{"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":"Living Off the Land Attack: Hackers Using Your Own Tools Against You","slug":"living-off-the-land-attack-hackers-using-your-own-tools-against-you","published_at":"2026-03-16T11:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-backup-wrap-up-758069/living-off-the-land-attack-hackers-using-your-own-tools-against-you","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-backup-wrap-up-758069","url":"https://www.backupwrapup.com/living-off-the-land-attack","audio_url":"https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/b729e3f9-8a2e-400f-a920-6b288627fe4d.mp3","summary":"A living off the land attack is one of the sneakiest techniques in a ransomware operator's playbook — and in this episode, Dr. Mike Saylor breaks down exactly what it is, how it works, and what your organization can actually do about it. Instead of bringing their own tools into your environment (which might trip your alarms), attackers just use what's already there. PowerShell. WMI. RDP. The same tools your admins run every single day. To your monitoring systems, it looks completely normal. That's the whole point. Mike and Curtis cover why attackers prefer your tools over their own, how recon can quietly run for 30 to 90 days before the attack goes loud, and what defenders can actually do about it — removing admin privileges, system hardening, golden images, application whitelisting, and free tools like Nmap and Wireshark. There's also a match.com story involving organized crime and a wooden casket on someone's front porch that you really don't want to miss. 0:00 - Intro 1:21 - Welcome and Book Announcement 3:28 - What Is a Living Off the Land Attack? 5:38 - Real-World Example: Conti Ransomware and WMI 8:12 - Why Attackers Use Your Tools Instead of Their Own 13:05 - Admin Privileges: Best Practice vs. Reality 17:31 - The Louvre Heist Analogy 20:08 - Recon Phase: Low and Slow 24:16 - What Defenders Can Do 25:55 - RDP and Remote Access 29:48 - The Recon Timeline: 30-90 Days 30:48 - PowerShell and System Hardening 34:10 - Network Discovery Tools (Nmap and Wireshark) 37:37 - Application Whitelisting and Geo IP Blocking 42:08 - Action Items and Wrap-Up","meta_description":"A living off the land attack is one of the sneakiest techniques in a ransomware operator's playbook — and in this episode, Dr. Mike Saylor breaks down exa…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2775,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-backup-wrap-up-758069/episodes/living-off-the-land-attack-hackers-using-your-own-tools-against-you/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/living-off-the-land-attack-hackers-using-your-own-tools-against-you.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}