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Microsoft 365 Podcast – Teams, SharePoint, Office Apps & Productivity Episodes

Microsoft 365 is the productivity platform used by millions of people every day to communicate, collaborate, and get work done. From Microsoft Teams and SharePoint to Excel, Outlook, OneNote, and the Office applications, Microsoft 365 shapes how modern organizations create, share, and manage information. The M365 Talk category focuses specifically on the tools, applications, and workflows that drive productivity in the Microsoft ecosystem.

In these episodes, we explore how Microsoft 365 apps are used in real-world scenarios. Topics include Microsoft Teams collaboration, SharePoint and OneDrive document management, Excel and Power BI for daily work, Outlook and calendaring, as well as practical productivity tips for individuals and teams. The focus is on understanding how these tools work together and how they can be used more effectively in everyday business environments.

M365 Talk is not about deep cloud architecture or security design. Instead, it concentrates on practical usage, adoption, and productivity improvements. We discuss common challenges such as collaboration chaos, file sprawl, inefficient meetings, and disconnected workflows — and how Microsoft 365 tools can help solve these problems when used correctly.

This category is ideal for knowledge workers, team leads, consultants, and IT professionals who support end users and want to help organizations get more value out of Microsoft 365. Whether you are looking to improve teamwork in Microsoft Teams, organize content in SharePoint, streamline daily tasks with Office apps, or simply work more efficiently, M365 Talk provides clear, practical insights into modern Microsoft 365 productivity.
When to Move Power Apps from SharePoint to Dataverse
Nov. 26, 2025

When to Move Power Apps from SharePoint to Dataverse

In this episode, we break down the myth that “SharePoint lists are a database for Power Apps” and show why that belief quietly kills performance, scalability, and data integrity. You’ll learn exactly where SharePoint list–backed Power Apps fall apart: delegation limits (500/2,000 record caps), the 5,000-item list view threshold, non-delegable filters, item-level permissions at scale, and complex queries that push all the heavy lifting to the client. We contrast this with Dataverse as the native data engine for Power Apps: server-side query execution, rich relational modeling, row and field-level security, auditing, better offline behavior, and clean integration with Power BI, Data Lake, and AI workloads. Instead of workarounds, throttled flows, and blue delegation banners, you get reliable performance and honest record counts. The episode gives IT leaders and makers a decision framework: clear thresholds for when to move from SharePoint to Dataverse (record volumes, compound fil…
Guest: Mirko Peters
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Block Copilot Access to Sensitive SharePoint Documents with Purview DLP
Nov. 24, 2025

Block Copilot Access to Sensitive SharePoint Documents with Purview DLP

Worried your SharePoint or Copilot agent is “hallucinating” data leaks? In this episode, we unpack why that’s almost never the model’s fault and almost always your permissions and scope design. You’ll learn how SharePoint and Microsoft 365 agents actually see your data through Microsoft Graph, why overscoped knowledge sources plus permissive inheritance turn into accidental disclosure at machine speed, and why grounding does not equal a security boundary. We break down a practical mental model for agents – user persona plus retrieval filters, gated by permissions, labels, and Purview DLP – and show exactly how an agent can quietly stitch together truths from adjacent libraries you never properly isolated. From there, we go deep into the four control planes that stop bleed without killing usefulness: scoping knowledge sources at the library level with strict metadata and multiple narrow, specialized agents instead of one encyclopedic monster; breaking SharePoint inheritance where it…
Guest: Mirko Peters
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Find and Remove Orphaned SharePoint Sites
Nov. 22, 2025

Find and Remove Orphaned SharePoint Sites

Your SharePoint isn’t messy – it’s a digital landfill you’re paying to host. Dead projects, duplicate “final_v7_REAL_final” files, ghost guest access, broken links, and a Copilot happily hallucinating on rotten content. This video shows you how to turn that chaos into a governed, measurable, adult-run SharePoint and Microsoft 365 environment – using licenses you already own. No third-party tools, no fluffy “best practices”, just enforcement. You’ll learn how to stop SharePoint sprawl at the source with standardized site provisioning, templates, and naming that actually stick, then enforce lifecycle with automated inactivity checks, owner attestations, and read-only/archival rules in both E3 and E5. We’ll define what a “healthy” site really is, expose inactive and ownerless sites, cut duplicate content, and reduce search noise so users finally hit the right document on the first click. We go deep on retention labels vs retention policies, how to auto-apply labels using metadata, …
Guest: Mirko Peters
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Archive Inactive SharePoint Sites with Azure Blob Storage
Nov. 20, 2025

Archive Inactive SharePoint Sites with Azure Blob Storage

SharePoint looks confident on the surface, but under the hood it’s drowning in duplicates, forgotten drafts, and every “final final V2” that ever existed. In this episode, we pull back the curtain on why your search results lie, why Copilot sounds smart while guessing, and how a quiet storm of rogue files destroys governance without anyone noticing. It’s not a storage problem, it’s a relevance problem, and the chaos is baked into human behavior—people hoard because delete feels dangerous. SharePoint obeys, versions multiply, and truth dissolves in a fog of near-identical copies that confuse ranking systems and derail compliance. This episode dives into the architecture that fixes the mess without breaking collaboration or scaring users. We redesign the entire content lifecycle using a SharePoint command, an Azure Function, Blob tiers that behave like a warehouse district, and a ledger that remembers everything you move. Search becomes sharper, Copilot stops hallucinating, and your …
Guest: Mirko Peters
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Improve SharePoint Document Libraries with New UX and Copilot
Nov. 20, 2025

Improve SharePoint Document Libraries with New UX and Copilot

Your SharePoint / Microsoft 365 document libraries are quietly killing productivity — and Microsoft already shipped the fix. In this episode, I show you how the NEW Doc Libs UX, Forms, Autofill and Copilot turn your “final_v3_REALLY_final.docx” graveyard into an intelligent workflow that actually guides work instead of hiding it. You’ll see how enhanced breadcrumbs, visible filter pills, board view and saved views slash “where did my file go?!” drama, and how one adoption-killing mistake in your forms is sabotaging everything. Then we flip the front door: idiot-proof intake with Forms, smart metadata from Autofill (reading time, abstracts, categories) and a simple triage routine that keeps your response folders from turning into purgatory. Finally, we weaponize Copilot inside Doc Libs: instant version comparisons, punchy abstracts, audio overviews and grounded Q&A that turns a file pile into decisions on demand. Implement the five switches from this episode and your library stop…
Guest: Mirko Peters
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Build Multi-Channel Agents with the Microsoft 365 Agent SDK
Nov. 19, 2025

Build Multi-Channel Agents with the Microsoft 365 Agent SDK

Your M365 AI agent isn’t failing because the model is bad—it’s failing because your plumbing is. This episode exposes why DIY agents that “work in dev” die the second real users and security show up. You’ll hear how app-only auth quietly nukes permission fidelity and audit trails, why stateless bots forget context the moment you add a second node, and how hand-rolled Teams/Slack/Outlook adapters create glitchy, untrustworthy UX that feels cheap and amateur. The host then reveals the real unlock: the Microsoft 365 Agent SDK as the non-optional backbone for identity, state, channels, and governance. You get act-as-user auth, durable conversation state across clusters, real adapters for Teams/web/Slack/Copilot, streaming that just works, and built-in hooks for Purview, DLP, Defender, and eDiscovery—so security says “yes” instead of “absolutely not.” If you’re gluing LangChain, SK, and custom tools together and hoping it passes review, this episode is the wake-up call: stop shipping…
Guest: Mirko Peters
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Stop OneDrive Sync Conflicts with SharePoint Shortcuts
Nov. 18, 2025

Stop OneDrive Sync Conflicts with SharePoint Shortcuts

Stop treating the cloud like a USB stick from 2007. In this episode, we unpack why “Sync Everything” secretly trashes your CPU, storage, bandwidth, and governance—and how OneDrive shortcuts turn that wheezing laptop into a fast, curated workspace. If your fan is screaming, your sync queue is stuck on “processing changes,” and your C: drive is one bad folder away from full, this is your intervention: doors to the source, not copies of the building.
Guest: Mirko Peters
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Automate Microsoft Planner Tasks with Copilot Studio
Nov. 14, 2025

Automate Microsoft Planner Tasks with Copilot Studio

Still dragging cards around in Microsoft Planner like it’s 2015? In this episode, I show you how to stop babysitting boards and start speaking tasks into existence with a “Task Planner” Copilot agent. You’ll learn how Planner, Copilot Studio, and Power Automate actually fit together: Planner keeps the board tidy, Copilot reasons over your requests, and Power Automate quietly runs the rules in the background. Step by step, we build an agent in Copilot Studio with tight instructions and locked-in Group/Plan IDs so it can safely create, list, and update Planner tasks from natural language — including “tomorrow”, “next Friday”, or “set everything to Friday”. Then we push it into Microsoft 365 Copilot and Teams so you can say things like “Create three tasks for next week’s sprint” or “List my open tasks, then set them all to Friday” without touching a single card. We wrap with the unsexy parts that actually matter: governance, DLP, connector ownership, context limits, and how t…
Guest: Mirko Peters
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Automate Excel RFI Responses with an Autonomous Agent
Nov. 13, 2025

Automate Excel RFI Responses with an Autonomous Agent

This episode explains how to eliminate manual Excel work by using an autonomous agent that completes spreadsheet-based RFIs without human involvement. Instead of relying on macros or step-by-step automation, the system watches for incoming Excel files, interprets the questions inside them, generates accurate responses using defined knowledge, writes the answers back into the spreadsheet, and sends the completed file automatically. The episode emphasizes the difference between simple automation and true autonomy. Automation waits for instructions, while an agent acts independently by observing, reasoning, and completing tasks end to end. RFIs are used as the ideal example because they are structured, repeatable, and clearly define what “done” looks like. This structure allows the agent to behave predictably rather than creatively, reducing errors and eliminating wasted effort. A major theme is the importance of structure and discipline. Clean inputs, consistent spreadsheet layout…
Guest: Mirko Peters
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Copilot in Office Apps: The Governance Checklist
Nov. 11, 2025

Copilot in Office Apps: The Governance Checklist

Microsoft says Copilot is now free across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote. But here’s the twist: it’s not magic — it’s your data, orchestrated. In this episode we rip off the marketing gloss and show how Microsoft Graph pipes your emails, files, meetings, and notes into a single “AI brain.” You’ll see how Copilot actually works, where it really saves time, and why privacy, DLP, and audit workloads spike the moment you switch it on. Faster workflows? Yes. Free compliance? Not a chance.
Guest: Mirko Peters
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Why SharePoint Is Not a Database for Power Apps
Nov. 8, 2025

Why SharePoint Is Not a Database for Power Apps

In this episode of the M365 Show, we unpack the most common Power Apps mistake in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem: assuming SharePoint is a “free database.” We break down why SharePoint lists look like a database, but architecturally behave like a file-centric collaboration layer—not a transactional data engine. From delegation limits to the infamous 2,000-record wall, we explain how apps built on SharePoint scale beautifully for a month… then collapse under load, concurrency, throttling and lookup chains. If you’ve ever heard “we’ll just use SharePoint for now,” this episode will save future performance pain. Learn what a real database is, how Dataverse and SQL handle indexing + relationships correctly, and why treating SharePoint like SQL is the fastest way to kill a Power App.
Guest: Mirko Peters
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Fix Power Apps Delegation Warnings in SharePoint Lists
Nov. 6, 2025

Fix Power Apps Delegation Warnings in SharePoint Lists

Power Apps makes it dangerously easy to build an app on a SharePoint list—and most beginners assume that if it works instantly, it must be the right foundation. It isn’t. SharePoint was never engineered to act like a real transactional database, and when you scale—users, data size, queries—delegation breaks, filters lie, and performance collapses invisibly. Early success hides future failure. The platform rewards you with a fast prototype that slowly becomes a production liability. Dataverse is built for data. SharePoint is built for collaboration metadata. Use the wrong one, and Power Apps becomes fragile, inaccurate, and untrustworthy at scale.
Guest: Mirko Peters
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Govern SharePoint Knowledge Agent with Human Oversight
Oct. 31, 2025

Govern SharePoint Knowledge Agent with Human Oversight

The SharePoint Knowledge Agent is marketed as an autonomous librarian; in practice, it’s an overconfident intern that needs supervision. It can suggest metadata, set simple natural-language rules, and answer questions across libraries—but it amplifies whatever chaos already exists. Auto-tagging mirrors your inconsistencies (duplicate/variant columns), rules fire unreliably (timing/indexing fragility), and chat answers can surface sensitive or misleading content because fluency ≠ judgment. The biggest hidden risk is metadata inflation and AI drift: casual prompts quietly spawn new columns and rules, fragmenting taxonomy and contaminating Copilot results downstream. The fix isn’t to ban it—it’s to sandbox and govern it: run pilots in curated libraries, review every suggested column, lock naming conventions, monitor column/rule creation, and gate publication. Used deliberately, it speeds broad classification and search. Used as “autopilot,” it manufactures governance debt at machine spee…
Guest: Mirko Peters
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SharePoint Lists vs Model-Driven Apps: Avoid Overbuilding
Oct. 25, 2025

SharePoint Lists vs Model-Driven Apps: Avoid Overbuilding

Model-Driven Power Apps sell “enterprise-grade” credibility but often deliver ceremony over outcomes. The catch is Dataverse: powerful, yes—but it drags licensing, security matrices, solution layers, environment sprawl, and governance latency into problems that needed a shared list and three notifications. Teams embrace the architecture because it feels serious; then drown in schema tweaks, role puzzles, and dashboards nobody opens. Meanwhile, a Fusion Team using Teams + SharePoint Lists + Power Automate ships the same value in days: simple columns, lightweight lookups, chat-native tabs, adaptive cards, and approvals that people actually see. Scale isn’t a Dataverse slogan; it’s a team behavior—indexed lists, basic archiving, and clear ownership carry thousands of rows just fine. Start light, prove value, graduate only when complexity is real (multi-system, regulated, transactional). The silent killer? “Security” settings that over-restrict—mis-scoped roles/business units that make re…
Guest: Mirko Peters
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Build Internal Outlook Newsletters with Dynamic Groups
Oct. 21, 2025

Build Internal Outlook Newsletters with Dynamic Groups

Most internal updates die in Teams noise. The fix isn’t a new platform—it’s wiring together tools you already own. Build a clean, repeatable newsletter pipeline inside Microsoft 365: target precisely with Dynamic Distribution Groups (Entra ID attributes), send consistently from a shared mailbox (branding + continuity), compose with a reusable Outlook template (clear blocks, predictable layout), automate the intake → approval → send workflow (Forms + Planner/Loop + Power Automate), and measure with Exchange traces + Delivery Reports → Power BI. Segmentation keeps messages relevant; a shared sender builds trust; templates train readers; workflow removes heroics; analytics replace guesswork. Wrap it all in light governance (roles, retention, versioned assets), then scale to other departments with the same pattern. The payoff: updates stop getting buried, audiences see only what matters, and leaders finally get measurable engagement—no extra licenses, just discipline across Outlook, Ex…
Guest: Mirko Peters
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Replace SharePoint 2013 Workflows Before Retirement
Oct. 12, 2025

Replace SharePoint 2013 Workflows Before Retirement

Your SharePoint isn’t “old” — your legacy workflows are. The episode shows how to modernize without rebuilding: keep your lists/libraries, then layer Power Apps for usable front-ends, Power Automate for reliable approvals, AI Builder to auto-classify/extract from PDFs, and Copilot Studio for conversational retrieval and actions. It stresses urgency: SharePoint 2010 workflows are retired; 2013 workflows are disabled for new tenants (Apr 2, 2024) and fully retire in SharePoint Online on Apr 2, 2026. Quick audits + replacements turn a “2013 dungeon” into an AI-powered hub—with governance intact (AI Builder training data stored in Dataverse, visible only to the model owner or approved admins).
Guest: Mirko Peters
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Reduce SharePoint Premium SAM and PAYG AI Costs
Oct. 10, 2025

Reduce SharePoint Premium SAM and PAYG AI Costs

SharePoint Premium with SharePoint Advanced Management (SAM) is the governance backbone that keeps Copilot from turning oversharing into a data leak. You’ll learn how to spot risky sites with Data Access Governance (DAG), lock down visibility with Restricted Access Control (RAC), use Site Access Reviews to make owners accountable, and apply AI Insights to prioritize fixes. Think moat + walls + watchtowers: RBAC is the moat; SAM builds the walls; DAG/AI Insights are the watchtowers; owners are the guards.
Guest: Mirko Peters
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Make SharePoint Search Show the Right Files First
Oct. 9, 2025

Make SharePoint Search Show the Right Files First

If you can paste the exact title of a file into intranet search and still get nothing back, you don’t have a user problem—you have an Information Architecture (IA) problem. This episode shows how to fix the foundations so both humans and Copilot can actually find things. We break IA into six core elements—global navigation, hub navigation, local navigation, metadata, search, and personalization—and explain how each one supports the others. You’ll see why “Studio-perfect” AI is useless if your sites are a maze, why flat site architecture + hubs beat old nested subsites, and how mandatory, lightweight metadata (content types, owner, status, region) turns search from guesswork into precision. We’ll map the three navigation layers (world, region, street), show quick tests to spot bloat and dead ends, and explain how audience targeting + Viva Connections deliver the right content to the right roles without manual tinkering. Bottom line: fix the map, tag the loot, and target the drop—then C…
Guest: Mirko Peters
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Connect Power BI Desktop to SharePoint Folders
Sept. 24, 2025

Connect Power BI Desktop to SharePoint Folders

sharepoint has this way of becoming everything and nothing all at once. a place meant for structure slowly turning into a maze of lists, libraries, document versions, old folders nobody remembers creating, and columns added by someone who left the company four years ago. people rely on it because it’s everywhere, because it’s part of microsoft 365, because it’s the easiest place to drop things when you don’t know where else they go. but with enough time, the whole thing starts to feel like a storage closet that everyone uses and nobody organizes. and then power bi steps in—not as a cleanup crew, but like someone who can walk into that same chaotic room and immediately understand where everything belongs. power bi doesn’t care how messy the source looks. as long as it can connect, it can make sense of it. once you point it at a sharepoint site, especially one running on sharepoint online, it starts reading those lists and libraries for what they really are: structured data waiting t…
Guest: Mirko Peters
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Microsoft Teams Channels vs Chat: When to Use Each
Sept. 20, 2025

Microsoft Teams Channels vs Chat: When to Use Each

Microsoft Teams channels are one of the most powerful yet misunderstood features in the entire Teams platform, and using them correctly can make or break your organization’s communication. In this episode, we dive into how Teams channels actually work, why they matter, and how to structure and manage them so your team stays organized instead of drowning in clutter. We break down the difference between standard, private, and shared channels, how naming and descriptions impact collaboration, and why organizing files inside each channel is essential for keeping projects on track. You’ll learn how to communicate effectively in channel conversations, when to use chat versus a channel post, how to avoid common mistakes like broken threads or lost messages, and what admins should know about permissions, access issues, deleted channels, and external collaboration. We also explore the connection between Teams and SharePoint, showing how every channel uses SharePoint behind the scenes and how u…
Guest: Mirko Peters
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Fix Broken SPFx Live Data Updates
Sept. 20, 2025

Fix Broken SPFx Live Data Updates

Real-time data is becoming essential in modern workplaces, and SharePoint is no exception. In this episode, we explore how developers can unlock powerful real-time experiences in SharePoint Online using SPFx web parts connected to dynamic APIs. You’ll learn how SharePoint and the SharePoint Framework work together, how SPFx taps into Microsoft Graph and the SharePoint REST API, and how to build custom web parts that pull live data directly into SharePoint pages. We break down what real-time data actually means, why it matters, and how it transforms dashboards, project sites, and intranet pages into constantly updating, actionable information hubs. You’ll also discover what goes into creating an SPFx web part from the development environment setup to integrating APIs, handling authentication, designing responsive UI, solving performance bottlenecks, and securing data connections. If you want to build modern, dynamic, constantly updated SharePoint solutions that truly keep your users in…
Guest: Mirko Peters
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Build Actionable Teams Notifications with Adaptive Cards
Sept. 19, 2025

Build Actionable Teams Notifications with Adaptive Cards

Managing notifications in Microsoft Teams can be the difference between staying focused and feeling overwhelmed, and in this episode we break down exactly how to take control of them. You’ll learn how Teams notifications actually work, how to customize alerts for chats, channels, meetings, and activity, and how to fine-tune the balance between staying informed and avoiding nonstop interruptions. We walk through the difference between banner alerts, activity feed updates, sound notifications, and mobile push notifications, and explain how to tailor each one so you only receive what truly matters. You’ll also discover how to manage notifications on desktop and mobile, mute noisy channels, adjust default settings, fix notification issues, and troubleshoot common problems like missing alerts or delayed messages. If Microsoft Teams feels chaotic or distracting, this episode shows you how to configure it so notifications work for you—not against you—and help you stay productive without miss…
Guest: Mirko Peters
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SharePoint Network Drive vs OneDrive Sync
Sept. 16, 2025

SharePoint Network Drive vs OneDrive Sync

Mapping SharePoint or SharePoint Online as a network drive sounds convenient, but in this episode we break down what it really means, why organizations consider it, and when it actually makes sense. You’ll learn how SharePoint document libraries work behind the scenes, how mapped drives behave in Windows, and why many users run into slow performance, sync problems, and missing features when treating SharePoint like a traditional file share. We explore the pros and cons of direct drive mapping, why OneDrive sync is the method Microsoft recommends, and how each option affects metadata, version history, permissions, and everyday collaboration. You’ll also discover practical alternatives, best practices for accessing document libraries, and how site maps, web parts, and modern navigation help users find and manage content without relying on outdated mapped-drive techniques. If you’ve ever wondered whether mapping SharePoint as a network drive is a smart strategy or a headache waiting to h…
Guest: Mirko Peters
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Close the Microsoft Teams Channel Governance Gap
Sept. 7, 2025

Close the Microsoft Teams Channel Governance Gap

This episode breaks down the often-overlooked security implications behind something as simple as hiding or showing a channel in Microsoft Teams. It goes far beyond basic interface cleanup and focuses on how channel visibility ties directly into cybersecurity, threat detection, and organizational governance. We explore how Teams channels structure communication, why they matter for reducing noise, and why they can also become a weak point if not managed with the right security mindset. The conversation highlights how Microsoft Security Copilot and threat intelligence tools can spot anomalies inside channels, detect suspicious file activity, and help admins stay ahead of vulnerabilities or malware hiding inside everyday collaboration spaces. We walk through the real meaning of hiding a channel—why it’s a user-level visibility choice rather than a security control—and why relying on hidden channels for confidentiality is a mistake. Instead, the episode digs into the security layers t…
Guest: Mirko Peters
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