The SafeHouse

Protecting Rural America from Cyber Threats: Inside the PISCES Mission with Mike Hamilton

In this episode of The SafeHouse Podcast, Jeff Edwards sits down with Mike Hamilton, former Seattle CISO and Chief Technical Officer of PISCES International, a nonprofit organization providing free cybersecurity monitoring and workforce development for underserved communities across the United States. Mike shares his remarkable journey from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and early cybersecurity consulting to building one of the most impactful community-focused cyber defense initiatives in the country. The conversation explores: * Why rural hospitals, school districts, utilities, and local governments are increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks * How PISCES delivers enterprise-grade monitoring capabilities to organizations that otherwise could not afford them * The growing cybersecurity workforce shortage and how hands-on training is changing lives * How AI is rapidly transforming Security Operations Centers (SOCs) * One simple policy change organizations can make today to dramatically improve security posture This episode is a powerful discussion about resilience, public infrastructure protection, workforce development, and the future of operational cybersecurity. Learn more about the SafeHouse Initiative and its mission to educate underserved communities on cybersecurity and operational resilience. #CyberSecurity #CyberDefense #CyberAwareness #OperationalResilience #CriticalInfrastructure #RuralCybersecurity #PublicSectorSecurity #SOC #AI #WorkforceDevelopment #CommunityResilience #SafeHousePodcast #SafeHouseInitiative #PISCES

What to Do If You Get Hacked: A Practical Survival Guide with Alan Gin

What would you do if you got hacked today? Not in theory. In real life. In this episode of The SafeHouse, Jeff Edwards sits down with Alan Gin to walk through exactly what happens when a cyber incident hits close to home. Based on Alan’s three-part series on what to do if you get hacked, this conversation breaks down the reality most people aren’t prepared for. * They cover: * The most common ways people get compromised * How to recognize the early signs of a breach * What to do in the first 24 hours * How to contain the damage * Where to go for help * The mistakes that make things worse * How to prepare before it happens * This is not a technical discussion. It’s a practical one. Because when something goes wrong, there’s no help desk for your personal life. #CyberSecurity #CyberRisk #CyberAwareness#OnlineSafety #CyberAttack #SafeHousePodcast

Why SMBs Still Don’t Buy Cyber Insurance and What to Do Instead with Kurt Suhs

Most small and mid-sized businesses don’t have a standalone cyber insurance policy. Not because they don’t care. Not because they don’t face risk, but because the system around them isn’t built in a way that’s practical to navigate. In this episode, Jeff Edwards sits down with Kurt Suhs, Founder and CEO of Concierge Cyber, to unpack why adoption remains low, what’s changed in the cyber insurance market, and what businesses are actually doing instead. Kurt brings a rare perspective. From his early days at the FDIC investigating failed financial institutions, to helping shape some of the first cyber insurance policies in the late 90s, to building a “Plan B” model designed for the real world. This conversation goes beyond policy language and into something more useful: * How businesses think about risk when they don’t have coverage * Why complexity and policy structure are major barriers * What happens when something goes wrong and there’s no safety net * And what a practical, response-first approach actually looks like If you’re an SMB owner, advisor, or part of the cyber insurance ecosystem, this is a grounded look at the gap between coverage and reality. #CyberInsurance #CyberRisk #SMB #Ransomware #BusinessContinuity #Resilience #Insurance #SafeHouse #FailureGap

Cyber Risk: Where Mitigation Meets Insurance With Michael Phillips

Cyber risk management is often framed as a choice between prevention and insurance. In reality, the most resilient organizations combine both. In this episode of The SafeHouse, Jeff Edwards speaks with Michael Phillips, Global Head of Cyber at Coalition, about how insurers evaluate cyber risk and why mitigation and insurance must work together.   Building on a previous discussion about the elements of risk management, the conversation explores how underwriters think about cyber exposure, what signals insurers look for when assessing organizations, and why operational resilience is becoming central to modern cyber insurance.   The result is a practical discussion about how businesses should approach cyber risk today. #SafeHousePodcast #CyberRisk #CyberSecurity #CyberResilience #RiskManagement #CyberSecurityPodcast #OperationalResilience

Making Sense of Risk Management with Davis Hake

Cyber risk is no longer just a technical issue. It’s a financial one. In this episode of The SafeHouse Podcast, Jeff Edwards sits down with Davis Hake, leader of Venable’s San Francisco cybersecurity practice, to unpack what risk management actually means in today’s cyber environment. Davis shares his early exposure to national critical infrastructure risk, the moment he saw one of the first comprehensive cyber breach tracking lists, and how Stuxnet changed the public conversation around digital vulnerability.   From there, the discussion moves into something most organizations still struggle with: measuring cyber risk in financial terms. You’ll hear: • The five elements of risk explained in plain language • Why most cyber programs fail to quantify exposure • How to think about cyber risk like a CFO • The growing need for financial risk measurement training • Practical resources for professionals who want to level up   If you work in cybersecurity, insurance, enterprise risk, or resilience strategy, this conversation will sharpen how you think about exposure, impact, and accountability. Cyber risk isn’t abstract. It’s measurable. And it’s time we treated it that way. #CyberRisk #RiskManagement #CyberSecurity #CyberInsurance #OperationalResilience.#BusinessContinuity