{"podcast":{"title":"The Backup Wrap-Up","slug":"the-backup-wrap-up-758069","podcast_index_feed_id":758069,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/backupwrapup/","website_url":"https://www.backupwrapup.com","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/4670d4e3-81d6-4770-aeca-fe0331f5ce9e/IO00Uwof5u-hiUJElhkbBmKT.jpg","author":"W. Curtis Preston (Mr. Backup)","episode_count":355,"summary":"Formerly known as \"Restore it All,\" The Backup Wrap-up podcast turns unappreciated backup admins into cyber recovery heroes. After a brief analysis of backup-related news, each episode dives deep into one topic that you can use to better protect your organization from data loss, be it from accidents, disasters, or ransomware. The Backup Wrap-up is hosted by W. Curtis Preston (Mr. Backup) and his co-host Prasanna Malaiyandi. Curtis' passion for backups began over 30 years ago when his employer, a $35B bank, lost its purchasing database – and the backups he was in charge of were worthless. After miraculously not being fired, he resolved to learn everything he could about a topic most people try to get away from. His co-host, Prasanna, saw similar tragedies from the vendor side of the house and also wanted to do whatever he could to stop that from happening to others. A particular focus lately has been the scourge of ransomware that is plaguing IT organizations across the globe. That's why in addition to backup and disaster recovery, we also touch on information security techniques you can use to protect your backup systems from ransomware. If you'd like to go from being unappreciate…","last_synced_at":"2026-07-06T22:18:00.235096+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-backup-wrap-up-758069"},"episode":{"title":"How Polymorphic Malware Evades Detection — And What to Do About It","slug":"how-polymorphic-malware-evades-detection-and-what-to-do-about-it","published_at":"2026-04-06T11:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-backup-wrap-up-758069/how-polymorphic-malware-evades-detection-and-what-to-do-about-it","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-backup-wrap-up-758069","url":"https://www.backupwrapup.com/how-polymorphic-malware-evades-detection","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/0dc454ed-a970-4910-95d9-843127c1c9c5.mp3","summary":"Polymorphic malware is the kind of threat that changes its own code — its signature, its behavior, even the command-and-control server it reports to — specifically so your antivirus can't catch it. In this episode, Dr. Mike Saylor of Black Swan Cybersecurity joins Prasanna and me to break down exactly how this works, why signature-based detection keeps losing the race, and what defenders actually need to do differently. Mike walks us through ViraLock, one of the most well-known early examples of polymorphic malware, and explains the gap between infection and detection that attackers exploit. We also get into the difference between polymorphic and metamorphic malware — and metamorphic is a lot scarier. Then we cover waterhole attacks, a red team story that will make you rethink how fast attackers can own a network, and what behavioral detection looks like when it's actually working. If you thought keeping your antivirus updated was enough, this episode is going to change your mind. Chapters: 00:00:00 – Intro 01:35 – Meet the guests: Prasanna Malaiyandi and Dr. Mike Saylor 02:58 – What is polymorphic malware? The ViraLock story 05:52 – How polymorphic code changes its own signature 10:04 – Disguised executables and the human factor 12:23 – Polymorphic vs. static malware: what's the real difference? 14:15 – Metamorphic malware: nation-state-level scary 16:01 – The Frankenstein virus: a conceptual metamorphic example 16:52 – Waterhole attacks: infecting the shared file everyone downloads 18:32 – How polymorphic malware stays alive: the red team story 21:28 – Behavioral detection and baselining: how you actually fight back 26:57 – Risk-based defense: protect what matters most","meta_description":"Polymorphic malware is the kind of threat that changes its own code — its signature, its behavior, even the command-and-control server it reports to — spe…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1758,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-backup-wrap-up-758069/episodes/how-polymorphic-malware-evades-detection-and-what-to-do-about-it/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-backup-wrap-up-758069/how-polymorphic-malware-evades-detection-and-what-to-do-about-it.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}