Threat Vector

Zero Trust Without the Hype

In this episode of Threat Vector, host ⁠David Moulton⁠ speaks with ⁠LeeAnne Pelzer⁠, Senior Consulting Director, and ⁠Brandon Hogle⁠, Consulting Director, both with Palo Alto Networks Unit 42. Together, they explore how organizations can move from Zero Trust theory to practice. Zero Trust is the foundation of modern cybersecurity, but turning principles into measurable outcomes remains a challenge for many enterprises. Pelzer and Hogle share how Unit 42’s Zero Trust Advisory helps organizations assess their cybersecurity maturity, identify visibility gaps, and create tailored roadmaps that connect security architecture with business outcomes.The conversation dives into the common pitfalls that derail Zero Trust, including visibility gaps, operational complexity, and misalignment, and explores how to overcome them with clarity, collaboration, and continuous verification. For security leaders driving transformation, this episode offers a pragmatic look at how to cut through complexity and make Zero Trust achievable.

Unit 42's Iran Threat Brief: What We're Seeing

Unit 42 is tracking more than 60 active hacktivist groups and Iran-linked threat actors right now. What are they actually doing, what should you believe, and what should you do about it? In this episode of Threat Vector, David Moulton sits down with ⁠Justin Moore⁠, Senior Manager of Threat Intelligence Research at Unit 42, and ⁠Andy Piazza⁠, Senior Director of Threat Intelligence at Unit 42, to walk through the Unit 42 Iran Threat Brief and what the observed activity means for defenders.

The Billion Dollar Hiring Scam Funding North Korea

North Korea has turned your hiring pipeline into a revenue machine. And most organizations have no idea. Evan Gordenker, Director of AI Security and DPRK Operations at Unit 42, has led more than 160 investigations into sophisticated threat actors, including the North Korean IT worker networks quietly embedded inside global companies. He joins David Moulton to unpack how this operation actually works, why common assumptions about remote work leave organizations exposed, and what security and HR teams can do to detect and disrupt it.

Inside 750 Breaches with Unit 42

Your security budget is funding the wrong defenses. Steve Elovitz leads Unit 42's North America consulting and incident response practice, where his team helps prevent, and ultimately answers the call when organizations face their worst day. After analyzing 750+ major breaches in a single year, he's seen exactly which security investments save companies and which ones fail when attackers strike. The data is uncomfortable: 90% of breaches succeed not because attackers are sophisticated, but because of misconfigurations or gaps in security coverage.

When Security Friction Becomes the Backdoor

Security that slows people down is security that gets bypassed. ⁠Birat Niraula⁠ leads security for Google Enterprise Network, where he oversees protection across on-premise, network infrastructure, enterprise, and cloud environments. In this episode of Threat Vector, host ⁠David Moulton⁠ explores a critical truth that most security leaders miss: the difference between friction that protects and friction that creates risk.