Unpatched Ep.05: Trust, Deepfakes & the Human Firewall with Noah Landow & AJ Nawani

In this episode of Unpatched by SharkStriker, host AJ Nawani sits down with Noah Landow – co-founder of Macktez and a 30-year veteran of IT and cybersecurity consulting for an unfiltered, two-way conversation on why trust, not technology, is the real battleground in cybersecurity today.

From the early days of LocalTalk networks and dial-up mail servers to today’s world of AI-driven deepfakes, Noah and AJ trace how the attack surface has evolved and why the human element remains the constant, unpatched vulnerability.

They dig into:

🔹 Why identity (not just infrastructure) is the real “tent pole” of modern security
🔹 How deepfake video, cloned voices, and spoofed MFA are redefining what “verifying someone” even means
🔹 The gap between compliance and actual security — and why CISOs often fear auditors more than attackers
🔹 Third-party and vendor risk: why your security is only as strong as your weakest contractor’s spreadsheet
🔹 The M&A blind spot: how companies acquire IT debt along with the business
🔹 What happens to the “human firewall” when AI shifts from a tool you use to an agent acting on its own

Whether you’re a CISO, compliance lead, MSSP practitioner, or just someone trying to make sense of a world where you can’t always trust your own eyes and ears anymore this conversation will change how you think about risk.

ABOUT UNPATCHED BY SHARKSTRIKERS

Unpatched is the official podcast by SharkStriker where we have real, unfiltered conversations about the vulnerabilities that matter most.

Not just in your systems, but in how the entire industry thinks about cybersecurity.

No buzzwords. No vendor pitches. Just honest insights from the people on the front lines of cyber defense.