What if the biggest time-saving wins don't come from major projects—but from eliminating the small, repetitive tasks eating up your week?
In this episode, Automox Solutions Consultant Jeremy Maldonado shares his New Year's resolution: reduce burnout by automating the manual work that drains IT teams. From device enrollment and patching policies to tracking down failures without babysitting your machines, Jeremy walks through practical ways to reclaim your time and mental energy.
You'll learn:
- How to automate device setup the moment it comes online
- Best practice policy templates you can use out of the gate
- Scheduling patches around Patch Tuesday without touching your policies
- Using policy results reports and analytics to troubleshoot smarter
- Why "babysitting" patch day is a sign something needs to change
Whether you're new to Automox or looking to refine your workflow, this episode is a reminder: your time matters, and automation should give it back to you.
Happy New Year! For those of you on call or working through the holiday, we've got you covered.
This 2.5-hour megacut compiles every Autonomous IT live show in 2025 – your companion for long shifts, quiet NOCs, and keeping one eye on the dashboard.
Grab your coffee, and ring in the new year with conversations on patch management, endpoint security, automation strategies, and the real talk that only happens when IT pros get together live.
Thanks for spending part of your year with us.
Here's to 2026.
We'll be back with new episodes next week.
Happy Holidays!
In this Best Moments of 2025 episode, we revisit standout discussions, sharp takes, and memorable moments from the year – covering ransomware, vulnerability management, automation, zero trust, and the evolving role of the CISO. Whether you’re leading security strategy or working hands-on in IT, these highlights capture the ideas that shaped the year in cybersecurity.
This Christmas, strap in for three hours of vulnerabilities, patches, and the occasional existential crisis about holiday skeleton crews. This megacut compiles every 2025 episode of Patch [FIX] Tuesday, featuring Automox security engineers Ryan Braunstein, Henry Smith, Seth Hoyt, Mat Lee, and Tom Bowyer breaking down the year’s most critical security updates.
What’s inside:
Whether you’re catching up on a year of patches or need something smarter than carols for a long holiday drive or late-night remediation – this compilation has you covered.
In this episode of Hands-On IT, Landon Miles explores the history of servers and enterprise IT infrastructure, from early mainframe computers to cloud computing, Linux servers, virtualization, containers, and AI-driven data centers.
This episode connects decades of server evolution into a clear, accessible story, focusing on the people, technologies, and ideas that shaped modern computing. From IBM’s System/360 and minicomputers, to Unix and Linux, virtualization, cloud platforms like AWS and Azure, and container orchestration with Docker and Kubernetes, this episode explains how servers became the foundation of today’s digital world.
Topics covered include:
• Server history and early computing systems
• IBM mainframes and enterprise computing
• Minicomputers and distributed computing
• Unix, Linux, and open-source software
• Virtualization and data center efficiency
• Cloud computing and hyperscale infrastructure
• Docker, Kubernetes, and cloud-native architecture
• AI workloads, GPUs, and modern server hardware
Landon also highlights key figures in computing history, including Grace Hopper, Ken Olsen, Linus Torvalds, Dave Cutler, Diane Greene, and Jeff Bezos, and explains how their work still influences IT operations today.
This episode is part of our December Best Of series, featuring some of our favorite moments and episodes from the past year.
Originally aired March 20, 2025.
This episode of Automate IT brings together the most meaningful conversations from 2025 – stories and insights that defined the year.
From early career breakthroughs to lessons learned through repetition, these moments reveal the human side of IT work while delivering practical takeaways on automation, visibility, consistency, patching, and day-to-day problem solving.
You’ll hear how IT leaders built confidence, shaped better processes, and navigated increasingly complex environments. These clips capture the ideas that resonated most – and the perspectives shaping the future of modern endpoint management.
In this 2025 highlights compilation, you’ll learn:
If you’re an IT admin, security professional, or technology leader looking for real-world insights – this episode brings together the moments that mattered most.
Attackers don’t take holidays off. In this December Patch Tuesday episode, the Automox security team breaks down three high-impact vulnerabilities landing at the end of 2025. Ryan, Mat, and Seth unpack the React2Shell RCE hitting React Server Components, an Azure Monitor Agent flaw that turns the syslog user into a stealthy foothold, and a Windows File Explorer bug where a single click may trigger privilege escalation.
You’ll hear why light patch months aren’t always low-risk, how bundled dependencies can expose you even if you don’t “use” React, and why log pipelines remain a prime target for attackers looking to hide their tracks. The team also covers seasonal phishing trends and what to expect as skeleton crews head into the holidays.
Product Talk – Inside the Splashtop Partnership: Remote Control Gets a Boost (E22)
In this episode, Peter and Steph break down one of the most anticipated updates coming to Automox in early 2026 — the new partnership with Splashtop. You’ll hear why Automox is moving from Automox Assist to an integrated Splashtop experience, what this means for remote control on macOS and Windows, and how existing customers will transition to Resolve by Splashtop.
The conversation covers real-world insights from Microsoft Ignite, upcoming feature improvements, what’s included in Automate Enterprise, and how advanced Splashtop capabilities will be available as an add-on. You’ll also get a quick preview of what’s planned for future releases and how customer feedback continues to influence development.
Peter closes with a reminder about the newly released 2026 State of Endpoint Management Report, a helpful resource for IT teams planning automation priorities for the year ahead.
A great episode for IT admins, security leaders, and anyone tracking improvements to remote control inside Automox.
CISO IT host Jason Kikta shares a heartfelt story from his time in the Marine Corps, highlighting the importance of teamwork and problem-solving in IT. He recounts a challenging situation involving bandwidth issues on the USS Iwo Jima, where he and his colleague Matthew Yates worked together to identify and resolve a significant communication problem. The story emphasizes gratitude for those who contribute to making IT professionals' lives easier and the impact of IT heroes in overcoming obstacles.
This episode originally aired November 14, 2024
In this episode of CISO IT, host Jason Kikta, CTO of Automox, brings you insights straight from the floor of Microsoft Ignite. After meeting with customers, partners, and countless IT pros, one message came through loud and clear: reliability and consolidation matter now more than ever.
Jason breaks down why teams are exhausted by tool sprawl, frustrated by unreliable platforms, and ready to reclaim time by eliminating manual, repetitive work. From the renewed demand for a unified operational view to the rising expectation that software simply works, this conversation explores the real-world pressures facing IT in 2025.
He also dives into the industry’s growing shift toward automation and agentic AI, including how MCP servers are expanding what’s possible for modern IT environments – and why progress, not perfection, remains the guiding principle for practitioners everywhere.
Whether you’re fighting tool fatigue, navigating evolving IT stacks, or exploring the next wave of AI-driven operations, this episode offers a grounded, practitioner-first perspective from one of the most influential events of the year.
Tune in for insights from the Ignite show floor and a candid look at the future of IT operations.
In this episode of Hands-On IT, host Landon Miles breaks down what MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers are, why they exist, and how they’re transforming real-world IT automation.
Before MCP, AI assistants struggled to interact with the tools, systems, and data IT teams rely on. With the rise of open-source MCP servers, models now have a standardized, permission-aware way to reach into infrastructure, pull context, and execute workflows safely.
Landon also sits down with Henry Smith, who helped build the Automox MCP server prototype. Together, they explore:
If you're an IT admin, security engineer, or automation enthusiast, this episode provides a clear explanation and a practical look at MCP servers in action.
Links:
Automox MCP Blog: https://www.automox.com/blog/automox-mcp
Automox MCP Git Repo: https://github.com/AutomoxCommunity/automox-mcp
In this month’s Patch [FIX] Tuesday, Ryan Braunstein and Mat Lee dig into kernel flaws, WSL privilege escalation, and the growing risk of Agentic AI in developer environments. They explore how attackers are targeting AI extensions, why developer endpoints are prime targets, and what you can do to patch smarter and train your teams effectively. Stay ahead of new exploits and secure every system before threat actors get the chance.
In this episode of IT Insiders, Maddie Regis speaks with Ryan Braunstein and Mat Lee from Automox's security team about the evolution of automation in security operations. They discuss their career backgrounds, the day-to-day use of Automox for security tasks, and the innovative strategies they employ to enhance automation. The conversation also covers various tools used for advanced automation and concludes with a fun game related to video games and security.
This episode originally aired September 19, 2024.
In this reflective episode of Automate IT, Jeremy Maldonado shares how gratitude has shaped his 11-year journey in IT, from his early days in customer service to building technical expertise and community. He explores the importance of mentorship, asking for help, and showing appreciation in both work and home life. As the year winds down, Jeremy invites you to pause, reflect, and celebrate the people and experiences that helped you grow in your IT career.
Dive into the creative world behind OTTOBOX: Patch or Perish, Automox’s first-ever video game. In this episode of Automox Insiders, host Maddie Regis chats with Senior Brand Manager Jonah Phillips about transforming patch management into an interactive gaming experience. From retro music production to villain design inspired by real IT challenges, discover how Automox blends creativity, technology, and cybersecurity culture into one epic adventure.
In this episode of the Autonomous IT, host Landon Miles dives deep into the world of vulnerabilities, exploits, and the psychology behind cyberattacks. From the story of Log4j and its massive global impact to the difference between hackers and attackers, this episode explores how and why breaches happen—and what can be done to stop them.
Joining Landon is Jason Kikta, Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Security Officer at Automox, Marine Corps veteran, and former leader at U.S. Cyber Command. Together, they break down attacker motivations, how to recognize threat patterns, and why understanding your own network better than your adversaries is the key to effective defense.
Key Takeaways:
Whether you're a cybersecurity professional, IT leader, or just curious about how cyberattacks really work, this episode offers practical insights from the front lines of digital defense.
In this episode of the Hands-On IT podcast, Landon Miles interviews Anthony Maxwell, who is a software engineer at Automox. They discuss Anthony's journey from IT operations to software engineering, and his home lab setup. He discusses his favorite projects, the skills he's learned, and how he applies them in his professional life. Anthony also provides insights into using Automox for policy compliance, offers advice for those looking to start their own home labs, and shares his thoughts on virtualization, operating systems, and staying updated with technology trends.
This episode originally aired on July 25, 2024.
In this episode, host Jason Kikta talks with Dmitri Alperovitch – CrowdStrike co-founder and chairman of the Automox board – about how speed and precision define modern cyber defense. Alperovitch explores how the OODA loop (Observe–Orient–Decide–Act), a concept rooted in military strategy, can help IT and security teams detect, respond, and adapt to threats in real time.
They discuss why cloud-native automation is essential for staying ahead, how to close gaps between IT and security teams, and what happens when organizations react too slowly. Drawing on decades of experience in cybersecurity and threat intelligence, this conversation challenges you to rethink what it means to be fast enough to defend your environment.
This episode originally aired on June 13, 2024.
In this episode of Product Talk, host Peter Pflaster sits down with Automox Staff Security Engineer Henry Smith to discuss what it really means to be secure by default. Together, they explore how Automox builds security into the foundation of its products, from engineering practices to company culture.
You’ll learn how Automox’s “no security tax” philosophy gives every customer access to enterprise-grade protection — without hidden costs or trade-offs. Henry also shares his journey from IT support to cybersecurity engineering, offering practical advice for anyone looking to grow a career in IT or security.
Tune in to hear how Automox approaches product security, fosters trust between engineering and security teams, and collaborates with industry peers to keep customers safe.
CFOs Ziad Fanous (Automox) and David Mehok (formerly CFO of Q2) join host Evan Kiely to break down how IT transformation drives real business value—not just cost savings. They share candid lessons from decades in finance leadership on:
A must-listen for IT and security leaders who want to secure budget, prove ROI, and build stronger relationships with finance.
This episode originally aired February 20, 2025