That's All, Folks, and THANK YOU!

Welcome to the Cyber Ranch podcast recorded under the big blue skies of Texas, where one CISO explores the cybersecurity landscape with the help of friends and experts. Here's your host, Alan Alford, president and CISO at Alan Alford Consulting. So, folks, what you're about to hear is the end of the Cyber Ranch podcast. Decided after four years of a weekly show, it's time for a break.

I've got a new job that starts tomorrow morning. Just a lot going on. I'm missing my LinkedIn posting that I used to do that I just haven't had the time for since I started the podcast. So I've decided to put an end to it.

But I wanted to thank some folks before we get started. Drew will be joining us here in a second. You'll hear from some other folks who have been very important and vital in the show. But most important and most vital in the show, the folks I wanted to thank up front are all the fantastic guests we've had.

In four years' time, I've had more brilliant guests. I have learned so much from them. People ask me how I got to know things in cybersecurity. And quite honestly, the answer is learning from my guests.

I highly recommend if you want to learn more about our industry to host a podcast because you will find people who are smarter than you at just about every facet of the game. You will meet with them, learn from them. It's been a phenomenal experience. I want to thank every one of the guests we've ever had.

And I also want to thank all of you, our listeners. Couldn't have done it without you. The whole point of a show is folks are listening to it. If you weren't there listening, we wouldn't have a show.

So I want to thank all of you all from the bottom of my heart. howdy y'all and welcome to the last ever episode of the cyber ranch podcast i am your co-host alan alford and with me is this is drew simonis co-host and drew and i are here to tell you guys this is the last ever episode of the cyber ranch podcast at least as it exists today in this incarnation as an audio platform uh it's possible somewhere down the road we might do some shenanigans on video or may do something altogether different.

I doubt it'll be the cyber ranch ever again. But for sure, taking a break for those listeners who have stayed with me all this time and stayed with drew all this time, I guess I wanted to first of all, say thank you from the bottom of my heart. The fact that anybody cared to listen to our blatherings and musings and, you know, listening to us interrogate guests on a variety of esoteric topics. It resonated with some folks.

I appreciate that. I'm glad that as always, that I had any listeners whatsoever, much less the thousands who signed up. So I truly appreciate that. Drew, what's your thank you for the audience?

Well, I'd like to obviously thank the people who spent their time participating in our conversation. And each and every one of you, as I alluded to in the interview we recently did with John Green, each and every listener was an inspiration for what's a good question, What would people want to know? What is something that they would be better off if they understood, etc.? So having never met the audience, but the audience was an inspiration.

It made me better, I hope. And I appreciate everyone for allowing me the opportunity to participate in the Cyber Ranch, even though it was only for a brief period of time. it was really enjoyable. And, you know, we did it for the audience, but we did it for ourselves as a result too I like that message We recording this Sunday night January 5th 2025 First thing in the morning I start my brand new job I going to be the senior vice president slash global CISO of the world's third largest data center company.

More to come on that. But with the new job and the new focus and the new mission, I just felt like I really needed to be throwing my energy that way and don't know that I've got the energy to keep going on a weekly show that I've already been doing a weekly show for six years now between defense and depth and cyber ranch i have literally done a weekly show for six years uh finally reached a point where i feel like i needed a break from all that um and i'm going to be focusing on the new job and and drew remains at his job doing his stuff over at uh are we allowed to say where you work i think you already have okay all right he's a juniper um and he's doing some great stuff over there and we're just going to focus on our day jobs for the next cycle.

We're going to, you know, focus on actually doing the doing rather than talking about the doing. And as always, we'll continue to be thinkers and questioners and challengers of status quo as we do our doing. Yeah. And I, you know, I think, one, thank you, Alan, for bringing this show to the air for so many years, bringing so many guests to our attention.

You know, it's not for nothing that I joined this as an opportunity to participate in something that you started. I just, you know, the listener needs to always remember, we always record these things at night or on the weekends. We have no producer, right? There's nobody out there sourcing an audience or a guest.

It's all being done by them on their nights and weekends. And it really is something that requires a lot of passion to be able to sustain. and just a tremendous amount of time and energy. I'm sure it's easier if you have a producer or something like that, but this was always a community-oriented show and as a result, it takes a lot of personal time to bring together.

And Drew, thank you for A, coming out, B, getting some audio gear and getting into all this geekery, but also for finding us some stellar guests. I really feel like these last 21, 22, 23 shows now we've done together, you really brought a breath of fresh air to the show and and i'm gonna regret forever that we didn't get to carry that for another four years uh but like i said i've got a i've got a shift focus in my life yeah there were some good guests coming up that we were trying to get but but but that's the reality you know it's a real struggle there's a lot of people with really interesting viewpoints but maybe they're not allowed to come talk or maybe getting the schedules lined up you know so that that's that's the challenge always is is not only to find the guests but to get them able to talk and able to talk openly.

And, and, um, you know, there's all sorts of other ways that we can do that as you alluded to, whether it's different social media outlets or, uh, uh, co-presenting or, or, or publishing or whatever else. And I hope we continue to do that. Yeah. I'm going to be working more on my LinkedIn posts, uh, which, which honestly, I mean, I, you know, most people in cybersecurity know me from LinkedIn more than the podcast.

I used to do an original post every Monday morning without fail every week. I mean, for years I did this. And once I started the Cyber Ranch, I just didn't have the time and the energy to do both. And so my LinkedIn presence has really sort of faded back over the years of doing the podcast.

And I'm looking forward to returning to being a writer again, and not just a recorder, not just an audio person, but actually putting my words to the fingers on the keyboard and getting them out there in print. I may start blogging. I don't know what I'm going to do. But right now, I want to focus on this new day job I want to really do a good job at what I doing with this new employer And I keep doing my LinkedIn stuff and I see where this goes and grows Who knows what will come next But I think it time to retire the Cyber Range while it still running strong And that's where I got to.

You know, sunny days and a full belly, it's the best way to go out. And so I guess I would just say so long and thanks for all the fish. All right. And I'm going to say, that's all, folks.

All right. But before we go, I'm going to make a couple of phone calls to a couple of key people who had key roles throughout the history of the Cyber Ranch. So the first call, we're going to call Chris Cochran, former CEO of Hacker Valley Media, who was there to host the very first episode of the Cyber Ranch. We started under the Hacker Valley umbrella.

So let me call Chris and have a quick chat with him. all righty folks this is chris cochran i am speaking with he is the former ceo of hacker valley hacker valley being the very first home of the cyber ranch podcast episode one was recorded under the hacker valley banner chris we could not have done it without you i just wanted to call and say thank you so much for all your support over the years everything you did for us everything we did together. Thank you, brother. Brother, my brother, you know, thank you so much, you know, for everything you've done for the community, you know, it was definitely an honor to work with you and help get your, you know, show launched.

It's really done a lot of good. I mean, honestly, it's one of my favorite podcasts, you know, obviously I'm biased, but one of my favorite podcasts, you know, ever. And yeah, man, you know, it's just been a journey. I appreciate that man it's been a ride I don't know if you realize it was four years almost of weekly shows we hit about the four year mark I think and prior to that two years at Defense in Depth I was doing a weekly show for six years and that was a lot and I think it's time for me to take a break from podcasting and move on and pursue other things, other venues and other forms and other means of communication and sharing with the community.

But I, I sure appreciate everything you did for us. You talk about giving back to the community, Chris. I think you did an amazing job yourself at that. I think you're still doing an amazing job and I'm proud to call you a friend and a brother.

Absolutely, brother. I appreciate you. You know, every, every chapter has to end at some point, but looking forward to the next one, man. All right, brother.

Be good. You too, brother. And the next call is going to be, oh, look, it's Ron Eddings. Ron Oleddings, how are you, sir?

Howdy. You, sir, are being recorded live at the Cyber Ranch. Oh, live. Yep, you called in as we were recording.

I just finished chatting with Chris Cochran and thanked him so much for his help and assistance and everything he did to get the show off the ground and to support us in the Hacker Valley days and even as a friend post-Hacker Valley. And Ron, I wanted to extend the same message to you. Ron is the current CEO of Hacker Valley Media, and Ron has been a true brother, a true supporter. We have run into each other at conferences, recorded together, done all kinds of things together.

He's done a lot of video work that I've managed to poke my nose into a little bit here and there. And, Ron, I just wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you've ever done for the Cyber Ranch podcast. Thank you. I appreciate you.

I'm going to miss the cyber ranch, but it's been an honor and a pleasure to also be the person that says under the big blue skies of Texas. So I appreciate you for also give me a little of a permanent spot while you did it. I love that. And Ron's alluding to our intro to every episode, that golden voice.

That's Ron. That's who you're hearing now. What next What next is I starting a day job a new day job tomorrow morning we recording this sunday night monday morning first thing i starting a new job as a senior vice president at uh the world's third largest data center company so i'm going to be diving onto the day job focusing on that for a while and uh probably getting back to my linkedin post doing more of that too but uh but that's about it for now no congrats congratulations congratulations well thank you sir and thank you for calling in and it was a pleasure to hear from you and thank you again for all your support for the show thank you speak soon there we go we got a live ron call we got the chris call there's one other person i wanted to thank in the making of this show and i wanted y'all to meet him y'all have heard his work for more than a year now but you've never heard his voice this is rich salem he is our editor rich thank you very much for everything you've done for this show.

It's been a pleasure working on the show. Even though I'm not a cybersecurity person myself, there's been a lot of episodes on the show that have actually hit home with me. I remember there was a show about leadership, and that one really resonated with me. Then you did the Neurodivergent series, which I think that hit with a lot of people, myself included.

So, I mean, it's, it's been a really great ride. Well, I appreciate that. And I appreciate all your good work. Appreciate the sound quality and appreciate all the times you managed to get my dog's barks out of the show.

I'm waiting for him to interrupt this phone call. In fact, all right, man, Rich, thank you so much. My parting words would be just keep asking questions. You know, it's a broad and very ever-changing topic that we are all involved in with cybersecurity, whether it's IoT and OT or whether it's, you know, the privacy side or whether it's AI and emerging tech or cloud or whatever.

There's just so many areas, so many different experts, so many things to learn that we don't know and don't even know we don't know. And just keep asking questions, find new people to ask new questions to all the time. and keep growing. We all need to be the best we can be to stand up to the challenges we face.

I love that message. I'm going to add to that, not just keep asking questions. I'm going to add challenge your assumptions, right? One of the most prevalent themes of this show, I think, and I think you brought this a lot, Drew, is this notion that we have to lift the covers on our beliefs.

We have to lift the covers, not just ask the questions in terms of what's out there in the universe and of the others in the universe and of the things in the universe. We want to ask the questions of ourselves. We want to ask ourselves, why? Why am I doing X?

Why do I assume Y? Why have I always believed Z? Because those assumptions and beliefs and innate behaviors and habits and patterns that we formed are sometimes ill-serving the mission. And I think one of the hallmarks of this show has been that we've managed to lift the covers on a lot of that stuff.

And I hope to see the audience doing more and more of that without us. I want to see everyone continuing to challenge that status quo. Yeah. Yeah, that'd be great for the industry and the profession.

All righty. Well, folks, that's it. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. This is Alan Alford, and this is...

Drew Simonis. And we are signing off and saying, y'all be good now.