From Pre-Law to FLARE: How Josh Stroschein Became Google's Malware Analyst

In this episode of Simply Defensive, Josh Mason and Wade Wells sit down with Josh Stroschein — aka The Cyber Yeti — a former professor turned reverse engineer now working on one of the largest malware analysis teams in the world.

Josh shares his unconventional path through .NET development, credit card processing security, and academia before landing at Google. He opens up about teaching reverse engineering while learning it himself, building educational CTFs, and the realities of making it as a full-time reverse engineer in an industry where those roles are rare.

What you'll hear:

🔹 From pre-law to pilot training to PhD in cybersecurity

🔹 How teaching RE forced him to truly master it

🔹 Life inside Google's FLARE team (via Chronicle → Mandiant)

🔹 Flareon CTF — the RE challenge that's run for 12 years

🔹 A wild Black Hat NOC story involving an infected Mac and Atomic Stealer

🔹 Using AI to build malware samples for training labs

🔹 Why going low-level is the best advice for blue teamers

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:50 Josh's Connection to Dr. Gerald Auger

02:00 The Non-Traditional Path: Pre-Law, Pilot Training & .NET Dev

05:00 Getting Into Security at a Credit Card Processor

07:00 Teaching Reverse Engineering at Dakota State

10:00 Flareon CTF and Educational CTF Design

14:00 Is Reverse Engineering Offensive or Defensive?

17:00 How Rare Are Full-Time RE Roles?

21:00 The Path to Google: Chronicle, Mandiant & FLARE

25:00 Learning Through Teaching and YouTube Content

28:00 Black Hat NOC Story: Catching Atomic Stealer Live

33:00 Using AI to Create Malware Training Samples

37:00 Building a Defang Tool (and .NET Nightmares)

40:00 Advice for Blue Teamers: Go Low-Level

🎧 Find Josh Stroschein:

→ Website: https://www.thecyberyeti.com

→ YouTube: The Cyber Yeti

→ Podcast: The Cyber Yeti Podcast

👥 Connect with the Hosts:
→ Josh Mason: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuacmason/
→ Wade Wells: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wadingthrulogs/
→ Swimlane: https://www.linkedin.com/company/swimlane

🎙️ Listen on Your Favorite Platform:
→ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/72QTocT5FSTSPV7o1UcMS4
→ Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simply-defensive/id1773806182
→ Full Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4Q-ttyNIRAr6DVrsASx1-Fv-TsooJ3M4

👍 If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to like, subscribe, and share with your fellow defenders. Every week, Josh Mason and Wade Wells bring you practical, no-fluff conversations with cybersecurity professionals who are doing the work.

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