Defensive Security Podcast

Jerry Bell and Andrew Kalat have been recording the Defensive Security Podcast since 2012, making it one of the more veteran shows in the cybersecurity space. The two hosts are both working security professionals — Bell is a security leader and Kalat brings years of hands-on experience — and that real-world grounding comes through in every episode. They release new shows biweekly, running through 338 episodes so far. The premise is focused and practical: take the week's biggest security breaches, malware campaigns, and data incidents, then break down what went wrong and what defenders can learn from each one. Bell and Kalat approach every story with a pragmatic mindset. They are not interested in fear-mongering or hype — they want to know what the actual lessons are and how organizations can apply them. Listeners frequently point to their balanced, measured analysis as the show's biggest strength. The tone sits somewhere between professional and casual. There is enough snark and humor to keep things from feeling like a corporate webinar, but the substance never gets lost. These are two guys who have been in the trenches of incident response and security operations, and they talk about the news the way colleagues would over lunch — informed, opinionated, but grounded. The show holds a 4.7 rating from 368 reviews. If you are a blue team professional or security operations manager looking for a podcast that speaks your language without talking down to you, the Defensive Security Podcast is a reliable pick.