On this Screaming in the Cloud Replay, we’re taking you back to our chat with Nick Frichette. He’s the maintainer of hackingthe.cloud, and holds security and solutions architect AWS certifications, and in his spare time, he conducts vulnerability research at Hacking the Cloud. Join Corey and Nick as they talk about the various kinds of cloud security researchers and touch upon offensive security, why Nick decided to create Hacking the Cloud, how AWS lets security researchers conduct penetration testing in good faith, some of the more interesting AWS exploits Nick has discovered, how it’s fun to play keep-away with incident response, why you need to get legal approval before conducting penetration testing, and more.

Show Highlights

(0:00) Intro

(0:42) The Duckbill Group sponsor read

(1:15) What is a Cloud Security Researcher?

(3:49) Nick’s work with Hacking the Cloud

(5:24) Building relationships with cloud providers

(7:34) Nick’s security findings through cloud logs

(13:05) How Nick finds security flaws

(15:31) Reporting vulnerabilities to AWS and “bug bounty” programs

(18:41) The Duckbill Group sponsor read

(19:24) How to report vulnerabilities ethically

(21:52) Good disclosure programs vs. bad ones

(28:23) What’s next for Nick

(31:27) Where you can find more from Nick

About Nick Frichette

Nick Frichette is a Staff Security Researcher at Datadog, specializing in offensive security within AWS environments. His focus is on discovering new attack vectors targeting AWS services, environments, and applications. From his research, Nick develops detection methods and preventive measures to secure these systems. Nick’s work often leads to the discovery of vulnerabilities within AWS itself, and he collaborates closely with Amazon to ensure they are remediated.

Nick has also presented his research at major industry conferences, including Black Hat USA, DEF CON, fwd:cloudsec, and others.

Links

• Hacking the Cloud: https://hackingthe.cloud/
• Determine the account ID that owned an S3 bucket vulnerability: https://hackingthe.cloud/aws/enumeration/account_id_from_s3_bucket/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/frichette_n
• Personal website:https://frichetten.com

Original Episode

https://www.lastweekinaws.com/podcast/screaming-in-the-cloud/hacking-aws-in-good-faith-with-nick-frichette/

Sponsor

The Duckbill Group: duckbillgroup.com

On this Screaming in the Cloud Replay, Corey is joined by Nipun Agarwal, Senior Vice President of MySQL HeatWave Development at Oracle, to discuss the release of MySQL HeatWave and how it will benefit users among the sea of database offerings on AWS. Nipun reveals why Oracle decided to develop HeatWave, how HeatWave is providing meaningful cost savings to users, and how HeatWave has been optimized for the cloud. Nipun explains how they’ve lowered the barriers to entry for new users of HeatWave, and Oracle’s focus on implementing customer feedback when developing new offerings.

Show Highlights

(0:00) Intro

(0:55) The Duckbill Group sponsor read

(1:28) The significance of HeatWave coming to AWS

(2:20) What is MySQL HeatWave?

(5:13) What jumped out to Corey during his conversations with Nipun on Oracle

(8:40) What’s “under the hood” of MySQL HeatWave

(14:12) How Oracle built out its pricing for MySQL HeatWave

(16:41) Why MySQL HeatWave doesn’t show up on AWS bills

(21:27) The Duckbill Group sponsor read

(22:09) Oracle’s historical customer base and the company’s credit system

(24:30) The point behind MySQL HeatWave

(27:51) How MySQL HeatWave runs

(33:53) Where you can find more from Nipun and Oracle

About Nipun Agarwal

Nipun Agarwal is a Senior Vice President, MySQL HeatWave and Advanced Development, Oracle. His interests include distributed data processing, machine learning, cloud technologies and security. Nipun was part of the Oracle Database team where he introduced a number of new features. He has been awarded over 170 patents., Nipun Agarwal is Senior Vice President of MySQL Database & HeatWave Development. He leads a global engineering organization responsible for Oracle’s MySQL innovations that enable organizations to use a single database for both transactional and analytical workloads. His interests include data processing, distributed systems, machine learning, cloud computing and security. Prior to his current position, Nipun was with Oracle Labs and the Oracle Database team, where he introduced a number of new features. He has been awarded over 175 patents.

Links

• Oracle: https://oracle.com
• MySQL HeatWave info: https://www.oracle.com/mysql/
• MySQL Service on AWS and OCI login (Oracle account required): https://cloud.mysql.com

Original Episode

https://www.lastweekinaws.com/podcast/screaming-in-the-cloud/heatwave-and-the-latest-evolution-of-mysql-with-nipun-agarwal/

Sponsor

The Duckbill Group: duckbillgroup.com

The tech industry is getting long enough in the teeth that now there are some bonafide old fogeys. Nevertheless there, fortunately, are plenty of younger tech folks out there pushing the thought and mentality of the industry forward. Andrew Brown, Co-Founder and Cloud Instructor at ExamPro Training Inc certainly is, but his presence in the community is so much more! On this Screaming in the Cloud Replay, Andrew talks about the various internet platforms that he stays active on, and his mission to provide education on the cloud. Importantly so, Andrew does so with an immense amount of generosity. As he puts it, he couldn’t imagine taking money for the courses that he has created. Andrew and Corey discuss at length their thoughts on cloud certifications, the worth of multicloud, and much more!

Show Highlights

(0:00) Intro

(0:41) The Duckbill Group sponsor read

(1:15) Why Corey struggles to keep up with Andrew’s impressive online presence

(2:47) Explaining ExamPro

(6:39) The troubles of online “experts”

(13:01) Andrew’s thoughts on using certifications as proxies

(18:14) The value of certification vs. your level of experience

(22:47) The Duckbill Group sponsor read

(23:30) Should engineers learn more than one cloud provider?

(27:10) Is multi-cloud actually the way to go?

(34:31) Where you can find more from Andrew

About Andrew Brown

Andrew Brown has been working in tech 15 years. Today, he creates free cloud certification courses where he teaches people Cloud, DevOps, Data, ML, Security, K8s and Serverless.

Links

• ExamPro Training, Inc.: https://www.exampro.co/
• PolyWork: https://www.polywork.com/andrewbrown
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-wc-brown
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/andrewbrown

Original Episode

https://www.lastweekinaws.com/podcast/screaming-in-the-cloud/learning-to-give-in-the-cloud-with-andrew-brown/

Sponsor

The Duckbill Group: duckbillgroup.com

Corey Quinn is joined by Paulus Schoutsen, creator of Home Assistant and president of the Open Home Foundation. What started as a Python script to control Hue lights is now a leading open-source smart home platform with 1.6M users. Unlike ad-driven devices, Home Assistant prioritizes privacy, user control, and customization. Backed by the Open Home Foundation, it stays independent from corporate influence. Paulus highlights their community-driven approach, with users sharing automations online. By focusing on open standards, privacy, and user-first development, Home Assistant empowers smarter, more sustainable home automation.

Show Highlights

(0:00) Intro

(0:33) Duckbill Group sponsor read

(1:45) What inspired Paulus to create Home Assistant

(6:54) How Home Assistant developed from text files to its current incarnation

(12:02) Duckbill Group sponsor read

(13:42) How Home Assistant is able to detect different IoT devices

(16:06) Why not having investors is a strength for Home Assistant

(21:11) How Home Assistant acts as a unifier for communications protocols

(24:22) Why Big Tech doesn’t have a lot of interest in Home Assistant

(30:45) How to learn more about Home Assistant

About Paulus Schoutsen

Paulus Schoutsen is the creator of Home Assistant, the world’s most active open-source smart home platform, and president of the Open Home Foundation. What started as a Python script to control Philips Hue lights has grown into a global community of over 1.6 million users. Home Assistant stands out for its dedication to privacy, sustainability, and user control, offering a stable, customizable platform free from the ad-driven models of big tech. Paulus also leads Nabucasa, the commercial arm of Home Assistant, and champions the platform’s independence and community-driven ethos, ensuring long-term focus on open standards and user empowerment.

Links

• Home Assistant website https://www.home-assistant.io/

Sponsor

The Duckbill Group https://www.duckbillgroup.com/

On this Screaming in the Cloud Replay, we’re revisiting our conversation with Tobi Knaup, the current VP & General Manager of Cloud Native at Nutanix. At the time this first aired, Tobi was the co-founder and CTO of D2iQ before the company was acquired by Nutanix. In this blast from the past, Corey and Tobi discuss why Mesosphere rebranded as D2iQ and why the Kubernetes community deserves the credit for the widespread adoption of the container orchestration platform. Many people assume Kubernetes is all they need, but that’s a mistake, and Tobi explains what other tools they end up having to use. We’ll also hear why Tobi thinks that multi-cloud is the future (it is the title of the episode after all).

Show Highlights

(0:00) Intro

(0:28) The Duckbill Group sponsor read

(1:01) Memosphere rebranding to D2iQ

(4:34) The strength of the Kubernetes community

(7:43) Is open-source a bad business model?

(10:19) Why you need more than just Kubernetes

(13:13) The Duckbill Group sponsor read

(13:55) Is multi-cloud the best practice?

(17:31) Creating a consistent experience between two providers

(19:05) Tobi’s background story

(24:24) Memories of the days of physical data centers

(28:00) How long will Kubernetes be relevant

(30:18) Where you can find more from Tobi

About Tobi Knaup

Tobi Knaup is the VP & General Manager of Cloud Native at Nunatix. Previously, he was the Co-Founder and CTO of D2iQ Kubernetes Platform before Nutanix acquired the company. Knaup is an experienced software engineer focusing on large scale systems and machine learning. Tobi’s research work is on Internet-scale sentiment analysis using online knowledge, linguistic analysis, and machine learning. Outside of his tech work, he enjoys making cocktails and has collected his favorite recipes on his cocktail website.

Links

• Tobi’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/superguenter
• LinkedIn URL: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobiasknaup/
• Personal site: https://tobi.knaup.me/

Original Episode

https://www.lastweekinaws.com/podcast/screaming-in-the-cloud/multi-cloud-is-the-future-with-tobi-knaup/

Sponsor

The Duckbill Group: duckbillgroup.com

Spencer Kimball, CEO of Cockroach Labs, joins Corey Quinn to discuss the evolving challenges of database resilience in 2025. They discuss the State of Resilience 2025 report, revealing widespread operational concerns, costly outages, and gaps in failover preparedness. Modern resilience strategies, like active-active configurations and consensus replication, reduce risks but require expertise and investment. Spencer highlights growing regulatory pressures, such as the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act, and the rising complexity of distributed systems. Despite challenges, Cockroach Labs aims to simplify resilience, enabling organizations to modernize while balancing risk, cost, and customer trust.

Show Highlights

(0:00) Intro

(0:36) Cockroach Labs sponsor read

(3:14) The foundational nature of databases

(3:55) Cockroach Labs’ State of Resilience 2025 report

(8:55) CrowdStrike as an example of why database resilience is so important

(11:04) What Spencer found most surprising in the report’s results

(15:13) Understanding the multi-cloud strategy as safety in numbers

(18:29) Cockroach Labs sponsor read

(19:23) Why cost isn’t the Achilles’ heel of the multi-cloud strategy that some people think

(23:52) Executives are blaming IT people for outages as much

(28:21) The importance of active-active configurations

(32:01) Why anxiety about operational resiliency will never fully go away

(37:52) How to access the State of Resilience 2025 report

About Spencer Kimball

Spencer Kimball is the CEO and co-founder of Cockroach Labs, a company dedicated to building resilient, cloud-native databases. Before founding Cockroach Labs, Spencer had a distinguished career in technology, including contributions to Google’s Colossus file system. Alongside co-founders Peter Mattis and Ben Darnell, he launched CockroachDB, a globally distributed SQL database designed to handle modern data challenges like resilience, multi-cloud deployment, and compliance with evolving data sovereignty laws. CockroachDB is renowned for its innovative architecture, enabling consistent and scalable database performance across regions and clouds. Under Spencer’s leadership, the company continues to redefine operational resilience for enterprises worldwide.

Links

• Cockroach Labs: https://www.cockroachlabs.com/
• The State of Resilience 2025 report https://www.cockroachlabs.com/guides/the-state-of-resilience-2025/

Sponsor
Cockroach Labs: cockroachlabs.com/lastweek

On this Screaming in the Cloud In this episode of Screaming in the Cloud, Corey Quinn is joined by AWS container hero and security engineer at the Python Software Foundation, Mike Fiedler. They delve into the intricacies of Python's ecosystem, discussing the evolution of PyPI, its significance, and the ongoing battles against security threats like account takeover attacks and typo-squatting. Mike sheds light on his role in maintaining the security and reliability of the Python Package Index, the importance of 2FA, and the collaborative efforts with security researchers. Corey and Mike also explore the challenges and philosophies surrounding legacy systems versus greenfield development, with insights on maintaining critical infrastructure and the often-overlooked aspects of social engineering.

Show Highlights

(0:00) Introduction

(0:47) The Duckbill Group sponsor read

(1:21) Breaking down the Python nomenclature and its usability

(5:49) Figuring out how Boto3 is one of the most downloaded packages

(6:43) Why Mike is the only full-time security and safety engineer at the Python Software Foundation

(9:53) How the Python Software Foundation affords to operate

(14:17) Mike's stack security work

(16:14) The Duckbill Group sponsor read

(16:57) Having the "impossible job" of stopping supply chain attacks

(21:00) The dangers of social engineering attacks

(24:44) Why Mike prefers to work on legacy systems

(33:30) Where you can find more from Mike

About Mike Fiedler

Mike Fiedler is a highly analytical, forward-thinking Information Technology professional. His broad-based background includes systems administration and engineering in global environments. Mike is technically astute and versatile with ability to quickly learn, master, and leverage new technologies to meet business needs and has a track record of success in improving performance, stability, and security for all infrastructure and product initiatives.

Mike is also bilingual, speaks English and Hebrew, and he loves solving puzzling problems.

Links

• Mike’s Mastadon: https://hachyderm.io/@miketheman
• Mike’s Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/miketheman.com
• Mike’s Python Software Foundation blog posts: https://blog.pypi.org/
• The Python Package Index Safety & Security Engineer: First Year in Review: https://blog.pypi.org/posts/2024-08-16-safety-and-security-engineer-year-in-review/

Sponsor

The Duckbill Group: duckbillgroup.com

On this Screaming in the Cloud Replay, we’re revisiting our conversation with Co-Founder of Senzo, Ant Stanley. Ant sits down with Corey to do so. He offers up his history which has lead to his time as “Serverless Hero” to landing on the line that “serverless sucks.” Lend us your ears to see how that transition happened! Ant goes into detail on JeffConf (not the of the Bezos nomen), and working with servers and what to put where and why. Ant and Corey talk over the plague of AWS services where Ant offers his perspective how to trim the fat and keep things simple to make long-term objectives more attainable. They discuss the importance of training, the role of certifications for better and worse, and more. Tune in for his take!

Show Highlights

• (0:00) Intro
• (0:51) Duckbill Group sponsor read
• (1:24) What does it mean to be an AWS Serverless Hero?
• (3:13) Why Ant and Corey are critical of the state of serverless
• (7:53) Woes with Lambda and CloudFront
• (10:12) The never-ending stream of new AWS services
• (13:36) Hurdles ahead of going serverless
• (17:33) Struggles of getting customers to understand a newly built service
• (21:31) Duckbill Group sponsor read
• (22:14) Pros and cons of certifications
• (32:17) Where you can find more from Ant

About Ant Stanley

Ant Stanley is a community focused technologist with a passion for enabling better outcomes for society through technology. He is an AWS Serverless Hero, runs the Serverless London User Group, co-runs ServerlessDays London and is part of the ServerlessDays Global team.

Links

• A Cloud Guru: https://acloudguru.com
• homeschool.dev: https://homeschool.dev
• aws.training: https://aws.training
• learn.microsoft.com: https://learn.microsoft.com
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/iamstan

Original Episode

https://www.lastweekinaws.com/podcast/screaming-in-the-cloud/serverless-hero-got-servers-in-his-eyes-with-ant-stanley/

Sponsor

The Duckbill Group: duckbillgroup.com