Detonation Point.
Inside the fight against cybercrime. Conversations with investigators, CISOs, and security researchers on the front lines, hosted by a former U.S. Secret Service Deputy Special Agent in Charge of Cyber Operations.
Proudly Sponsored byElastio, the Ransomware Security Platform
Latest conversations.
Every guest has operated at the intersection of law enforcement, enterprise security, and financial crime, not just analyzed it from a distance.
The Evolution of the CISO: Cybersecurity, Risk & Leadership
Charles Blauner, a pioneer in the field and former Global Head of Information Security at Citi, draws on more than two decades leading security at some of the world's largest banks to explain why the CISO role is fundamentally about business risk, covering resilience and leadership under pressure, cybersecurity regulation, why information sharing remains harder for fraud and financial crime than for security, and the unfinished work around identity and vulnerability management as AI reshapes the landscape.
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Thinking Like an Attacker: Red Teaming & Modern Cyber Threats
William Wright, CEO of Closed Door Security, shares stories from a career breaking into banks and critical infrastructure to show how social engineering and physical security gaps give attackers a way in, and discusses how AI is transforming cyber reconnaissance and enabling more convincing voice and deepfake scams, the risks of sharing personal information online, and the growing scale of organized scam operations.
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Cyber Fraud, Social Engineering & Sports Talk
Stephen Dougherty, now CEO of RexxField, returns with a frontline view of the evolving cyber fraud landscape (business email compromise, pig butchering and crypto scams, AI-powered social engineering, and the work of recovering stolen funds for victims) before reflecting with Matt on the nine years since they helped launch the U.S. Secret Service's Global Investigative Operations Center, and closing with some Philadelphia sports talk.
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From Federal Cybercrime Prosecutor to Big Tech Security Leader
Joe Sullivan, a federal cybercrime prosecutor for nearly eight years before leading security at eBay, PayPal, Facebook, Uber, and Cloudflare, traces the evolution of cybercrime from the earliest electronic-crime investigations to the challenges facing Big Tech today, covering post-9/11 investigations, the Patriot Act, international cases, and what changes when you move from prosecuting attackers to defending against them.
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Inside the DEA: The Evolution of Drug Enforcement
Gary Owen, Chief Operating Officer at the Drug Enforcement Administration, examines how the agency has evolved: recruiting and developing the next generation of agents, adopting new technology, confronting the rise of fentanyl and synthetic drugs, and the growing importance of prevention and education alongside enforcement.
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SIM Swapping: How to Protect Your Digital Identity
Mark Kreitzman, General Manager and co-founder of Efani, became a SIM swapping victim despite two decades building cybersecurity companies, and turned that into a mission. He explains how the attack works, why your mobile number has become the master key to your digital identity, how attackers use social engineering to bypass traditional security, and the practical steps anyone can take to protect themselves.
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Beyond the Badge: Leadership, Cyber & the Next Mission
Ray Shuler, former Assistant Director for Cyber and Operational Technology at Homeland Security Investigations and partner at 5OH Consulting, traces his path from local law enforcement to leading HSI's cyber programs over three decades, covering cyber-enabled crime investigations, protecting investigators in child exploitation cases, integrating AI into modern investigations, and mentoring the next generation of federal agents through the government-to-private-sector transition.
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Going Undercover to Infiltrate Cybercriminal Networks
Rich LaTulip, a legend of undercover cybercrime investigations and author of Operation Carder Kaos, recounts how he built and maintained undercover identities to infiltrate online carding forums, earned the trust of organized cybercriminals, and worked with international law enforcement partners to dismantle the fraud networks behind them.
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Building Cyber Resilience Against Modern Threats
Kiersten Todt, Senior VP of Cybersecurity Partnerships at Mastercard and former CISA Chief of Staff, traces the evolution of cybersecurity policy and public-private collaboration across the White House, Capitol Hill, and CISA, covering cyber resilience, critical infrastructure protection, fraud and identity security, and the emerging challenges posed by AI and global cyber threats.
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The Evolution of Cybercrime: Ransomware, AI & Global Investigations
Jim Meehan, Director of DFIR Global Investigations and Threat Intelligence at Verizon and a former U.S. Secret Service special agent, traces the evolution of cybercrime from payment card fraud to modern ransomware, sharing lessons from major investigations, findings from Verizon's 2026 Data Breach Investigations Report, and defense strategies against vulnerability exploitation, AI-enhanced phishing, and social engineering.
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Why Most Briefings Fail and How Great Leaders Communicate
Joe McCormack, communication expert and founder of The Brief Lab, explains why so many briefings, presentations, and emails fail, and what leaders can do about it, drawing on his work with senior executives, government agencies, and the military to share practical techniques for clear, focused, and purposeful communication.
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Personal Safety, Self-Defense, and Situational Awareness
S. Gale Bleth, a crime prevention expert and self-defense instructor, shares practical safety habits built on situational awareness, sound decision-making, and preparation, covering the A.W.A.R.E. framework, instinct-based threat assessment, escape-focused self-defense, smartphone safety risks, and how to stay alert without living in fear.
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Chasing Bad Guys: From U.S. Marshals to FBI Cyber Investigations
Duncan Edwards (former Deputy U.S. Marshal, retired FBI Special Agent, and now senior investigator at SpyCloud) traces his move from fugitive hunts to cybercrime work, discussing investigative fundamentals in tech-heavy cases, the challenge of identifying and prosecuting cybercriminals, the role of AI in modern investigations, and credential theft.
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Inside HSI: Cartels, Financial Crime, and Investigations
Sean Fitzgerald, a 25-year Homeland Security Investigations veteran, traces his path from U.S. Customs intern to leading complex federal cases, covering HSI’s evolution after 9/11, major cartel and financial crime investigations, and how cryptocurrency, AI, and social media are reshaping criminal tracking and fraud.
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Life in the Secret Service: Assassination Attempts, Travel & Technology
Three generations of the O’Neill family discuss historic assassination attempts, protective operations, campaign travel, international assignments, and how investigative technology evolved from paper files and Rolodexes to computers, email, and digital evidence over five decades.
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How Stolen Credentials Power Modern Cybercrime
Sam Curet, Director of Fraud Intelligence at SpyCloud and former counter-human trafficking investigator, explains how criminals weaponize stolen credentials, online identities, and social engineering to scale fraud, from infostealer malware and account takeover to AI-driven scams and the growing role of social media in cybercrime.
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Cyber Risk, Resilience & Leadership Across Government & Industry
Jenny Menna, Chief Security Officer at Sallie Mae and former DHS cybersecurity leader, on lessons from the early rise of advanced persistent threats, how public-private partnerships have shaped cyber resilience, why leadership matters in crisis response, and the realities of moving from government to private-sector security.
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Military Leadership Lessons for High-Performance Teams
Chris Hallberg, former Army National Guard Staff Sergeant and founder of Business Sergeant, explains how commitment, accountability, middle leadership, and structured systems translate military leadership principles into high-performing business teams.
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How to Build Cybersecurity That Actually Works
Elliott Franklin, CISO at Fortitude Re, shares practical guidance for security leaders on reducing vendor fatigue, prioritizing real risk, and building security programs rooted in fundamentals over hype.
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Leaving Government: How to Succeed in the Private Sector
Mike Burnett discusses transitioning from public service to private sector leadership, reframing government skills for business outcomes, and navigating an evolving security landscape shaped by AI and robotics.
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Global Fraud Investigation, IC3 Report, and Eagles Draft Preview
Matt O’Neill and Stephen Dougherty break down current IC3 fraud trends, victim psychology in crypto scams, and major international investigations before shifting into Philly sports and NFL draft talk.
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Drone Security Explained: Detection, Defense, and Evolving Threats
Logan Harris explains how drone threats are evolving from RF-controlled systems to autonomous and fiber-optic models, and why layered detection and radar-based defense are becoming mission critical.
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Fixing Cybersecurity Training: From Punishment to Results
Craig Taylor of CyberHoot outlines why traditional awareness training fails and how behavior-focused, reinforcement-driven approaches can improve phishing resistance and overall security culture.
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How to Protect Yourself from Cybercriminals
Rivka Tadjer covers practical personal-security controls, including SIM swap prevention, account hardening, encrypted communications, and fraud-risk reduction strategies for individuals.
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America's Most Prolific Identity Thief — and the Agent Who Caught Him
Matt sits down with Hieu Minh Ngo, once the nation's most prolific identity thief, and the man he arrested. They revisit hacked data brokers, fake PI licenses, and the sting in Guam, unpacking the social engineering tactics and human blind spots that fuel cybercrime.
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Not All Fraud Is the Same — and That Blind Spot Is Costing Us
From organized crime syndicates to elder abuse and first-party fraud within families: why treating all fraud as one problem creates critical blind spots, and how communication gaps across institutions allow criminals to exploit systemic weaknesses.
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AI That Learns From Humans, Not Just Data
Carl Wocke on Merlynn AI's approach to building from human expertise rather than data alone, the challenge of bias and hallucinations, AI's potential to reshape jobs, and the risks of adversarial AI, including implications for banking and law enforcement.
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North Korea's Cybercrime Playbook — Crypto Theft, Counterfeits, and Ransomware
Journalist Geoff White on North Korea's cybercrime activity (from the "supernote" counterfeit scheme to large-scale crypto thefts), how the regime funds its nuclear program through cyber operations, and the geopolitical implications of state-sponsored cybercrime.
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BEC, Deepfake Fraud, and the Rise of Transnational Cybercrime
From Business Email Compromise and deepfake-driven fraud to AI and transnational criminal networks: a frontline perspective on how cyber-enabled scams are reshaping modern crime and why a national anti-scam center is urgently needed.
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How Cybercrime Became a Global Organized Enterprise
Nick Palmer of Group-IB on how ransomware-as-a-service and the industrialization of digital crime have changed the threat landscape, how Group-IB tracks and disrupts cybercriminal networks, and why private-public collaboration is now mission-critical.
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Deep Dive Into Ransomware Tactics — Inside Elastio's Detection Engine
Srinidhi shares how a teenage incident with a school computer sparked a lifelong mission to outsmart cybercriminals. He and Matt discuss how Elastio's technology withstands EDR bypass and evasion tactics, the assume-breach approach, and how AI is reshaping the attacker-defender balance.
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SIM Swapping, Pig Butchering, and the Fight for Victims
Former prosecutor Erin West on tackling SIM swapping and pig butchering scams: the evolution of these crimes, the challenges for law enforcement, and initiatives like Operation Shamrock that mobilize resources against cyber-enabled fraud.
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Cryptocurrency, Ransomware, and the Regulatory Landscape
Matt and Carole House (former White House NSC Director for Cybersecurity) discuss the evolution of cybercrime, cryptocurrency's role in facilitating ransomware, and the regulatory challenges facing law enforcement and financial institutions.
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Inside the fight against cybercrime.
Detonation Point is hosted by Matt O'Neill, former U.S. Secret Service Deputy Special Agent in Charge of Cyber Operations, a 25-year veteran of cybercrime investigation who led the agency's global cyber strategy, directed its first cross-division investigative fusion center, and personally prosecuted some of the most high-profile cybercrime cases in U.S. history.
Each episode features practitioners who have operated at the intersection of law enforcement, enterprise security, and financial crime: investigators, CISOs, researchers, and policymakers who have faced these threats firsthand, not just analyzed them from a distance.
Topics span ransomware tactics and recovery, cryptocurrency-enabled crime, organizational resilience, regulatory mandates, AI in cybercrime, and what it actually takes to defend and recover when attacks succeed.
Detonation Point is proudly sponsored by Elastio, the Ransomware Security Platform that hunts for ransomware inside your data and proves recovery will succeed from a clean recovery point. Matt O'Neill serves on Elastio's Cyber Resilience Council.
- 25+ yrs
- Years of cybercrime investigation experience. Matt O'Neill, U.S. Secret Service.
- $1.6B
- In assets seized under Matt's leadership at the Secret Service Asset Forfeiture Branch.
- 300M
- Americans' records exposed in a single case Matt's team investigated and prosecuted.
- 33 eps
- Episodes available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
Detonation Point is sponsored by Elastio.
The platform that hunts for ransomware inside your data and proves recovery will succeed.