WisBusiness: the Podcast with DJ Vogel, Ghostscale

This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with DJ Vogel, a cybersecurity expert and founding partner of Ghostscale. 

The Madison-based consultancy was launched late last year by a group of tech industry veterans that had previously worked together starting in the early 2000s. 

“Since then, we’ve gotten back together as Ghostscale because we saw there was a gap in the market, especially locally here in Wisconsin, for cybersecurity services,” he said. 

Vogel discusses the latest cybersecurity trends, noting the industry has expanded substantially in recent years as online threats have widened their scope. 

“Industries that previously were not regulated, such as manufacturing, all of a sudden find that they’re a little bit behind some of the more regulated industries such as financial institutions, and they’re interested in bolstering their own posture,” he said. 

The discussion also explores the growing influence of artificial intelligence on the industry. As AI tools such as language learning models rapidly advance, hackers are gaining new tools for accessing and stealing sensitive information. 

“It’s a lot easier for a scammer to be able to write a phishing email these days, even without a mastery of the English language, by having a machine, an AI do it for them,” he said. “Writing attack code, writing a threat is all of a sudden much more attainable for people who aren’t necessarily as skilled in the art.” 

Vogel also discusses some of the new ways that companies are preparing for potential cyberattacks, such as simulating a crisis to test security tools and analyzing training programs for employees. And he shares some tips on how to be a smart guardian of critical data. 

Listen to the podcast below, sponsored by UW-Madison:

See an earlier story with insights from Vogel.