and no.
Um, you've from what I've seen,you've got to go through um a DC
battery.
So I have I I got this um thisanchor, uh, what is it?
The the C300 DC.
Okay.
And it um it outputs in DC.
(23:46):
Sure.
Um so you could go through anadapter into the cigarette
lighter, um, but this makes itportable because now you can
take this DC battery and theStarlink Mini if you were going
camping or whatever.
Right.
Yep.
Um so yeah, that's I I tried itin the just in the USB C and
(24:09):
it's not enough power.
It needs I think it needs 60watts.
I saw that it might be as low as40.
Uh but I I think it needs I I'veseen it run in the the high 20s
before.
SPEAKER_02 (24:25):
I want to give this a shot.
I'll have to put this in theback of the truck and see how it
goes.
That would be really cool, uhespecially if you go camping or
whatever.
But um do you camp?
Yeah.
We'd like to do it more, but no,not very well.
Probably when I was in theMarine Corps.
SPEAKER_00 (24:44):
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (24:46):
Long time ago.
We were actually just havingthis conversation the other
night with you know, the girlkids are too young, but you
know, we're we're look we'relooking at camping, camper
trailers or like pullbines to dothat.
So yeah, you know, if you can'treally call that camping, what
would it be called?
Um what do they call it?
Glamping, something like that.
So maybe someday, but we got theStarlink ready to go, so we'll
(25:08):
toss it up on uh toss it up onthe top and get some internet.
SPEAKER_00 (25:11):
How are you gonna do that though without the like it
doesn't have USB C.
SPEAKER_02 (25:16):
No, but in the back of my truck I have uh a house
outlet uh that I could put itin.
So uh you can just put it outthere like that.
And um, or I suppose you couldplug it into the to the trailer
too, because you'd be probablyhooked up somewhere getting
power, right?
So yeah.
Well, this is a long one.
SPEAKER_00 (25:36):
Awesome.
Good stuff.
SPEAKER_02 (25:38):
Yeah, all right.
Thanks everybody for joining.
Uh, you know, we'll see youagain.
We're gonna try to do thesemonthly.
Um, I think so.
Yeah, appreciate everybodyjoining.
Have a good day.
Uh and we'll chat soon.
SPEAKER_00 (25:52):
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experts to guide and counselyour company.
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(26:15):
Contact IT Autolabs to find outmore.
Morning, everybody.
Morning.
Yeah.
Hanging out here with Eric andNick from IT Audit Labs.
Now, Nick, I was it at uhGartner CIO Symposium last week
down in uh Orlando, and I Ibrought back a couple of tips
and tricks.
We can get into that, but I gotsome other things too.
(00:26):
Want to talk about roastingcoffee, skim milk.
I can't wait about that.
Skim milk, uh, Starlink, andthen a couple of ear pods I'm
trying out.
SPEAKER_02 (00:37):
You can't prepare today.
Well, just dive in.
I was dumb when you jumped intothe gardener thing.
I was gonna ask if you guysspent more time at an amusement
park than you did at theconference, but no, no, it was
all business down there.
SPEAKER_00 (00:48):
It was all business, it was the front half of the
mullet.
You know, it's all business upfront.
All business.
Nick, um, we're gonna trysomething right now.
You do you have an AI, um, yourfavorite AI tool in front of
you?
I do, always do.
All right, which one are youusing?
We'll go with Claude.
Claude, all right, I'm gonna useperplexity.
(01:08):
Okay, so in Claude, you're gonnatype this.
This is a data black hole fromum all AI models.
So you're gonna type in this,Nick.
What is the total cost ofcybercrime to the world?
And then let me know what numberyou get.
I'm doing it too, I'm doing itin perplexity.
SPEAKER_02 (01:30):
All right, it's generating eight uh I got eight
to ten trillion annually January25.
SPEAKER_00 (01:40):
I've got 10.5 trillion.
So we both got numbers that arein the trillions, right?
So that is a complete um and anutter falsity.
So the the the reason for thisin well, just the the math
(02:01):
behind it.
So um eight to ten trilliondollars.
If you took a thousand dollarsfrom everyone in the planet,
that's what it would take to getto to ten trillion dollars.
So half of those people arekids, and the other half don't
have a thousand dollars.
Right.
So it the the number is justcompletely made up, and it all
(02:27):
ai um models suffer from it.
So the if you think about thatnumber, that would be you know,
it's what's the cost ofcybercrime, but it can't be that
that high because there's justnot that much profit made from
all companies in the world, fromyou know, the smallest mom and
(02:48):
pop selling cookies at thefarmers market to NVIDIA, right?
Um, so the the real number fromthe FBI is 16.6 billion, not
trillion, billion.
That's huge.
Credit card fraud makes up 10billion.
So that that number is justcompletely wrong.
(03:08):
One of the Gartner analysts gavea presentation on it, and he's
been trying to go out and andtalk to the person that created
that number, but he's beentrying to get this change.
But it's it's just interestingto see how susceptible AI models
can be to different biases, likethe anchoring bias, which is the
(03:29):
preferential treatment to thefirst data point, um, recency
bias.
So something that was was uhviewed last, and this is um an
example of data gravity where AItends to believe the the thing
that has the most data pointsaround it or the most
sensationalism around it.
(03:51):
And the analyst was saying thatlarge models are more risky than
small models because of this.
SPEAKER_02 (03:57):
And I think we've talked about this in the past,
and it's a perfect example of Ithink of how we use AI as a tool
and not like the gospel, right?
It's it shouldn't be the endgoal, but it can get you there,
or it can it can work in tandemwith you.
So, you know, I guess if we hada question, it would be how do
general users know whensomething like this is untrue?
(04:20):
You know, is there something youmight look for, or did or did
the did the guy at the gardenergive an example of what they're
looking for and how they know,or is it just case by case
basis?
SPEAKER_00 (04:29):
I I think it's case by case, but it it's more of an
awareness campaign of like youknow, these are the things that
we've got to be aware of, andthen part of it too is common
sense.
Like you've got to maybequestion, right?
Just insecurity, like we do, wequestion everything every day.
You continue to questioneverything, right?
Right.
SPEAKER_02 (04:46):
You know, it's like yeah, that's really interesting
to hear to hear.
And uh, you know, because youknow you hear 16 billion or the
figure in that area to 10trillion, 10 and a half
trillion.
That's night and day different,you know, not even close.
SPEAKER_00 (05:03):
We we we were recently helping a customer out
that you know had thousands ofpeople or thousands of endpoints
and um working to remove localadmin, and people were just I
mean, you you thought it wouldlike we were just taking away
their for firstborn, right?
No, we have to have can't work,just like rolling around on the
ground.
I mean, yes, we can't do it.
(05:24):
Um took away local admin, nobodyhas local admin, not a problem.
Not a problem.
It's just that you know, wewe've got to question and
continue to uh to challengeeverything.
SPEAKER_02 (05:36):
Well, yeah, and along those lines, it's it's
okay to be uncomfortable, andit's okay to have your staff be
a little bit uncomfortable.
It's just about the uh culturethat you create and you know
ongoing training, but you know,something like a YubiKey or
something like that, or takingaway local admin things that
should just be a given.
You know, we we should nevercreate a space where people are
(05:57):
comfortable to have local admin.
SPEAKER_00 (05:59):
Yeah.
I told the team the other day,Nick, um, that I said, Oh, you
know, I'm starting to we'reworking on this this um uh
Windows 11 cleanup.
And um I was like, oh good, I'mstarting to finally get some
complaints because if I'm notgetting complaints, then it
means we're not going, we're notdriving hard enough and fast
enough.
SPEAKER_02 (06:19):
Yep, I'm with you.
Um another military thing I hadis one of my senior leaders once
said if the junior enlistedpersonnel are not complaining,
something's wrong.
Right?
Like you'd rather have themcomplaining than not, because
either they're breakingsomething or somebody's getting
in trouble or something of thenature.
At least they've got somethingto focus on.
SPEAKER_00 (06:40):
Sure.
SPEAKER_02 (06:41):
They're complaining.
SPEAKER_00 (06:42):
Sure.
SPEAKER_02 (06:42):
Interesting take.
But anyways.
SPEAKER_00 (06:45):
So yeah, the the conference was good.
Um, Nick, everybody dressed up.
This was a CIO conference, not asecurity conference, right?
Security conference.
Um, you're gonna you're gonnahave uh you're gonna be in
shorts, right?
You're gonna have a variety oft-shirts.
Yeah, um, the size of thet-shirt is probably gonna
(07:05):
average around double X andthey'll go up to 5X, right?
You know, it's like it's X.
Yeah.
Um this conference, Nick,nobody's in t-shirt.
Um like that.
Nobody's even in jeans exceptfor me, because I didn't give a
shit.
Um somebody had a class up thejoint.
(07:28):
We've got we everybody should beshorts and t-shirt, but no,
people are dressed up like youknow, they're uh they meant
business.
So now I know for next year.
Not gonna do anything different,but I mean, at least I know.
Yeah, expect.
But it was uh yeah, it was a funconference.
Learned learned a lot of things,some cool stuff on deep fakes,
(07:48):
um, and a lot of talk on AI andAI agents and how organizations
are using agents.
So, on one extreme, Bank of NewYork was using agents as digital
employees, and they took it tothe extreme where these digital
employees are having an identityin the system, they're getting
(08:10):
performance reviews, and theyare really an integrated part of
the team.
And they're they're largelyusing the the digital engineers
for um uh level one support.
SPEAKER_02 (08:26):
Well, and that takes a lot of weight off because a
lot of times we go to a modellike using like a ticketing
quarterback, somebody just likefield tickets and dish that dish
them off.
If you can have AI take thatover, you know, that that can
streamline things.
It's interesting to hear.
You were saying that thisconference is less technical,
(08:47):
more you know, senior leader, itor I should say, is it less
technical because it's focusedmore on senior leaders, or are
they still very technical?
Um like in the doc tracks.
SPEAKER_00 (08:59):
It it's less technical than you would have at
like a Wild West Hack and Fest,right?
You know, you there you're notseeing any code on the screen,
so to speak.
Okay, yep.
Um, but um it it it was maybetechnical from a 50,000 foot
view.
SPEAKER_02 (09:18):
Yeah, I mean you guys sent pictures that looked
like a real snazzy place, lookedlike a really awesome venue, um,
and looks like you guys arehaving a lot of fun.
Is this uh uh is this one youwould recommend others to go to,
or is this one you're gonna addto your calendar every year?
SPEAKER_00 (09:32):
I I I think so.
You know, we we went down umwith uh with a customer, so it
yeah, it was it was good.
I think it was a good you know,just kind of team building
experience too.
Always um I don't know if thecontent's gonna change that much
year over year, and it's anexpensive conf conference.
So I kind of have to, you know,think about the time away.
(09:53):
It's a long conference too.
It goes from Sunday to Thursday.
SPEAKER_02 (09:57):
That is really long.
I think generally we see themlike two solid days.
SPEAKER_01 (10:02):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (10:02):
And that's you know, maybe a half day on the end.
Um, but yeah, usually like aThursday or Wild West, I guess,
starts Wednesday night and endson Friday midday or early
evening.
So that's cool.
Glad you guys had a good timeand you know, I'm back on the
saddle, but uh interesting aboutthe AI talks.
There's I think every time wecome back or you know, I've gone
(10:22):
to a conference, there'ssomething a sticky topic you
come back with that's reallyinteresting that we can
integrate into work or that wecan cycle through um and chat
about and spread that knowledge.
But yeah, really cool, uh,really cool talks uh that you
guys uh heard.
Now, I think what everybody isprobably most excited about is
(10:44):
um the coffee roasting.
SPEAKER_00 (10:46):
Okay.
We've been waiting for this.
Um there's an aviation piece tothis, right?
I gotta give credit wherecredit's due.
Um, so I started taking theseglider lessons um a couple years
ago, right?
And the glider, they tow you up.
Glider looks like an airplanewith really long wings.
So you get in the thing, you'resitting front to back,
(11:06):
instructors behind you, you'rein the nose, and you hook up to
another airplane and it toes youup, and then like at between
3,000 and 5,000 feet, you pullthe rope, and then you're just
gliding back down, right?
And the gliders have these hugeratios of like 30 to 1.
So for every 30 feet forward,they'll drop a foot.
(11:26):
So you you you have some timeand you're finding thermals
underneath clouds, and you know,it's it's a whole thing.
But anyway, um the uh the placethat I went to to do the the the
glider instruction, um, I I getthere the the in the morning,
and the guy's got a popcornpopper out inside the hangar,
(11:48):
and it smells like roastingcoffee, right?
So I'm like, what's going onhere?
He's like, Oh, you want a cup?
Sure.
So he he uh he he's got thebeans, he gets the beans green,
throws in this popcorn popper,and roasts them, then grinds
them, and then makes the coffee.
So I was like, okay, all right,this is cool, I gotta do it, you
(12:08):
know.
So um there's a whole thingabout the right type of popcorn
popper that that you need.
And I think the best one is thepoppery two, which is like a
popcorn popper from the 80s.
Okay.
Kind of that that taller onewith the oh sure, you know what
I mean?
Yeah, the air popper.
(12:30):
So uh the the hot air basicallyspins the beans, heats them up.
You're listening for the firstcrack, and then this chaff is
flying off of them.
Um, and then you know, aftermaybe five minutes or so, the
beans are are dark enough thatyou're supposed to let them rest
overnight, and then you grindthem.
Um I I thought when we groundthem right then and there after
(12:52):
roasting them, they tastedpretty good.
Uh, but I gave it a shot overthe weekend.
There's uh a company calledSweet Maria's that sells both
green beans and roasted beans,and they have the full
instructions on everything thatyou need to know on how to roast
them.
And um pretty cheap to do.
You know, you buy buy uh um acouple bags of the green beans
(13:16):
and then go through the process.
And you know, it takes maybefrom you know set up to tear
down maybe 15 minutes.
SPEAKER_02 (13:24):
Oh, that's nothing.
That's nothing.
Yeah, I'm on the I'm on theirwebsite right now.
Cool.
SPEAKER_00 (13:30):
We might have to make an order today and give
this a shot.
I had to get the uh I mean youcan get crazy with uh the
roasting machines, like you canget these drum machines and all
this other business, but likejust to get started, doing a
half a cup at a time, the um theair popper, the popcorn air
popper is the way to go.
Um and you can find these thingson eBay.
(13:54):
So Sweet Maria's also has thereview of the different type of
air poppers that you would wantto use.
I think I got mine on eBay,maybe 30 bucks.
And then you use like a pourover to to brew the coffee?
Um, yeah, I use uh either theMocha Master or um a uh French
(14:15):
press.
SPEAKER_02 (14:16):
Your bougie with the coffee.
This is we're learning here.
We're learning.
SPEAKER_00 (14:21):
You're not using like folders or something, are
you?
No, you you like the blackrifle.
We do silence coffee, or whatare you doing?
SPEAKER_02 (14:29):
Um uh Keurig with a pot.
So not it can do the one cup,but it's you know, programmed to
it's got the pod system andeverything.
You can just change out thelittle top piece.
Oh, I see if you want to do it,but then it's always got a pot
in the bottom.
SPEAKER_00 (14:45):
So well, are you grinding your own coffee?
SPEAKER_02 (14:48):
No, we did in the past.
Yeah, it comes uh it comesground.
Two kids under three.
We gotta prioritize.
SPEAKER_00 (14:58):
You're not grinding your own coffee?
SPEAKER_02 (15:01):
No, that's what we're learning right now.
We're learning about this, but Idid have a grinder way back,
just one of the cheap ones fromTarget, you know, like the
little canister, you put it inthere, and it's no, that's for
spices, Nick.
SPEAKER_00 (15:12):
A blade grinder.
No, learn it.
You're gonna poison yourself.
Um, you need a conical burrgrinder, right?
Okay.
And um the uh uh what is it?
The fellows ode, I think it'sthe ode two now, is a pretty
decent conical uh actually no,I'm sorry, that's a flat burr
(15:34):
grinder.
That's a decent one.
I'm looking at it right now.
Um yeah.
Present to yourself, Nick.
We're getting serious here.
SPEAKER_02 (15:44):
Maybe we can get coffee grinders engraved with
the IT Auto Labs logo.
SPEAKER_00 (15:48):
They were down there at the conference, Nick, they
were engraving f whiskey flasks.
SPEAKER_02 (15:53):
Really?
That's now that's cool.
On the spot?
SPEAKER_00 (15:56):
On the spot, laser engraving whiskey flasks.
SPEAKER_02 (15:59):
It's kind of like that.
Just made me think about thetattoo machine you got at a
conference a couple years ago.
SPEAKER_00 (16:06):
That was a definite no, that was at um uh what was
that one?
That was the electronicsconference in January.
Yes.
See, yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (16:16):
Yeah.
Just to touch on that realquick, is it how is it is it
printing off like like a kid'stattoo that you would like use
water then?
Or is it how is it doing it?
SPEAKER_00 (16:25):
It's printing ink.
SPEAKER_02 (16:28):
Just onto a piece of paper, and then you just go like
this?
SPEAKER_00 (16:31):
No, like it it prints as you press it down your
skin.
So it kind of rolls off ontoyour skin.
Things you learn here.
So with the coffee, Nick, umtrying to get healthy.
And I was using half and half,Nick, as cream in the coffee.
(16:51):
Okay, it was great.
Um now I'm using um 0%, and itsucks.
It's terrible.
SPEAKER_02 (17:04):
We use uh and have been for years.
It's we just creamer, it's uhmade by Chibani.
SPEAKER_00 (17:10):
Oh, sure.
SPEAKER_02 (17:11):
Like the yogurt company and uh yeah, that that
stuff's great.
It's expensive.
I think so.
I think it is.
Look it up.
Um I think it's a sweet is itsweet cream?
I can't sweet cream, cold brewsomething.
I don't my wife gets it, but Ilike it.
It's like in a blue kind ofsquarish bottle.
SPEAKER_00 (17:34):
See, I can't do all the sugars, all the cholesterol,
all that, Nick.
SPEAKER_02 (17:38):
Yeah, we uh yeah, we cut out the sugar um a little
while back as well.
So I don't think this has muchof any sugar in it, if I
remember right.
SPEAKER_00 (17:47):
My brother and his and and uh his wife were in town
um a couple weeks back stayingwith us, and um he was getting
like 1% or 2% or something, andthen she had this 0% organic um
lactose-free, right?
So, I mean, it's basically likeyou're drinking chalky water,
(18:09):
and uh after they left, I'mlike, well, you know what, I'm
gonna do it.
I'm gonna just switch because Ifigure I want to get to the
black coffee and I'm gonna weanmyself down.
So this zero percent, I mean,you I'd rather have somebody
throw it on me than drink it,but yeah, I gotta do it.
SPEAKER_02 (18:26):
What's the difference between zero percent
and skim?
Like wouldn't they be liketechnically the same?
SPEAKER_00 (18:33):
It's terrible, it's the same thing, whatever it is.
Yeah, but I'm actually used toit now, so it's good, it's fine.
SPEAKER_02 (18:41):
You said to get on it.
Yeah, well, you got anythingelse?
Uh cybersecurity.
SPEAKER_00 (18:48):
Um trying out Starlink mobile.
Oh, that's right.
Because I live out here in thesticks.
SPEAKER_02 (18:54):
And you didn't use my code, did you?
unknown (18:56):
Gosh dang it.
SPEAKER_00 (18:57):
I didn't know you had a code.
SPEAKER_02 (18:59):
Man, here we go.
We could both could have gotfree months.
SPEAKER_00 (19:04):
I'm on a month-to-month plan.
I guess I could quit and re-signup.
Oh no, no, it's not where you'realready integrated.
So it's uh I've been I've beentrying the mobile, threw it in
the sunroof of the car, likesuction cupped up.
Um, did you get the mini?
Yeah, I got the mini.
SPEAKER_02 (19:19):
Nice.
That's awesome for that.
I've seen people with Tesla'slike the suction cup, and it
just stays there.
SPEAKER_00 (19:24):
Yes, great.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (19:26):
Well, like, okay, I'm here.
That's awesome.
What's the experience has beengood?
SPEAKER_00 (19:30):
It was tough to like if I left the house, then I I go
through a dead zone no matterwhich way I leave to go.
So, you know, there's conferencecalls like on my way out of here
and on my way home, and I woulddrop for you know a couple of
seconds, or if I'm talking, andit always seemed like I'm in the
middle of talking when I gothrough the doorway.
(19:52):
Um, but now so far I've onlytried it, I've been using it for
a couple of days.
SPEAKER_02 (19:57):
This is the extent IT Auto Labs goes for their
customers.
They put Starlink on the roof oftheir cars to make sure they can
stay in a meeting.
SPEAKER_00 (20:03):
Exactly.
I tell you.
And the last thing I got foryou, Nick, um, I was down to
that that CIO conference, and Ihappened to to um in one of the
breakout kind of like areaswhere you could get snacks and
stuff.
I was just sitting therecatching up on email, and I was
sitting across the table from aperson, um, and and she had this
um ear earphone that was um kindof sitting on the outside of her
(20:29):
ear.
And uh I'm always on the questfor better um like airpods or
whatever, right?
Like earphones because the I Iheard good things about the
bows, but I I've not tried them.
They're they're kind ofexpensive.
But the um AirPods, I I knowpeople like them, they suck for
(20:50):
conference calls, right?
Like every time I switch fromthe phone, even on speakerphone,
to the airpods, people are like,you sound terrible.
Really?
So um I don't like those.
I mean, they're great forlistening to music if you're out
exercising or whatever, butanyway, so I'm looking for
always looking for betterairpods, and um so you know,
(21:13):
she's got this set up, and Istart talking to her about it.
She's like, Yeah, they're calleduh nothing, and then they're the
nothing open ones, and I thinkthey're 99.
SPEAKER_02 (21:23):
Yeah, they make phone, nothing makes the nothing
phone, so yes, I know, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (21:28):
So I I picked up a set of those.
I just got them hooked upyesterday, so today's gonna be
the first day that I'm that I'mgonna try them out.
SPEAKER_02 (21:36):
You'll have to report back because I'm
interested to hear on uh howthose are.
I you I do use AirPods, the uhrecent, somewhat recently
released the Pro 3, and they aresignificantly better than the
second generation, just for likeeven sound cancellation, um
general audio quality, but I doalso take a lot of phone calls
(22:00):
meetings uh on a phone.
SPEAKER_00 (22:02):
Um you always sound good, so maybe maybe it's
improved.
SPEAKER_02 (22:07):
Yeah, I like them.
I like them, but I'm curious tosee how those are.
I know Sony makes the littleearbuds too, like the Boaz ones
that I've heard good thingsabout.
But see, the problem with Apple,or not the problem, I guess the
good thing is once you get inthere, you're so integrated that
you want to use the the thingsthat just like work.
Like you don't you just open thecase and it's like boom, they're
connected, you know.
(22:27):
Like that ecosystem is just sotight and tidy.
So, but yeah, I'm interested tohear how the nothing ones work
with, you know, especially notan Android phone, but you know,
if it's just Bluetooth, there'snot a whole lot of integration
that would need to happenanyways.
Well, we digested a lot.
You unpacked a lot.
Anything else you want to leaveeverybody with?
(22:49):
Hopefully, we're next hopefullynext time everybody joins,
they've got uh they're grindingtheir own coffee and roasting
their own beans and has Starlinkon the roof of their car.
See the what going back to theStarlink real quick.
The nice thing about the minione, and I don't think the
Starlink I have the regular one,the bigger one.
(23:09):
That one I don't think can runoff USB-C.
It's too big.
So that because the nice thingabout you is you can just drop
down to your you know back seatat USB ports, I'm sure, and and
get power that way.
So that's actually a really easysystem.
SPEAKER_00 (23:23):
Well, yes and no.
Um, you've from what I've seen,you've got to go through um a DC
battery.
So I have I I got this um thisanchor, uh, what is it?
The the C300 DC.
Okay.
And it um it outputs in DC.
(23:46):
Sure.
Um so you could go through anadapter into the cigarette
lighter, um, but this makes itportable because now you can
take this DC battery and theStarlink Mini if you were going
camping or whatever.
Right.
Yep.
Um so yeah, that's I I tried itin the just in the USB C and
(24:09):
it's not enough power.
It needs I think it needs 60watts.
I saw that it might be as low as40.
Uh but I I think it needs I I'veseen it run in the the high 20s
before.
SPEAKER_02 (24:25):
I want to give this a shot.
I'll have to put this in theback of the truck and see how it
goes.
That would be really cool, uhespecially if you go camping or
whatever.
But um do you camp?
Yeah.
We'd like to do it more, but no,not very well.
Probably when I was in theMarine Corps.
SPEAKER_00 (24:44):
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (24:46):
Long time ago.
We were actually just havingthis conversation the other
night with you know, the girlkids are too young, but you
know, we're we're look we'relooking at camping, camper
trailers or like pullbines to dothat.
So yeah, you know, if you can'treally call that camping, what
would it be called?
Um what do they call it?
Glamping, something like that.
So maybe someday, but we got theStarlink ready to go, so we'll
(25:08):
toss it up on uh toss it up onthe top and get some internet.
SPEAKER_00 (25:11):
How are you gonna do that though without the like it
doesn't have USB C.
SPEAKER_02 (25:16):
No, but in the back of my truck I have uh a house
outlet uh that I could put itin.
So uh you can just put it outthere like that.
And um, or I suppose you couldplug it into the to the trailer
too, because you'd be probablyhooked up somewhere getting
power, right?
So yeah.
Well, this is a long one.
SPEAKER_00 (25:36):
Awesome.
Good stuff.
SPEAKER_02 (25:38):
Yeah, all right.
Thanks everybody for joining.
Uh, you know, we'll see youagain.
We're gonna try to do thesemonthly.
Um, I think so.
Yeah, appreciate everybodyjoining.
Have a good day.
Uh and we'll chat soon.
SPEAKER_00 (25:52):
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experts to guide and counselyour company.
We will start by creating acustom security program that
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(26:15):
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