About this episode
The episode discusses the human element in cybersecurity breaches and features an interview with May Chen-Contino, CEO of Unit 221B, about the evolving landscape of cybercrime.
Most security breaches don't begin with sophisticated code or elaborate technical exploits. They begin with a phone call, a convincing email, or someone at a help desk who just wanted to be helpful. The human layer is often the weakest link, and the criminals who understand that are the ones causing the most damage. My guest today is May Chen-Contino. She's the CEO of Unit 221B, a threat disruption company that delivers actionable intelligence to enterprises, law enforcement, and government agencies. Her background spans cybersecurity, fintech, and SaaS leadership at companies like PayPal and eBay, and she brings a distinctly mission-driven lens to the work, shaped equally by a career in business and a background as a Krav Maga instructor. Unit 221B operates less like a typical security vendor and more like a specialized investigative unit, with a team that includes tenured ransomware experts, incident responders, and former law enforcement, all focused on one outcome: criminal arrest. May has seen firsthand how ransomware gangs operate with their own codes of conduct, how a younger generation of cybercriminals is throwing those rules out entirely, and why paying a ransom is…
People in this episode
Host: Chris Parker
Guest: May Chen-Contino
Topics covered
- cybersecurity
- social engineering
- ransomware
- human factor in security
- online crime
- threat intelligence
Keywords
- cybercrime
- security breaches
- social engineering
- ransomware gangs
- incident response
- criminal arrest
- online safety
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Unit 221B, PayPal, eBay
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