Inside BurbSec: From Suburban InfoSec Beers to Global Discord Community – Johnny Xmas

In this episode of the Security Repo Podcast, Johnny Xmas shares the grassroots story and philosophy behind BurbSec, a unique InfoSec meetup network focused on genuine community and consistent in-person engagement. He dives into the evolution from IRC to Discord, detailing how digital platforms have helped expand and sustain their hyperlocal connections. Johnny also discusses the broader social impacts of tech culture, the value of assuming breach in security strategy, and the dangers of oversimplified advice like "just patch your stuff."https://burbsec.com/https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnnyxmas/Johnny Xmas, a prominent figure in the Information Security community since 2002, has been a dedicated contributor to public forums, sharing his extensive research and knowledge. Most notably recognized for being the showrunner of the BurbSec Infosec Meetup Network, his pivotal role in exposing the American TSA Master Key leaks (2014-2018), uncovering Venmo stalking vulnerabilities (2018), and being an overall nuisance. Currently, he is the Global Head of Offensive Security for a Fortune 200 food manufacturing company. Before that, he spent many years in the field as a penetration tester, security engineer for a global Fortune 500 corporation, and Mainframe auditor and Systems Engineer for several IT asset recovery firms.