What's going on, everybody? Welcome to Good News
York. Yes. Is this the official? I mean, we've
done like eight episodes now and asked, is this
the official first one? I know we've had eight
fake episodes. Or Mr. B says your first 100 are
going to suck, so I'm glad you invited me. Yeah,
we only have 92 more to go. 92 more. Yeah, we
said we're going to invite the really good guests
in the following weeks. Yeah, you know. Hey,
Abel, what are you doing? Welcome, everybody.
I'm Matt Major from Growth Mode Content. This
is Good News York. I'm joined by my awesome spiky
-haired sidekick. No, too much. Mikey B. Yeah,
Mike Brindisi. How are you? Good morning. We
have a very exciting guest here today. Yes. Good
morning. My name is Abel Ramirez. I'm more than
honored to be here today. This is awesome to
have our buddy Abel here. This guy is, I think
he's what? What are you, like 17 years old or
something, and you're a billionaire? Is that...
That's about it, but I'm 15. That's fair. You
get carded for literally everything, don't you?
You can't even buy a lotto ticket, can you? No,
I can't. I have to show my ID every time I go
to the store. Where's your dad? These Cuban guys,
man. He's going to be 60 and still look like
that. I am not. My wife is staying far away from
him. I'm keeping her away from Abel. Yeah, you
know, it's funny. I try to grow a beard, but
I can't even grow a full beard because if I shave...
You know, I don't know, Mike. But you look good
too, man. Well, thank you, but not around you.
You walked in and I went, well, I'm ugly for
the next couple of hours. Pretty boy problems
over here, man. Something I never experienced.
Rico Suave here. Say hello to my little friend.
Speaking of pretty boys, behind the board. We
got our man, Danny. Yeah, Danny. He's dug in
deep. Look at him. Look at our guy. Look at him.
I love him so much. He's got the Metroid shirt
on. I do. Oh, man. Don't you just want to snuggle
with him? Look at him. He's just the best. Danny
Downer. No, I mean, he's not Danny Downer. When
I say Debbie Danny, Debbie Danny. He's always
got good news. I think he should be the thumbnail
for every single video you guys post. That's
a great idea. We'll take that into consideration.
Different expressions from Danny. That's it.
All right. Well, here we are. We're doing it.
So yeah, so let's let's jump right in man and
let's talk a little bit about our buddy Abel
so Abel I Know the story but so many people don't
so give us just the quick Background where you
came from what you're doing right now. Yeah quick
rundown So say my name is Abel Ramirez Gonzales
not like speeding on Salas, but it's something
along those lines He was pretty speedy. I am
from Cuba as you know, Cuba is a communist country
You go there is like 60 years in the past. You
still see the old chevys and the 57 dodge, you
know, they're still running around like it's
today. Don't worry. We're heading that way too.
We'll meet you there. You know, I think you're
right. I think you're right. My different story.
I my dad was a minister and we lived at the church.
Oh, very humble beginnings for us. And as you
know, Cubans don't like or not Cubans, but the
communist regime does not like any type of gathering
that might threaten their power in government
and Christians are known for very, you know,
very vocal about sure, I mean, things like that.
So he was persecuted and even in prison a couple
times and he applied for a political refugee
back in the day when there was a there was an
US embassy within the Swiss Switzerland embassy
in Cuba. It wasn't an official US embassy, but
they had like a Little office in the building
right where you can go and you know ask for asylum
that sort of thing and And he did and it took
a long time a lot of money and a lot of processes
paperwork interviews But he finally got accepted
we moved here in 2010. I'll never forget it.
It was October 19 the planes coming down I see
all the colors on the trees. It looked like a
movie because think about it. Cuba is 24 -7 Hot
weather. This stuff that we've been seeing around
here for the last week or so, you don't get to
see it in Cuba. I mean, it's dead all year long
and rain and storm and hurricane season. That's
it. And super hot and humid. So for me, it was
like, oh, my God, it's like the movies. I'm landing
in Syracuse. Yeah. But yeah, from there, I went
to Henninger High School. Black night, proud
black night. And then. I mean, one thing led
to another. Think about it. You come to America.
You don't speak the language. You don't have
any relatives. The only thing you're bringing
with you is the desire to work, the desire to
get ahead. Eventually, I brought my mom and my
sister, so now all my immediate family is here.
And again, just a lot of will to get ahead and
never forgetting where I'm from. I'll tell you
a quick story. The first week in America, We
did not know how to use the hot shower because
we never had one. So we did it the old way. We
took a bucket and we heated it on the stove and
we did it the old way because that's the only
way we knew. We couldn't figure out how to work
the knob on the hot shower. It wasn't after a
week later that a social worker came in and she
goes, oh, how's everything? Do you guys get a
good hot shower and everything? I'm like... Actually,
it's not working. Seriously, let me go. Sure
enough, she had to pull it out and then turn
it and yeah, there was water. I was like, oh
my gosh, water. Yeah, it's something that we
were not used to. And some of the things that
we take for granted here, something as simple
as taking a hot shower and opening the refrigerator
and having food there. Those. Yeah. So what's
really striking to me is he's going to get to
this part. Oh, we haven't even got to the good
stuff yet. So through all that struggle, coming
in here, figuring this out from scratch, really,
as sort of a teen, as a teenager, it's got to
be a tremendous experience. But you met that
challenge and then some, right? Like, tell folks
a little bit about your career as you They've
gotten a little bit older, which isn't that long
ago. This guy is incredibly young. Not that long
ago. I was like Bitcoin, you know, it was very
cheap and then to the moon. No, no, it's been
really a journey with ups and downs along the
way. But again, I think the mindset, it's so
important. You got to have a survival of the
fittest type of mindset for us is burn the ships.
Right. There is no going back. So now that you're
here, you better learn the language, you better
learn the culture and adjust and embrace and
get ahead. Because half the battle is just winning
it up here. You know, getting it out there. Forget
about I'm not good enough. I don't have the resources.
I can't speak the language. I'm too young. I'm
too old. All the excuses that we always tell
to ourselves. If you win that battle, that's
half halfway there. The other half you will figure
out as you go. So as Matt was saying, after school,
Did what any teenager in their right mind will
do and that is get married Yeah, yeah, I I met
my wife at church She's also Cuban, but here's
the funny thing two Cubans meet in Syracuse at
a Puerto Rican church That sounds like the beginning
to a joke That's fantastic, but that's how it
all started but I knew she was wifey material
and I wasn't gonna pass on that opportunity so
I graduated in June, June 2014, class of 2014.
And I got married in October. That's amazing.
From there, I was working as a sandwich guy at
Columbus Bakery. That was my first job. And let
me tell you, that was my first introduction to
a small business. And I was part of the family.
I learned how to manage a little store sandwich
store. And that's actually that was the first
step into me speaking English. because before
in school, by year two, two and a half, I could
understand almost 80 % of everything, but I could
stay quiet. I wasn't talking to anybody, right?
I remember one quick story in school where my
global teacher was like, oh, because I learned
how to say I don't know. That's the first thing
I learned how to say. I don't need to say that.
That's an important phrase around here in America.
I don't know. I don't know. And I've learned
to say that so people will leave me alone. And
one day in class, he asked a question and he
goes, Abel, do you not know how to say anything
other than I don't know? I was like, I don't
know. The whole class started laughing. But yeah,
I will not speak English because I keep it to
myself. I would get tongue twisted and. It was
very embarrassing. So when I was working as a
sandwich guy, I had to interact with customers,
get their order and ask them. Another funny story.
One time a customer walks in and I'm going, oh,
you want onions and you want lettuce and blah,
blah, blah. And she goes, yeah, purrs. Guess
what? Guess what I did? I put peppers on their
sandwich. So she was pissed. Oh my God. Like,
I'm sorry, I thought you said peppers. I said,
yeah, purrs. Another funny story. But from there,
I started a professional career in micro electronics.
So I moved to a jump. What a jump right from
sandwich. I think that gave me the confidence
boost that I needed to track that now I can communicate
with customers. I think every out of high school
should work at customer service. It should be
a requirement. Abel, I have said for years, I
worked over 10 years as a bartender and server,
and I said everybody should have to work in this
industry just once because the things that you
learn just in interacting with people and the
appreciation of why you tip and why it's important
to tip and what... people go through. You know,
along the way, we have a lot of times we have
these shitty jobs, right? And we're like, I'm
stuck in life. What am I doing? Then you find
out 10 years later, when you're successful doing
it, whatever it is you're doing, you look back
on those shitty jobs. And you're like, that that's
part of what made me who I am. That sandwich
shop was probably so important in your, in your,
your rise, your success. I'll always remember
it, you know, because it was it was the foundation.
Think about it when you're dealing with customers,
especially when it comes to food. People are
in a hurry. People are hungry. People are maybe
having a bad day. So you get to deal with very
difficult people on a daily basis. Once you master
that and you go into the business world and you
go into a professional world, you're like, oh,
this is nothing. Yeah. You know, and nowadays
in this day and age where everyone is texting
and texting and texting, there is no interaction.
And we've seen it, especially after COVID when
everyone was isolated. You go to places and customer
service is Terrible. Terrible. Right. Right.
So everyone should have at least once on their
life a job in customer service because that's
going to set you up for success for the rest
of your life. You get it. Well, from there, I
went to Anarin with now TTM Technologies. And
that was my introduction to the professional
world. Right. Now you draft emails with Dear
and comma sure best regards and you you learn
how to communicate on emails Which I hate it
too because it sounds so fake. I just get to
the point. What do you want? What do you need
right? but that allowed me to See how an organization
works at a larger scale and they did have a lot
of great benefits I did go back to school first
for business and management then I was like I'm
hiring people at minimum wage with a business
degree so this might not be the Bright Avenue.
So I forgot about business and management and
I went to electrical engineering because a lot
of the successful people that I worked with sure
electrical engineers. But then I realized after
a couple semesters that all day and every day
they're sitting in front of a computer trying
to solve complicated problems. Yeah, I don't
like that. So I quit. And I went to mechanical
engineering because that was more hands on was
more fun. Sure did a few semesters of that. And
by the time I was done with the almost third
semester. I was like, you know, I've learned
enough. I've grown in the company. I'm making
enough money. I'm going to get my real estate
license. So I got my real estate license and
started selling real estate right before the
COVID shutdown. Think about timing the market.
I got my license in March 14. And on the 19th
or the 20th is when everything was shut down.
I'll never forget that. Literally right before.
So I had a first great year. I mean, I killed
it. I got a bunch of awards, rising star. I got
nominated for a bunch of other... What do you
call it awards at the GSR the realtors association
here? And I was like okay great real estate that
seems to be a good path because now that I can
speak Spanish I can support my own community
here and Educate them because think about it
when you come from a different country. You don't
know anything about credit You don't know anything
about a mortgage and insurance and all this stuff
that goes into buying a house so you have to
educate them a lot which is why your story is
even more impressive to me because of the cultural
barriers that you had to go through on top of
what it takes to Do all of that. So I mean my
god you are impressive. Yeah, thank you Mike.
Thank you It's definitely been a journey and
each experience have had its ups and downs But
I just look at it as you either win or you learn
There is no failure actually one on my whatsapp
What you call a slogan or whatever the status
every day? Yeah, you only fail when you stop
trying When you throw the towel, that's when
you fail. If you keep going, I don't know if
you saw the fight of Amanda Serrano, the day
that Jake Paul fought. I did. That was the best
fight of the night. That was incredible. And
I'm surprised that they didn't, you know, stop
the fight because of how bad her injury was.
I couldn't concentrate because all I was looking
at was her eye and I was just waiting for it
to explode on camera. I couldn't. It was awful.
But man, that was a great fight. And the way
that she was fighting with all her will and strength.
I mean, that's the mentality you get half. You
only lose if you stop trying. The moment you
throw the towel, that's it. So that's been my
mindset. Always going, always going. In real
estate, I learned that you can buy a business.
You don't have to start from scratch. You don't
have to be Einstein and create this new unicorn
business that's going to revolutionize the world.
You can build up upon something that somebody
else started. So the company that I have now
was founded by a Brazilian immigrant in the 1980s,
early 1980s. And then she retires, she sold it
to an Italian. And then I bought it off the Italian
when he was retiring. So now I'm a third generation
owner of a successful business has been in the
community for almost 50 years. How cool is that?
That's awesome. The story that an immigrant came
here with nothing, had to learn the language,
had to learn the culture and start from scratch.
and be able to call myself a business owner today.
If that doesn't inspire you, I don't know what
will, honestly. Actually, my name, Abel, I changed
the meaning. I hated my name. Abel, Abel. I'm
the guy that his brother killed. Abel, where's
Cain? I got all that. Abel label, Abel table.
All those names. But Abel, if you switch the
L and the E, now it's Abel. You can do something.
So I changed it to Abel man. Because if I can
do it, Anybody can did you you are he's that
he's the story He's they this is the you hear
about these stories about immigrants coming to
America and the land of opportunity I mean you
are the poster child for that and that is you
know with everything going on It's that this
this is so important to showcase this that this
is why immigration is so fantastic And it's what
this country was founded on and I just met you
recently and I'm proud of you, man. It's incredible.
Thanks. I think that this is the land of opportunities.
I couldn't be proud. Nowhere on earth is there
a place that allows you to flourish the way that
America does. And I hope that we can, as Americans,
we can keep that. I agree. So, buddy, we've joked
a little bit, but let's tell folks in reality,
how old are you for real? I am 29 years old and
I'll be 29 forever. I refuse to turn 30. Yeah
I shouldn't be allowed to be a business owner
or a dad. My daughter tells me all the time,
dad you shouldn't be allowed to be a dad. How
many children do you have? I have three children.
God bless you. That's awesome. Abel's business
is Bayberry Uniform and Shoe and to bring it
back locally a little bit right here in Liverpool.
His store when you walk into it reminds you of
a traditional clothing store like the amount
of inventory he has and the variety of things.
And obviously it's not necessarily a fashion
store, it's all, it's uniform, it's professional
work wear, things like that, right? You wanna
talk a little bit about, you know, in addition
to what you have, the different things you do
there at the business? Yeah, for sure. So we
cater to the medical community for the most part.
They are our main customer, but we also serve
restaurants, we serve schools. We serve corporate
offices. And the main thing that we sell is scrubs,
uniforms, lab coats. So when you go to the airport
and you see the doctors with their arms crossed
wearing the white coats, those are our white
coats. And I mean, I couldn't be more proud of
the work that we that we do to keeping those
workers, you know, dressed and looking professional.
And I mean, one of the things that I'm the most
proud of is we have weekly deliveries to upstate.
So I get orders in on Wednesday, Thursdays, and
by Friday, they're getting their uniforms. So
any new hires, I have their uniforms ready for
Monday when they start. And when I see those
things and the way that we work with hospitals
and local offices and keeping them dressed professionally
and keeping them going, I'm like, wow, that's
amazing. It feels good because it... It brings
a purpose to what you do. I don't say I sell
uniforms. No, I address my customers. So, you
know, it's it's it's important. That's amazing.
If I may what I mean, it seems it's a very niche.
I don't know category. What how did you come
up with the idea of I'm going to open a clothing
store and it's going to be for, you know, just
bought it as is turnkey, turnkey, amazing everything.
Like I said, there was it all worked out. working
as a real estate agent that I learned that you
can buy businesses to, and you can go on bizbuysale
or loopnet .com and you can see what's for sale
currently in Syracuse. And I was shopping for
anything, mind you, I did not care of what business
I was gonna get into. Landscape, painting. You
had to figure it out. I had to, I would figure
it out. And that one seemed like it makes sense
because it was after COVID, it was essential,
right? Now you're... Dressing the nurses. So
that's always gonna be a need for that. So yeah,
I mean my wife and I we both decided to go all
in I sold a rental property that I had empty
or 401ks and we said, you know, this is it This
is our chance to make the American dream happen
bringing it back to a small family -owned business
What a cool? Perspective because you know you
hear about like I specialize in this I'm gonna
open a business about this I love the perspective
of hey, I just want to own a business and have
an opportunity and and finding your way based
on what's available. That's kind of a cool thing.
That's the difference between what they call
an entrepreneur. A lot of people use that word,
but it's a thing that is really different. And
what I can tell you is I guarantee without a
shadow of a doubt, this man will have four or
five other businesses, if not more than that,
by time he reaches our age. Yeah. And that's
just because no matter what, no matter how successful
this is, He's gonna continue to have that bug
and have more ideas and I know this because this
is where I'm at, right? That's why I'm an IT
guy and we now have a content company, right?
You're a great example of an entrepreneur. When
people talk about that entrepreneur mindset,
it's not just I want to own a business. There's
nothing wrong with that, keep in mind. And there's
lots of folks that do that. They have a dream.
I have a skill. I'm a phenomenal woodworker.
I'm gonna open a woodworking business and do
that for the rest of my life. Absolutely nothing
wrong with that. But that person is not necessarily
an entrepreneur. You know what I mean? And that's
the the thing that I think is unique and and
something that people should wrap their mind
around. And, you know, definitely I learned a
lot with you, Matt, and with profound because
I'll be honest with you when the first thing
I did when I when I closed on the business, I
ordered a business card and I put myself president
CEO. Yeah, there you go. And there was a little
bit of ego there because coming from the corporate
world, it's all about What do you call it? Going
up in the ladder? Sure, sure. You know, and your
title and you have all this long, it's a sentence
long of your title. Yeah. And it's all about,
oh, I'm this and this and that, you know? And
I'll be honest, I had a little bit of that coming
from the corporate world and I had to change
that mindset. Sure. And Profound was a big realization
for me because, yeah, you're the CEO, but you
have to mop the floor if you... It's your business
now. You're CEO, but you're going to have to,
you know, organize or take in merchandise. Now
you're doing it all. It's your business. So it
definitely brought me down to a level where like,
yeah, yeah, but you're going too fast. Let's
bring it down a notch. You know, you're not actually
I changed the business cards after that. I don't
call myself a president or CEO anymore because
it's what's the title mean? Right. Sure. It's
a feeding something inside of you or What's the
reality? You know, who are you? Who are you,
Mike? Who are you, Matt? What do you call yourself?
So that was a big realization like, hey, now
that I'm a business owner, that means that I'm
responsible for this place. I'm responsible for
the payroll, for keeping the lights on. It's
a whole different ball game. It's great self
-awareness. When you're working from a different,
for a company, as an employee. That's true. Great
self -awareness. Employees get to go home at
the end of the day. You clock out and you forget
about it. You own the place, there is no end
of the day. That's what I do here. And I don't
know how you do it, Matt, because everything
that you have going on and you're probably, your
head spinning at a thousand revolutions per minute.
Do you even sleep? No. No, he's like a bat. He
just hangs upside down. You sleep when you're
dead, right? Yeah, sure. That's how it goes.
That's the thing that people don't understand
out there. They see, oh, you know, precedent
CEO, business owner. They don't see all the behind
scenes. Right. They can't appreciate something
they haven't experienced. Just like I couldn't
appreciate the hot shower because I never had
it. It's amazing. This guy's great. This is incredible.
Dude, I'm ready to just get up and start my own
business after this. Our time with Abel is running
short. Why? Because we have another guest. Oh
yeah, that's right. But this is the deep tease.
This gentleman will obviously be a regular fixture
here. Yeah, I'm good news York We're gonna have
him in quite often because he's got a never -ending
List of stories and wisdom and one of the things
that I want to get into next time you visit with
us is I want to get some of your social media
advice Okay, so here at growth mode content.
Obviously, this is our whole purpose. We're helping
businesses create content And you are a gentleman
who has a quarter million followers on Instagram
alone And he's got an incredible community. And
next time, like I said, when you come back, I
want to learn a little bit more about how you
grow and nurture that community. I'll give you
a quick tease, please. It's all about positivity
and comedy. That's it. Good news, George. We're
doing it. We're doing it, Harry. The news and
the people are so tired of hearing the negative
stories. You know, when you told me about this
idea, I'm like, it's going to blow up. It's going
to go crazy because people want to hear something
that inspires them, something different about
All the negativity that's happening out there.
And there really is a need for it. You're on
the right track. Thank you. And there is a need
for it. I mean, it's not cliché. I mean, if you
just open your phone for 30 seconds, you're like,
oh my gosh. It's depressing. The other thing
is what we've discovered more and more, and we
sort of knew this, but as we're digging deep
in, what a challenge this is to do nothing but
positivity, right? So back in the day, I used
to do a regular show and we did, you know, it
was comedy and it was current events, news, and
we would have five pages of prep of news stories
of things we could pull up and talk about that
were controversial and we could shit on them
and have a good time and joke around. Endless
supply of that sort of stuff. When we're doing
this sort of thing, we're going, hey, what are
these positives, these uplifting stories? It's
like. Think of bits good luck all day every day
my head's going and I'll and I'll throw a you
know I'll write down some of these bit ideas
I have and 90 % of them like that's kind of negative.
Yeah, it's it really What can we tell the viewers
if there are any what can we tell the viewers
a website? Would give us the business name. Let's
plug it. Let's plug it so Bayberry uniforms calm
Syracuse -Scrubs .shop. So as you can see here,
this is the main website. I use it mainly for
customer portals, not for the average consumer.
If you're an average consumer looking for scrubs,
I would go to Syracuse -Scrubs .shop. That is
another website that we're implementing. I want
to do almost like an Uber Eats where you order
it and we deliver it to your home. This is just
for Syracuse. I'm very community centered and
I'm focusing in our community, which is why that
idea came came about. And we're located at 7608
Oswego Road, right next to Kinney's in the Bayberry
Plaza. We have another location near Krause,
742 South Krause, Syracuse, New York. And my
goal here is to, you know, move towards e -commerce
more because it's convenience and do in -person
events. So reach out to us if you're thinking
about hosting a sales event. We'll go to you.
We've been to San Joe's. We've been to Krause.
We've been to as far as Eureka at nursing homes.
We're going to be at Loretto next month. So in
this busy world where you just want to go home
after a long shift, Hey, we'll come to you. We'll
set up a mini store for you and you can shop
right there. And it is so smart. I know type
of innovative stuff. No, but that goes right
back to what you said about entrepreneur because,
you know, I was thinking not long ago, you know,
I'm like, if I was opening a business, you know,
I wouldn't be thinking about I want to I want
to open something where everyone's going to go
to because it seems like since covid everyone's
kind of retreating back and I don't want to exacerbate
that trend. I want people to go out more. But
But I think bringing things to people at their
home is key, man. Making things more convenient.
Yeah, Mike, I think it's going to go back because
life is about cycles. I think right now we're
in probably halfway that cycle where people are
isolated and convenience and shopping groceries
delivered to your home, all that. Eventually,
you're going to want to have a real interaction
with a person. We just got to make sure we're
still there when that happens. I'm never going
to stop getting grocery delivery. I'm not going
to lie. I just don't want the barbed wire tattoo
to go back. Going back. Let's not go that far
back. But yeah, no, I, and you see that some
of the, you know, we've been talking with a lot
of folks recently and about hotels and things,
and a lot of these hotels kind of tried to sell
out because nobody was going to hotels, right?
And now they're sort of putting the brakes on
that. Like, wait a minute, we need these actual
hotel rooms again in town, not just, you know,
retirement homes. So it's good to see. And like
you said, things are cyclical. And that's the
one thing everybody needs to keep in mind. I
feel like at some point we're going to look back
on this decade or this time period and we're
going to go, man, we lived in such a pivotal
time where exciting and things are changing.
I mean, right now it's very scary, right? With
AI and, you know, COVID just happened. But I
guess the positive in this is if you zoom out,
like, this is an exciting time. This is an exciting
time to grow. I'll leave you with this, Mike.
I'll leave you with this. I wish the me from
the future will come and tell me when I'm living
the good old days Because right now you might
be living the best time of your life and you're
not even realize it Like you said we're living
in a historical pivot pivotal moment of our lifetime
Yeah, and we don't sometimes you take it for
granted. It's like it's just another day I always
say, you know, imagine you're on your deathbed.
I know that's not it's very morbid You know,
let's say you're in your 80s and 90s. You're
on your deathbed and someone says you know if
you had one wish what would it be and you're
like i wish i could go back to the good old days
that's now for most of us that's now for that's
now for most of us so just keep that in mind
we need more sad trombone oh man love it our
buddy abel from bayberry uniform he will be back
on a regular basis we are so happy to see you
and uh and happy to have you here on good much
needed in the community keep up keep we appreciate
it we really do buddy So in a minute, we're going
to have our buddy Michael Easy from male tech.
He's going to talk to us. I know. Excited cyber
security. Yeah. And all kinds of fun, nerdy things.
Yeah, for sure. We'll be back with him in just
a minute. That we're back coming at you. I love
that SNL bit, which is the only Jimmy Fallon
bit that I actually like when he does the radio.
Oh, we're back. We're back. That's crazy. This
reminds me this setup reminds me of the sweaty
balls. Oh, yeah We should do that. I saw a Baldwin
the other day is there hold on. Sorry I know
we have a guy I have to ask it It is it true
that the Baldwin's live in Baldwin'sville. No,
okay. I knew that was a they live in Camilla
That would be cool though Anyway, hi Mike. Good
morning. What's going on, buddy? Mike Lisi everybody.
We've got a new guest. Yeah join in the Joining
the good news, York. What's the good news, Mike?
Yeah. Oh, man. Lots of good news. We just started
our twenty twenty five season for the NCA cyber
game, which is an initiative that I'm part of
where we give cyber security students across
the country an opportunity to get into their
first like hands on competition against other
students. So we support schools nationwide. Last
year we did. Here was over a thousand students
across the season from a hundred teams, and it
was about 70 to 75 universities So great Mike
Lisi for male tech solutions. He's hacking your
brain right now It's incredible, man. So let's
give a little background. Again, Mike from Maltech
Solutions. Mike is a cybersecurity expert. And
this is something that we're very excited to
talk about. And Mike's also going to be making
a bunch of content with growth mode content.
So you're going to be able to learn a ton. But
just to jump in and to hear some of the basics,
I think it's very interesting. Because I'm a
guy in IT, right? I've been in IT for 30 years.
And most people assume that I do what Mike does,
and the reality is we don't do almost anything
that really overlaps with some very basic things,
right? And I think the best way to think of it
is IT guys like myself or anybody really in this
industry are kind of like your family doctor,
the general practitioner. They're the ones you
see most often. They know the guidelines. They
know how to check for the different things. But
when it comes time for something serious, You
need that brain surgeon. That's where Mike comes
in, and that's where specialists. You're a urologist,
let's be honest. Shh, nobody's supposed to know
that. You like penises, what do you want? So
Mike is the guy who really is able to dig in
deep and do a bunch of things, and he's on, I
guess you would say, the front lines of the...
Cyber world. Yeah, we and he also shares his
skills with young people which is something he's
talking about Yeah, we spoke with you at the
winter fair and you blew my mind open. I'll try
not to ask those same questions, but I mean This
guy is the guy and you know I think cyber security
nowadays is just as important as the police that
you see out on the streets I mean we're in that
world. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, and you know we used
to talk about that in The same reasons you need
physical security. And by that, you mean like
cameras in your building and access control.
You know, a lot of these days we're way beyond
a key typically for a modern business. The same
is true for the same reasons in the cyber world,
right? You need more than just that padlock or
that. 1985 subscription to McAfee that you haven't
renewed. Oh wait. There's more to cybersecurity
than that, but We're doing a lot of talking for
you Mike. Tell us a little bit more about your
business and where you come in for folks Yeah,
no, I think you're I think you're definitely
right in a lot of that and in you know, the cyber
security world is definitely an area that's constantly
evolving and there is just just an incredible
need for know this testing of those solutions
that you have in place not only on the cyber
side the digital side but on the physical side
as well you know you can have all these solutions
and things that are meant to protect you and
to defend against you know attackers but are
they actually working so you get somebody like
me or somebody else in the industry that's doing
these things to test those out and actually show
you like hey is this stuff working right If I
were targeted, what could actually happen? What
are the impacts to the business have? And that's
where we try and come in and help. There's really
no difference from what I'm doing to what an
actual criminal is doing, except that I have
permission to do so. So if I were to do it to
anybody else and they didn't give me that paperwork,
I could definitely go to jail. So the term hacking
is one of those things that really has a negative
connotation. But it really shouldn't, because
it just goes through people trying to understand
things and dive into things and just present
that information in a way to help everybody else
understand it better. And when these flaws and
things are exposed and they're brought to light,
then we can actually take the right steps to
start fixing those things, making sure that everybody's
a little bit more active. I mean, you have to
engage in that to find the holes, to find the
vulnerabilities, right? How else could you? Right?
No, for sure. It's the same with like a, you
know, your physical alarm and everything. Like,
is it working? The only way to know is like when
you're actually attacked, like, and if it doesn't
work right, then you're going to be really upset
that you invested all this time and effort and
money to find out that it wasn't doing what you
thought it was. So, you know, going that extra
step and having somebody come in and perform
that assessment and really tailor it to your
particular concerns and needs helps to ensure
like gives you that that feeling that, you know,
when the time comes you know that you're going
to be in as best a spot as you possibly can be
in order to you know prevent or at least minimize
that attack because yeah totally preventing everything
is is pretty much impossible there's always going
to be something uh some extent that somebody's
willing to go to in order to do that but you
know to do as much as possible is is as possible
a scenario to follow and to abide by and and
that's how you're best protected if you are attacked
or breached right in terms of when it comes to
insurance and getting your insurance very expensive
insurance policy to actually pay when you need
it demonstrating that you've done everything
you possibly could is critical because you can
like I said like anything you know even like
a car insurance thing is like oh you lied to
us or you didn't do what you were supposed to
do and we don't have to pay this claim you know
something like that could be massive but doing
the right things even if it doesn't stop, everything
is so critical. Mike, do they still use, is white
hat, black hat, is that a dated term, or do we
still use those? No, those terms are still in
use. We still also use those for the types of
testing that we do. I see. I try to go, so there's
things like a white box test, a gray box test,
a black box test, and that really defines how
much information you're given ahead of time.
So in the case of like a black box test, you're
essentially giving nothing. You're starting from
scratch, you're gonna have to dig in and find
everything. I don't particularly like that approach
for my customers, mainly because it requires
the most amount of time on our end to dig up
information that we could just be provided from
the customer and to fast forward that, right?
So I really try and focus on that white box,
that more collaborative component. where we share
a lot of information and then we can just focus
on okay, let's let's put my skills to use, you
know, and find the things that are going to be
important to you versus just like things that
I can go and eventually gather information about
your business about your assets about those types
of things like let's find out where the where
the attacks might go. Yeah, you know, you figure
like a skilled trade or something like a a woodworker
it's like well we don't need you to like go and
find the lumber like well we have the lumber
right so just go ahead and build it for me right
like going to the store and doing all that just
a waste of extra time there are some benefits
there if you're really curious about that and
you really have the time but for most companies
for most organizations taking a more collaborative
approach is yields much better results for them
and it really ties in those results that are
a lot more focused to that company's particular
needs Gotcha. Wow, that's incredible, man. There's
so many different aspects to these different
things. And that's again, that's why you need
specialists. And this is the message that I really
try so hard to get across is, you know, it's
funny back in the day when I started 30 something
years ago, I was the computer guy. And that means
I was the person that they called for anything
that had electricity running to it. Yeah. Your
VCR was a light fixture to whatever you call
the computer guy and honestly that's sort of
the way the business started right professionals
like me they were. We did everything right anything
that was to do with computing the local computer
person could do for you and I think a lot like
medicine. it's evolved to so many different specialties
and of course we're talking about cyber security
but there's people that specialize in network
administration and system administration and
so many different niches that you may not know
exist but are critical because of how critical
and how complicated everything that we've talked
about are getting so it's cool to I think anyway
Just expose the rest of the world to the fact
that these specialties exist in these people
are folks that you should be thinking about beyond
just the Joe computer guy who works out of his
house, you know, not to knock Joe computer guy.
Let's let's talk a little bit more about some
some different things about your team. So you're
not just a one man operation. You've got a whole
group of folks and what does some of your different
people do and what are the what are the positions
in a cybersecurity company like this? Oh, they
can they can vary quite a bit. So like I said
before, there is that. electronic aspect right
the the testing of the computers the networks
applications there's the physical side of things
we do get asked at times to break into a building
or test the security of the alarms I have you
know card cloners and card readers and those
types of things to show the impact of you know
somebody walking around with their lanyard just
exposed and you bump into them and you can own
that card sure it's to the building so there's
things like that that we do So I have somebody
on my team that's really interested and focused
on that side of it, but we all kind of cross
like cross train on some of the other components
as well. One of the people on my team is really
into like hacking video games and doing those
types of things. So, you know, he brings that
expertise to the table. Hold on, I got to dig
into this a little bit more. All the guys that
beat me in Call of Duty? When you talk about
hack video games, what are we talking about?
Are we talking about finding Easter eggs or are
we talking about shooting through walls and stuff?
Yeah, it's more like finding the holes in the
video game that you could take advantage of in
order to maybe beat them faster. Sure. You can
do those things where you glitch through the
walls and do those types of... like little little
speed tricks and things like that to beat the
game much faster. So there's people that are
really focused on finding any of those little
exploits. One of the guys on my team, though,
has taken that even a step further with the whole
community that he built. This is Alan on my team.
And he's even gone so far as to reprogram a game
while it's running using. A tool that's connected
to the controller inputs and it can just send
the button inputs and Manipulate all the memory
of the system and just like have it do whatever
he wants to so he just Completely created new
content in a game that was running live and in
some cases like he would pull in Like twitch
chat and display it like on a Nintendo 64 which
makes no sense, but it's just like kind of mind
-blowing that there are skills like that. That
guy is a nerd's nerd. Yeah. We will definitely
have him on. Mike definitely will have him on
his own podcast, I'm sure. But so many interesting
things that you can do and you can dig into.
And it's kind of neat because everything you're
describing sounds like so much fun to so many
people. You know, if you're into that, obviously,
if you're, you know. You like building houses
and don't like computers, maybe you don't like
this at all. But it's also a very popular career,
right? And all these schools are popping up cybersecurity
programs and all these kids are signing up and
they're like, I wanna be a hacker for a living.
What advice can you give folks and what can you
tell us a little bit about not only the job market,
but how someone would legitimately get into this
industry? Yeah, getting into the industry right
now is extremely difficult. It's super competitive,
especially for the remote work, things like that.
So there's a couple of things that definitely
help. Number one is networking, getting involved
in conferences, volunteering for conferences.
You meet so many people just being part of that
community. It's not a huge community, but there
are a lot of very well -connected people. So
you make those connections. It seems to me that
says it might be a little easier to navigate.
It's not a huge community. For sure. Yeah, I
can, you know, reach out to people, you know,
at some of the largest organizations that are
just like now really close friends of mine, because
we were both at the same conference, and we just
helped them out. That that's one of the huge
things. The other thing is, honestly, to get
involved in it in any capacity, right? That's
how I started, I started as a network administrator,
I got into some system programming and some research
and development. And all of those really gave
me these foundational skills to go back and say
like, okay, now if I remember how I screwed that
up, so let me see if they screwed this up the
same way and help them fix that. So, as somebody
that's gone through and did all this troubleshooting
and helped when things have hit the fan, you
can take that knowledge and it really prepares
you much better. than just trying to understand
the concepts themselves without any of that initial
knowledge. So going through and getting some
exposure into any IT related fields. Mike. I
promise I didn't pay him to say that. But I really
am excited to hear you say that. Because one
of the things that I've found is a lot of folks
that want to get into, or even young folks that
are taking these cybersecurity programs, and
they're coming out with some kind of certificate
or even a degree in cyber security. And it's
very much talking about code and finding things
on the web and things of this nature. And when
you talk about the basics of IT, which I believe
should be foundational, how could you secure
a network if you don't know how a network works?
So I'm glad to hear that professionals sort of
agree with that assessment because I think that's
one area that's then been lacking in a lot of
these programs and hopefully maybe they're figuring
it out. And on a positive side, I know that from
my hiring experiences, I've gotten a considerable
number of folks probably with cybersecurity degrees
who are applying for IT positions, which is great.
I will say that it's probably not their first
choice. You know, they went into school with
that idea that they were going to come out and
immediately go work for you for a huge salary
on day one. And that's unfortunately not the
reality. But so the fact that they are at least
getting these skills, whether it not be their
intended first choice, I think is going to be
huge for them. And I'm glad to see that happen.
Yeah, Mike. So cybersecurity wasn't always a
major, right? I mean, it was kind of something
fairly recent. Where did you? Did you go to school?
How did you train and it's a great question the
second part of this question is How do you stay
I mean things are changing every day in in that
world? How do you stay up to date? And keeping
with what's going on and keeping yourself informed
yeah The the answer the first question I went
to school for computer science There was no computer
security kind of majors. They're prevalent now.
There's lots of them out there Some are very
good. Some are just okay. One of the big challenges
in the educational space is the lack of practitioners
that are willing to go back to education and
bring those skills back. Right? So like computer
science and stuff that has decades of knowledge
and you have people in academia that can really
teach that. But as you said, the cybersecurity
stuff evolved so quickly and you need people
that are able to go back and teach. With that
actual hands on knowledge to give that practical
skills because you can do a lot of theoretical
stuff. But what students still lack is that hands
on knowledge, which is why, you know, the cyber
game stuff that I do is so important to give
them hands on like, okay, we're putting you in
a position where you're tasked with defending
the system. And we have people like myself trying
to take it offline. So we're going to do some
things and we're just going to keep ramping up.
those types of attacks and bringing your stuff
offline and having you recover from that. So
you're learning these new things, right? So now
when they're going out, they're like, oh yeah,
I understand how a hack works, whatever. Okay,
but when it's happening, can you actually deal
with that? So that's one of the big things that
is still lacking, but it's constantly improving.
I'm not trying to fool through on schools. They're
doing a lot. I mean, that's gotta be one of those
things. It's just a natural issue of it being
such a young industry, right? Excuse me, you
know all those computer science professionals
that you mentioned are typically folks that went
through a career in the corporate world and did
that and sort of retired and and are teaching
now to sort of give back at that point but the
The cybersecurity practitioners are your age.
Yeah, and you're in the thick of it not ready
to you know, kind of teach your skills So I think
that's really difficult a huge challenge. You
have to have like Lot of time and passion to
go back and you know take extra time out of your
day. Yeah So staying on top of that like a yes
about that side of it It was it's mostly like
doing conference things being involved in the
community Just you know staying in touch with
people being on top of the research and stuff
that's coming out That's the only way to really
stay practical with it And just like doing those
trainings, you know, so many people are willing
to just provide that information I'm president
of an organization called Red Team Village. I'm
representing them here today. And what we do
for that is we provide education and content
and workshops and things like that to help spread
that knowledge to people that are looking to
stay on top. It's awesome. It's like a SWAT team
training in a way. In a way, yeah. That's so
cool. It's all offensive security focused and
we go to these conferences and not only the conferences,
but we bring on folks that are really well versed
and super knowledgeable about different topics
to just talk about things like that. You have
to tell the bank story again, I'm sorry. It's
way too cool. That is a story, one of my favorite
stories. So to wrap another podcast here, Darknet
Diaries, my favorite story is... from a gentleman
known as Freaky Clown FC. He's just an awesome
dude, and he is focused on that physical penetration
testing. So he'll have companies hire them to
basically say like, hey, we want you to break
into our building, into our office, and maybe
get into the server room or do whatever. See
if you can do it, right? See if you can do it,
and if our security controls are effective. How
fun would that be? Right? Yeah. And that episode,
which is my favorite episode, is is where he's
tasked with going into a bank vault and stealing
a legitimate gold bar and leaving with that.
So yeah. So it's just a super cool episode. And
like I said, I got to meet him last year at DEF
CON. Super cool guy. And and he's got, you know,
stories for days. No, that might be a way to
combat, you know, crime. If you create a scenario
where you let everyday people Get that thrill
of breaking into a bank and stealing a gold bar,
but they won't get arrested It's just for testing
and that way it takes the thrill out of it So
people stop doing it and the gold bars actually
chocolate. Yeah, and then you eat it. Yeah Well,
it's funny you say that though Mike because there
are Programs out there for anybody that wants
to get involved to do like hacking against actual
organizations. I'm in Without repercussions as
long as you follow the rules, right? So good
either security programs or bug bounties So most
organs not most but lots of organizations have
them now And if you're looking to get involved
They like Netflix, right? They'll have they have
a bug bounty and they basically say like hey
here are the things you're able to target Here
are the things that we're looking for and if
you find a vulnerability you disclose it to us.
We will pay you for that information. That's
amazing. Don't disclose it. And you don't do
that. Then we're going to go after you. Then
you're a criminal. Then you're a criminal. That
is what I can't even slide this graphic from
that computer up to here. So I'm not going to
really funny watching him try. Yeah, but that
is wild. So in other words, it's like an open
thing where you can say we need to make sure
we're good to go and anyone can do it. If you
complete it, you get paid. If not, then. I mean,
wow, they want to incentivize time to be alike.
If you're going to find some of these things,
you can either go the route of selling those
findings or exploits to criminals, potentially
making lots more money. But with the caveat that
at any point you can go to jail or, you know,
they're incentivizing you to let them know so
they can make their platform more secure and
they're willing to pay for it in order to better
protect themselves. So when you see a breach,
remember what you were talking about that? There
was some sort of hack that affected all the airlines
recently. Shut everything down. That wasn't a
hack. Oh. That was a cyber security tool. Well,
either way. Or maybe the - Took down the entire
world. Yeah. The Ashley Madison hack. The one
we're talking about. When you see or hear about
things like that. Sony. A lot of big ones. Do
you go, oh man, I feel bad because I know what
that's like. Or are you like, oh, those morons.
I could have - How did they let this happen?
It's it's I always have empathy for the situation
for the companies because they're it's not like
they're generally they're not trying to be negligent
be negligent some of these organizations are
just so massive so huge and it literally sometimes
just takes one thing to topple the whole thing
you know to get in there and one person doing
the wrong thing so it's just a an unfortunate
situation when it's a huge massive breach. So
it's never like, oh, you know, those morons.
I always feel bad. In the case when it's like
my personal information, it's just like, yeah,
that really sucks. Let's hope that they, you
know, take the right steps to better protect
themselves. In the case, I'll never forget the
MGM hack. And that happened to it maybe a year
ago or so, maybe long ago. Everything runs together
for me. So couple years ago. So MGM Casinos in
Las Vegas, they got in through one small entry
point and that gave them literally the keys to
the kingdom. Jesus. And every system from the
gaming slot machines to payroll to websites to
booking to controls in the modern hotel rooms.
You couldn't turn on the lights, and they were
a little worried that the elevators weren't gonna
work. They put walkie talkies in the elevators
in case the elevators, you know, shot you to
the ceiling or didn't open or something. All
because of one entry point and these guys were
able to take over every system in the whole MGM
casino empire. It was a real life Ocean's Eleven.
Really, it was. And Mike, you can maybe talk
to the resolution of that real quick, but the
rumor was that a neighboring casino, I don't
remember exactly which one, had been threatened
with this, such a thing, and they paid a big
ransom to avoid it. MGM wouldn't pay in advance,
then they went after them. Now I don't know if
that's a fable or not, but if you have any info
on that. Yeah, I don't remember all the specifics
on, some of those things start to overlap a little
bit, so. Yeah, I don't remember all the specifics
for it. But in some cases, like not only just
with with the MGM hack, but with others, you
know, they'll hit multiple targets. And they'll
basically stay like, hey, you have two options,
we're going to shut all your stuff down unless
you pay us or, you know, I mean, those are your
options. Pay us or we're going to shut you down.
And you have to, you know, trust in your process
if you're willing to not pay and that you can
recover from that. So that's where, you know,
other things like tabletop or tabletop exercises
come in or just DR planning those types of proactive
measures are super helpful. Or you know that
you have those gaps in place and maybe that's
worth the cost of the situation forward and better
protect yourself. What typically are the chances
of, say you get hit by one of these ransomware
attacks, they call them, right? So they gain
control of your stuff, they lock you down, they
lock you out of it. You can't do anything and
they go, pay up. or your data gets it, you know?
Maybe it's destroying it, maybe it's stuff that's
a lot of public information or people's private
information, and they go, we'll sell this to
everybody, we'll make it public, we'll really
hurt you unless you pay. How many people pay
and how many people that pay get their stuff
back? Well, how many people pay, I don't know
if I have the... Accurate statistics a lot of
people don't want to admit they pay yeah some
maybe just never want to want to admit that or
They don't admit it at all But I will say that
for for those ones that do pay if these are kind
of well -known Like threat actors They typically
will do what they say because they want to incentivize
people paying like if people were paying and
then they didn't do that Then nobody would pay
and they're building a brand. They're essentially
yeah, they have the customer service in places
as silly as that is to basically handle that
because they do want to make the money for doing
so. And if you say like, oh, well, we got hit
with X ransomware and we do the research and
we see that, well, nobody's ever gotten a result
from that. So there's no incentive for us to
pay, right? So in those cases, you have to do
some research on whether or not you should. So
I wasn't even thinking about that, but now you
can sort of make an educated guess, right? If
it's a group that other people have dealt with.
Because these have like well -known like Indicators,
you know, they have certain processes and things
in place where you can identify like what's you
know, what's causing this and they typically
will identify themselves because they want you
to pay and You know, you can you can tie all
that information together. Yeah But I will say
in some cases, they're very smart, too there
there's one story that I'm hoping to have somebody
come on and tell where they had an incident where
The threat actors got into the network and they
they sat there for a while and they realized
that They had the company had backups for 90
days. So they got all their implants in place
They got all their back doors in place and they
waited 91 days and then they left everything
out because they knew that they had it The oldest
backup has them in it. So those are the types
of things you got to take into account in plan
for because They're not just coming in and just
wiping everything or locking it out immediately.
They're they're thinking ahead. You know, they're
they're trying to maximize the potential for
you to. And that's something that from the IT
side where we provide backup services, a lot
of the tools that we use now and nothing's 100
% right, but a lot of what these services do
for us is they take your backups and continually
scan them for threats, even your old ones. So
maybe today, or nobody knew about this, but in
a month, they discover this. This system is gonna
scan and go, hey, your backup from a month ago
had this signature. And again, nothing's foolproof,
but those are the types of things that we're
trying to do for that exact reason. A lot of
people think it's sort of like a bank robbery,
right? You break in in one second and you wanna
grab all the money, run out within 30 seconds.
These guys, uh you know it's like that movie
of the guy who breaks into the Macy's and sleeps
until they close the doors oh yeah you know makes
himself food and things yeah um that's literally
what they do they they once they get in they
they sort of lay dormant and also put in all
their their back doors you know kind of dig their
heels in so that if you cut them off from one
way, they might already have. Yeah, and Mike,
I mean, we're talking about ransomware, so right,
like, we know in that case, these people are
looking to get paid, right? Sometimes you hear
about these hacks that they, it seems like they
just do for fun. Can you is it what is the is
it like an adrenaline junkie? I mean we talked
about this, but I want I wanted to bring it up
again because it's cool You know is it like they're
an adrenaline junkie, and they love the thrill
of it Is it is it just to be an asshole like
what's the motivation sometimes all of the above
yeah? You'll have people that want to do it just
to show that they can do it right they want to
brag to you Yeah, some of the people that they're
connected with you know if they want to get involved
with maybe some sort of group or whatever They're
gonna go and say like hey, I can do this stuff
look. I went and one did this Some are doing
it for specific, I mean, you have like the hacktivist
people, right? So they have a particular gripe
or a problem with an organization or a movement
or whatever, and then they'll deface that or
they'll go after them just for that regard, right?
To show that they're against those types of things.
We have like your anonymous, some other groups,
kind of like that. And you'll have people that
maybe just don't even know, right? They're just
not Knowledgeable enough to understand that what
they're doing is potentially problematic for
them and that results in them getting into I
got a this was a while ago. I got an email that
was like we have Video of you getting jiggy with
yourself on your cell phone and we're gonna send
it to all of your family If you don't pay us
and that's what I realized I freaked out and
then I was like wait I don't really you know,
that's not true Because I don't do that and and
then I realized what are they talking about because
if let's say that that was true This is what
they would have saw All right, there's a pretty
common scam so you can pay that right and I paid
in full yeah, absolutely Mike Lacey maltech solutions
is the name of his business if you want to Danny
if you want to just show folks The website it
is the coolest security website one could imagine
Is this the best place for folks to reach out
to you Mike if they want to learn more about
your website is great We have all our contact
details on there so Best place to reach out is
through the website there. We have some email.
We have a little contact us form happy to you
know talk it and just discuss things essentially
just do a you know fact -finding call with anybody
that's interested in finding out like what might
be the best solution for them honestly there's
there's not one solution that we offer that it
kind of goes for everybody it's just really unique
to an organization so we like to sit down and
Let you know what what makes sense and what doesn't
make sense for your specific needs for your specific
like security maturity You know if you're working
with an internal IT department or with an external
IT department like all those things kind of yeah
play into How you can best protect yourself so
always happy to chat with awesome awesome and
in one last question before you go What's the
best tip you can give anybody Mike? about cyber
security Ah, best tip. Or tip of the day, I'll
say. It doesn't even have to be the best. Start
utilizing your password managers. I've said it
before. I'll keep shouting it over and over again.
Password managers, you get them in your phone.
You can get them for free. You can pay a few
bucks for them. Use those. They're going to be
your best protection for selecting secure passwords
and utilizing those and you know, just kind of.
Putting yourself in the best possible to my wife
is the worst I've talked about hers is like I'm
like honey. I need to check this. What's your
what's the password get into Netflix? I think
it's password one two three You know it's like
she's yeah, you got to be a little more creative
right lots of symbols lots of numbers So I'll
throw you a quick side note on that specifically
just because you mentioned it We use here Bitwarden
password manager and for our IT clients we provide
that at a business level so all the business
users including you at our company have a Bitwarden
license. The really cool thing about Bitwarden
is for all those corporate users they give you
five what we used to call take -home licenses
so they call them family licenses so you can
actually take it and you've got five licenses
you can use at home with your whole family on
the personal level. That's great. And that way
everybody can use the same tool and it makes
it super easy. I'll throw them off. I'll do password
doesn't cost you anything. But let's start your
podcast coming up. That's it. Let's let's talk
about your podcast, which we came up with a new
name for. It's you tell me, because I don't want
to go with hack dissection, hack dissection right
here in our studios. We're actually shooting
the first episode after this and. Yeah, what
do you see those coming out pretty quick? Yeah,
they're gonna be coming out pretty quick. They're
gonna be awesome. What? What do you see? What's
your vision for that podcast? What can we look
forward to? Yeah, what we're hoping to do with
with that is to talk about actual Security assessments
that we've done so a little bit of storytelling
about the organization without naming names sure
what their concerns were what what our testing
found how that impacted them and then the things
that they can do to fix that or to protect against
that, you know, for other organizations, they
may have similar concerns or similar types of
things that they're looking to protect. So ideally,
you know, you learn a little bit about the fun
stuff that we get to do and then a little bit
about how to, you know, address and kind of protect
yourself. This is so, so cool. It's like a digital
version of how it works. Yes, yes, yes. Absolutely.
I love that show. It's just going to suck you
in. I'm just very excited about it. Hacking for
good. That's it. Mike Lisi, Meltek Solutions.
I think that brings us just about to the end
of Good News York. Good, because I got to pee
really bad. I'm not going to lie. We will be
back live on Monday morning. Bright and early,
shining, sharing some good news to start off
your week. Have an awesome weekend. Have a great
weekend. Have a good news weekend and we love
you. Mike, thanks for joining us. Danny, thanks
for keeping us on the air. My man. Back there.
Not swearing at us too much. No. And we'll see
you then, guys. All right.