Breaking Into Companies with Trevin Edgeworth

In this episode of the Phoenix Prosperity Podcast, Tim Fergestad talks with cybersecurity leader Trevin Edgeworth about the fascinating world of red teaming. Trevin has spent about 25 years in cybersecurity and has built and led security programs and red teams for major organizations.

Trevin explains that red teaming is much more than trying to hack into a computer. A real attacker may use technology, physical access, social engineering, phishing, stolen credentials, or a combination of methods. Red teams safely recreate these attacks with a company's permission to discover what could happen before a real attacker gets the chance.

Tim and Trevin also explore how artificial intelligence is changing cybersecurity. AI can help attackers find vulnerabilities, create more convincing phishing messages, and analyze huge amounts of information. At the same time, AI gives cybersecurity professionals powerful new tools. Trevin describes AI as an "Iron Man suit" for security professionals — technology that makes skilled people more capable rather than replacing the human in the middle.

The conversation also covers one of the biggest cybersecurity risks of all: people. Phishing attacks have become much harder to spot because AI can create polished, convincing messages. Trevin explains why people need to pay more attention to the context of an email instead of simply looking for spelling mistakes or bad grammar.

For business owners, Trevin shares common weaknesses his teams have discovered across hundreds of red-team engagements. These include poor network segmentation, passwords and credentials stored where they shouldn't be, users receiving more access than they need, inadequate protections around employees, and security products that are installed without being customized for the company's actual environment.

----------------------------------- Interested in being part of this? Please visit our guest invitation page where you can learn more and fill out a brief questionnaire to get started: https://phoenixprosperitypodcast.com/guest It’s going to be enlightening and, most importantly, a lot of fun. I’d love for you to be a part of it!