Knowing your incidence response playbook is one thing, but is it ingrained deeply enough in your team for execution when disaster strikes? Tiffiny Bryant, Co-Host of the Stats on Stats Podcast and Information Security Analyst at Shipt, shares her powerful journey from the military into cybersecurity, and how she now raises awareness about the field through her podcast. In this episode, Tiffiny shares her experience being inside the Pentagon at 9/11 and how it shaped her approach to inc...

Vriti Magee, Founder and Principal of Mawa:ga Consulting, sits down with John Carse to explore the collision between AI innovation and enterprise security. In this episode, Vriti and John discuss the journey toward autonomous SOCs, the real risks of new browser AI agents like OpenAI's Atlas, and how innovation and governance mature each other instead of being at odds. 0:00 How Vriti uses the Zachman Framework in enterprise architecture 18:17 On automation replacing traditional security...

Tim Anderson shares two decades of cybersecurity expertise — starting with business continuity work to his current role protecting millions of digital identities as Deputy CISO of ID.me. In this episode, he breaks down why identity has become the new perimeter in security architecture, why browser security remains mission-critical for enterprise environments, and how decomposing problems—not just solutions—accelerates your career. 0:00 Building security programs and technical governance 14:5...

Mohana Balakrishnan, Chief Technology Officer at Schools Insurance Authority, shares his remarkable journey as a geophysicist discovering chromite deposits in Canada to leading technology and security for California schools. In this conversation, Mo opens up about why he transitioned from CISO to CTO, shares his philosophy on AI adoption and discusses why security leaders should be peers to CTOs, not subordinates. 0:00 Breaking into a new field field, even without qualification 17:00 Working...

Adrian Sanabria, Principal Researcher at The Defenders Initiative joins Field CISO John Carse to dissect why security keeps failing despite massive investments in tools and compliance frameworks. In this episode, John turns the tables and puts Adrian (also the Main Host of Enterprise Security Weekly) in the hot seat — discussing why focusing on checklists keeps defenders perpetually behind, how cyber insurance might force real change and why AI has become the attacker's number one accomplice ...

Royce Markose, CISO at Vistrada, shares his journey from breaking apart computers as a kid to leading cybersecurity for billion-dollar organizations. He dives into why hackers are shifting from endpoints to SaaS and browser attacks, how AI is transforming security risks, and how vendors should best pitch to CISOs and pull them into the conversation. 00:00 Leading a security team with limited resources 10:21 The mistake vendors make when selling to CISOs 16:07 Building cybersecurity strategie...

Alfredo Ramirez IV, Senior Director Analyst, Emerging Technologies & Trends at Gartner, sits with Audrey Adeline from the SquareX Founder’s Office to discuss the latest market trends from his vantage point: “agent washing” where vendors rebrand simple automation as AI agents, why machine identities are becoming the fastest-growing attack surface, and how both deepfakes and deepfake detection are rapidly evolving. 0:00 Lessons from the metaverse bust 13:41 When AI agents become insider th...

Bithal Bhardwaj, CEO at Gramax, spent over two decades as a cybersecurity leader across GE and GMR Group before making the leap to CEO. In this conversation, he reveals why the transition was surprisingly seamless, shares war stories from managing a 48-hour coordinated attack on critical infrastructure, and explains why security vendors shouldn't rely on marketing jargon. 0:00 Making the leap from CISO to CEO 15:13 "Contextualize cyber threats from a geography standpoint" 23:35 Why cri...

Marian Newsome, Founder of Ethical Tech Matters and an IEEE CertifAIEd Lead Assessor (Top 100 Globally), sits down with SquareX Field CISO John Carse to unpack why most organizations are dangerously unprepared for AI governance. They dive into real-world failures, discuss the three fundamental principles for AI governance, and why browser security should be on your threat model right now. 0:00 AI innovation should not outpace governance 12:25 Three principles for AI governance 21:55 Co...

J Wolfgang Goerlich, CISO for Oakland County Michigan Government, shares his unconventional path from wanting to be a hacker after watching the movie "Hackers" to leading government cybersecurity. In this conversation, Wolfgang breaks down why LLMs are surprisingly easy to manipulate using the same social engineering tactics that work on humans, why he believes good security starts with people not technology, and his fascinating approach to building security culture one conversation at a time...

Kane Narraway, Head of Enterprise Security at Canva, shares how he went from digital forensics in UK law enforcement to protecting millions of users' creative workflows today. He breaks down why marketing and sales teams are more vulnerable than engineers to attacks, his framework for balancing security with velocity and culture, and why security awareness training should “only do the required amount, and then tailor that to the individuals”. 0:00 Every country’s cybersecurity quirks a...

Join us as Dr. Nathan Fisk, Associate Professor of Cybersecurity Education of USF and Cyber Florida Academic Director, discusses the importance of community in cybersecurity education. In this episode, Nathan explains how formal education has drifted away from the hacker culture that actually builds effective security professionals. He shares insights on why passion beats certifications, how community connections trump degrees, and what parents need to know about their kids' shrinking attenti...

Cezary Piekarski, Group CISO at Standard Chartered, joins us to share hard-earned wisdom from 25+ years securing financial institutions globally. In this episode of the Be Fearless podcast, Cezary shares how Standard Chartered scales security without becoming a bottleneck, draws fascinating parallels between today's AI security challenges and buffer overflow attacks and why curiosity is the hallmark of all great CISOs. 0:00 Scaling security without bottlenecks 7:19 How the browser (and brows...

Eric Mizell, Field CTO and VP Field Engineering at Keyfactor, breaks down why digital certificates are the security blind spot most companies don't know they have. From his early days fixing Novell networks to helping enterprises manage millions of IoT identities, Eric shares war stories about expired certificates that couldn't send breach alerts, private keys stored in network folders with the same password, and how AI is intelligently helping threat actors make decisions on how to attack.&n...

Ben Waugh, BISO at Datavant, drops some hard truths about healthcare security - like how the most damaging breaches aren't from sophisticated nation-state actors, but from attackers exploiting basic gaps while security teams obsess over complex threats. With nearly two decades securing critical infrastructure at companies like Redox and Twilio, Ben shares war stories from the trenches, explains why browser-managed medical devices are becoming a new entry point for attackers, and reveals how A...

Sandip Wadje, Managing Director and Global Head of Emerging Technology Operational Risks & Intelligence at BNP Paribas, reveals the hidden challenges of securing one of the world's largest banks in an AI-driven world. From his unconventional journey starting in a TV factory to now influencing global regulatory guidelines, Sandip shares how the browser is a gigantic attack surface for banks, the harmfulness of redundant security controls and how communication is the most important soft ski...

Martin Holzworth, CISO at UnitingCare Queensland, brings 25 years of cybersecurity to this episode of the Be Fearless Podcast. In this conversation with Aleksandra Melnikova, Martin shares hard-won insights about protecting patient data, managing supply chain risks in healthcare, and why securing browsers has become non-negotiable in today’s threatscape. He discusses the unique challenges of healthcare security where patient safety is at stake and offers practical advice for building security...

Brad Berkson, CEO of Miles Space, sits down with John Carse to discuss his journey from McKinsey partner to serving as a former Pentagon senior official operations, to now pioneering space technology. Brad shares eye-opening insights about how most security breaches come from basic housekeeping failures rather than sophisticated attacks, his dot-com startup experience and why aerospace and defense face fundamentally different security stakes where it's not just about money — it's about nation...

With years directing cyber operations in the United States Air Force as a Cyber Officer, Sarah Cleveland brings a unique perspective to cybersecurity. In this conversation with John Carse, she discusses how military risk calculation differs from corporate approaches, shares practical insights on selling cybersecurity to federal agencies, why nation-state actors are becoming more in-your-face and what figure skating taught her about resilience. 0:00 Sarah’s experience leading C4 (Comman...

Drawing from her experience at Dell and Infosys, Security Engineer Yaamini Mohan breaks down why getting your security basics right — boring stuff like passwords, patching, and MFA— will move the needle much more than any expensive AI-powered solution. In this conversation with SquareX Field CISO John Carse, she also discusses how the shift to cloud and SaaS has expanded our attack surface, why most security work should be boring, and the myth of gender imbalance in the industry. 0:00 Securi...