The internet once came this close to crashing—and Microsoft was on the front line.

In this episode, cybersecurity veteran Christopher Budd takes us inside the Microsoft Security Response Center during one of the most chaotic cyber events in modern history. From the Nimda worm of 2001 to ransomware turf wars, and the weird future where threat actors post job ads for ransom note writers, Christopher lays it all out with perspective only decades in the game can bring. If you think AI or ransomware is the endgame, you’re not seeing the whole board.

Impactful Moments:

00:00 - Introduction 04:35 - Breaking down the Nimda attack 07:00 - “We carried 90% of the internet” 10:37 - Ransomware gangs fighting for headlines 15:26 - Secure perimeter is officially dead 17:31 - AI as your cybernetic exosuit 24:00 - Filtering 100,000 security emails with AI 27:05 - Privacy tension in AI-powered defense 32:00 - The inevitable swing back to local control 35:31 - “You will”: when sci-fi became real

Links:

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