We conclude our 2025 Cybersecurity Market re-cap with a look at the defensive and offensive moves brought in by AI tools - in particular through the use of autonomous AI agents. We also cover the implications of the ongoing "platform wars" between major vendors and service providers. Oh, and some of the boring bits... We also nominate our Heroes of the Year, as well as the Zeros and some of the things we thought were a bit "ho hum" in 2025....   Leave us a message! Want to leave some feedback and suggestions but would prefer not to write an email? You can leave us a voicemail (90 seconds max). We will share any that are not too spicy in the following episode. SpeakPipe link - https://www.speakpipe.com/Cyber_Sidekicks Or, send us an email: Christina Richmond – christina@richmondadvisorygroup.com Rory Duncan – rory@richmondadvisorygroup.com Subscribe to our Newsletter - "Signal, not noise"Our monthly newsletter is free to subscribers! Sign-up now at Richmond Advisory Group.   Technology we use Podcast Recording Platform – Cleanfeed.com Cyber Sidekicks Show Host – Podbean.com Edited & mastered in GarageBand

In the first of our recap of the 2025 cybersecurity market, Christina & I delve into the continuing boom in M&A that has fuelled consolidation since the low-point of 2023, with Alphabet/Google, Palo Alto Networks and others playing a significant role. We also chat with Alex Holland, Principal Threat Researcher at the HP Security Lab who explains how the quality of social engineering has dramatically improved - with some chilling examples. We also hijack his zoo analogy and end-up discussing pine martins (sorry Alex, that was my fault).... In next week's episode - number #49 - we conclude our 2025 recap with a roundup of the other major events and trends we saw, and share our "Heroes of the Year" and our "Zeros of the Year"   Leave us a message! Want to leave some feedback and suggestions but would prefer not to write an email? You can leave us a voicemail (90 seconds max). We will share any that are not too spicy in the following episode. SpeakPipe link - https://www.speakpipe.com/Cyber_Sidekicks Or, send us an email: Christina Richmond – christina@richmondadvisorygroup.com Rory Duncan – rory@richmondadvisorygroup.com Subscribe to our Newsletter - "Signal, not noise"Our monthly newsletter is free to subscribers! Sign-up now at Richmond Advisory Group.   Technology we use Podcast Recording Platform – Cleanfeed.com Cyber Sidekicks Show Host – Podbean.com Edited & mastered in GarageBand

Our first, annual predictions special episode! We delve into what we believe 2026 will mean for the cybersecurity industry, including what trends, technologies and external factors will be prominent over the next 12 months. Expect a lively discussion covering threat actors, defensive AI agents, post-quantum cryptography, device-level protection, and geopolitical instability. Products/vendors we mention: IBM's ATOM, Deepwatch, Ontinue, HP Inc.     Leave us a message! Want to leave some feedback and suggestions but would prefer not to write an email? You can leave us a voicemail (90 seconds max). We will share any that are not too spicy in the following episode. SpeakPipe link - https://www.speakpipe.com/Cyber_Sidekicks Or, send us an email: Christina Richmond – christina@richmondadvisorygroup.com Rory Duncan – rory@richmondadvisorygroup.com Subscribe to our Newsletter - "Signal, not noise"Our monthly newsletter is free to subscribers! Sign-up now at Richmond Advisory Group.   Technology we use Podcast Recording Platform – Cleanfeed.com Cyber Sidekicks Show Host – Podbean.com Edited & mastered in GarageBand

This week we discuss the under-the-radar purchase by Palo Alto Networks of observability specialist Chronosphere  for $3.35 billion: what does it mean for both companies and for the wider industry? Rory also has a great chat with Alex Berger, Head of Marketing at Ontinue about the latest developments in MDR. NEWS Palo Alto Networks to Acquire Chronosphere, “Next-Gen Observability Leader”, for the “AI Era” (we added quotes around the parts we think are up for debate/discussion!) Leave us a message! Want to leave some feedback and suggestions but would prefer not to write an email? You can leave us a voicemail (90 seconds max). We will share any that are not too spicy in the following episode. SpeakPipe link - https://www.speakpipe.com/Cyber_Sidekicks Or, send us an email: Christina Richmond – christina@richmondadvisorygroup.com Rory Duncan – rory@richmondadvisorygroup.com Subscribe to our Newsletter - "Signal, not noise"Our monthly newsletter is free to subscribers! Sign-up now at Richmond Advisory Group.   Technology we use Podcast Recording Platform – Cleanfeed.com Cyber Sidekicks Show Host – Podbean.com Edited & mastered in GarageBand

We had a wide-ranging chat with renowned cybersecurity researcher, innovator and author Harold Moss, looking at why we need to treat AI Agents like people - with their own identities - so that we can better manage any potential risk around their increasingly autonomous actions. NEWS Bridging the Skills Gap: How Military Veterans Are Strengthening Cybersecurity Wiz and Microsoft alumni launch Mate with $15.5M Seed to build AI-native security operations   Leave us a message! Want to leave some feedback and suggestions but would prefer not to write an email? You can leave us a voicemail (90 seconds max). We will share any that are not too spicy in the following episode. SpeakPipe link - https://www.speakpipe.com/Cyber_Sidekicks Or, send us an email: Christina Richmond – christina@richmondadvisorygroup.com Rory Duncan – rory@richmondadvisorygroup.com Subscribe to our Newsletter - "Signal, not noise"Our monthly newsletter is free to subscribers! Sign-up now at Richmond Advisory Group.   Technology we use Podcast Recording Platform – Cleanfeed.com Cyber Sidekicks Show Host – Podbean.com Edited & mastered in GarageBand

Cary Hudgins, VP of Product Management for Fortra's Cyber Portfolio joins us this week to chaqt about the increasing complexity of cybersecurity, particularly on the data storage side of things: data lakes, data warehouses and now data lakehouses. Rory also tries telepathy with Christina, with predictable results.... NEWS 5 Plead Guilty in US to Helping North Korean IT Workers Chinese spies told Claude to break into about 30 critical orgs. Some attacks succeeded…   Leave us a message! Want to leave some feedback and suggestions but would prefer not to write an email? You can leave us a voicemail (90 seconds max). We will share any that are not too spicy in the following episode. SpeakPipe link - https://www.speakpipe.com/Cyber_Sidekicks Or, send us an email: Christina Richmond – christina@richmondadvisorygroup.com Rory Duncan – rory@richmondadvisorygroup.com Subscribe to our Newsletter - "Signal, not noise"Our monthly newsletter is free to subscribers! Sign-up now at Richmond Advisory Group.   Technology we use Podcast Recording Platform – Cleanfeed.com Cyber Sidekicks Show Host – Podbean.com Edited & mastered in GarageBand

This week, Mike Perez, a Director at managed IT and security services provider Ekco chats to us about Digital Loss Prevention (DLP), incident readiness, how they use deepfakes for customer tabletop cybersecurity training exercises and more! NEWS Bank of England says JLR's cyberattack contributed to UK's unexpectedly slower GDP growth Vulnerability management vendor Intruder publishes its 2025 Exposure Management Index   Leave us a message! Want to leave some feedback and suggestions but would prefer not to write an email? You can leave us a voicemail (90 seconds max). We will share any that are not too spicy in the following episode. SpeakPipe link - https://www.speakpipe.com/Cyber_Sidekicks Or, send us an email: Christina Richmond – christina@richmondadvisorygroup.com Rory Duncan – rory@richmondadvisorygroup.com Subscribe to our Newsletter - "Signal, not noise"Our monthly newsletter is free to subscribers! Sign-up now at Richmond Advisory Group.   Technology we use Podcast Recording Platform – Cleanfeed.com Cyber Sidekicks Show Host – Podbean.com Edited & mastered in GarageBand

Oh boy, we had a wide-ranging and detailed discussion this week with Andy Ash (aka "Andy Two"), CISO at Netacea about the role of AI agents and bots in identity management and threat intelligence. How much risk do we trade off against convenience, and how does this affect our security? NEWS CISO Burnout – Epidemic, Endemic, or Simply Inevitable? CrowdStrike releases its 2025 European Threat Landscape Report   Leave us a message! Want to leave some feedback and suggestions but would prefer not to write an email? You can leave us a voicemail (90 seconds max). We will share any that are not too spicy in the following episode. SpeakPipe link - https://www.speakpipe.com/Cyber_Sidekicks Or, send us an email: Christina Richmond – christina@richmondadvisorygroup.com Rory Duncan – rory@richmondadvisorygroup.com Subscribe to our Newsletter - "Signal, not noise"Our monthly newsletter is free to subscribers! Sign-up now at Richmond Advisory Group.   Technology we use Podcast Recording Platform – Cleanfeed.com Cyber Sidekicks Show Host – Podbean.com Edited & mastered in GarageBand

This week, Christina has a great chat with Charles Henderson, EVP & Head of DivisionHex at Coalfire. The discussion covers offensive and defensive security, and managed security services as well as the ins-and-outs of cyber insurance and risk dynamics.... NEWS MITRE Unveils ATT&CK v18 With Updates to Detections, Mobile, ICS Cybersecurity Firms See Surge in AI-Powered Attacks Across Africa   Leave us a message! Want to leave some feedback and suggestions but would prefer not to write an email? You can leave us a voicemail (90 seconds max). We will share any that are not too spicy in the following episode. SpeakPipe link - https://www.speakpipe.com/Cyber_Sidekicks Or, send us an email: Christina Richmond – christina@richmondadvisorygroup.com Rory Duncan – rory@richmondadvisorygroup.com Subscribe to our Newsletter - "Signal, not noise"Our monthly newsletter is free to subscribers! Sign-up now at Richmond Advisory Group.   Technology we use Podcast Recording Platform – Cleanfeed.com Cyber Sidekicks Show Host – Podbean.com Edited & mastered in GarageBand

Lots to talk about this week as we dissect the AWS outage, what the implications are for resiliency, and AWS' own advice about how to mitigate dependencies on partitional services - with Sean Deuby, Principal Technologist at Semperis. NEWS Amazon fixes huge AWS outage that broke much of the internet – here's what happened Concerns over UK (and European) reliance on AWS and US services White Paper: AWS Fault Isolation Boundaries - Global Services Dutch government takes control of China-owned chip firm     Leave us a message! Want to leave some feedback and suggestions but would prefer not to write an email? You can leave us a voicemail (90 seconds max). We will share any that are not too spicy in the following episode. SpeakPipe link - https://www.speakpipe.com/Cyber_Sidekicks Or, send us an email: Christina Richmond – christina@richmondadvisorygroup.com Rory Duncan – rory@richmondadvisorygroup.com Subscribe to our Newsletter - "Signal, not noise"Our monthly newsletter is free to subscribers! Sign-up now at Richmond Advisory Group.   Technology we use Podcast Recording Platform – Cleanfeed.com Cyber Sidekicks Show Host – Podbean.com Edited & mastered in GarageBand

Big M&A news of the week as we discuss the announcement that LevelBlue will be acquiring Cybereason!  We also have a great discussion about security, website blocking and threat protection services with this week's guest TK Keanini, CTO at DNSfilter.   Leave us a message! Want to leave some feedback and suggestions but would prefer not to write an email? You can leave us a voicemail (90 seconds max). We will share any that are not too spicy in the following episode. SpeakPipe link - https://www.speakpipe.com/Cyber_Sidekicks Or, send us an email: Christina Richmond – christina@richmondadvisorygroup.com Rory Duncan – rory@richmondadvisorygroup.com Subscribe to our Newsletter - "Signal, not noise"Our monthly newsletter is free to subscribers! Sign-up now at Richmond Advisory Group.   Technology we use Podcast Recording Platform – Cleanfeed.com Cyber Sidekicks Show Host – Podbean.com Edited & mastered in GarageBand

Our guest this week is Chaitanya Challa, Product Leader, IBM Data Security & Quantum Safe. Having just released the IBM Guardium Cryptography Manager, Chaitanya gives us some great insights into what it's like to create and develop a new software product - involving 100 people over 6 months - including the many time zones involved and the lack of sleep that entailed! NEWS Google DeepMind’s New AI Agent Finds and Fixes Vulnerabilities Despite More CVEs, Cyber Insurers Aren't Altering Policies       Leave us a message! Want to leave some feedback and suggestions but would prefer not to write an email? You can leave us a voicemail (90 seconds max). We will share any that are not too spicy in the following episode. SpeakPipe link - https://www.speakpipe.com/Cyber_Sidekicks Or, send us an email: Christina Richmond – christina@richmondadvisorygroup.com Rory Duncan – rory@richmondadvisorygroup.com Subscribe to our Newsletter - "Signal, not noise"Our monthly newsletter is free to subscribers! Sign-up now at Richmond Advisory Group.   Technology we use Podcast Recording Platform – Cleanfeed.com Cyber Sidekicks Show Host – Podbean.com Edited & mastered in GarageBand

Lots to discuss this week! We find out about what's happening in the world of AI, Digital Forensics & Incident Response (DFIR) with Danny Howett, Technical Director at CyXcel. NEWS M&A: CyberBit Acquires RangeForce to Create Combined Cyber Range Platform Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2025: Prioritizing Identity to Safeguard Critical Infrastructure New AI term of the week – Workslop: In an article for the Harvard Business Review, a team of researchers coined the new term for “AI-generated work content that masquerades as good work, but lacks the substance to meaningfully advance a given task… The insidious effect of workslop is that it shifts the burden of the work downstream, requiring the receiver to interpret, correct or redo the work. In other words, it transfers the effort from creator to receiver.” Leave us a message! Want to leave some feedback and suggestions but would prefer not to write an email? You can leave us a voicemail (90 seconds max). We will share any that are not too spicy in the following episode. SpeakPipe link - https://www.speakpipe.com/Cyber_Sidekicks Or, send us an email: Christina Richmond – christina@richmondadvisorygroup.com Rory Duncan – rory@richmondadvisorygroup.com Subscribe to our Newsletter - "Signal, not noise"Our monthly newsletter is free to subscribers! Sign-up now at Richmond Advisory Group.   Technology we use Podcast Recording Platform – Cleanfeed.com Cyber Sidekicks Show Host – Podbean.com Edited & mastered in GarageBand

In this episode we have an in-depth chat with Kyle Wickert, Field CTO at AlgoSec about Cloud 2.0 / Network 2.0 and what his customers are saying to him about the use of AI/AI Agents, policy management, application recertification and much more! No News this week but Christina talks to us about her impressions of Lumen Technologies, following her attendance at last week's Analyst Summit.   Leave us a message! Want to leave some feedback and suggestions but would prefer not to write an email? You can leave us a voicemail (90 seconds max). We will share any that are not too spicy in the following episode. SpeakPipe link - https://www.speakpipe.com/Cyber_Sidekicks Or, send us an email: Christina Richmond – christina@richmondadvisorygroup.com Rory Duncan – rory@richmondadvisorygroup.com Subscribe to our Newsletter - "Signal, not noise"Our monthly newsletter is free to subscribers! Sign-up now at Richmond Advisory Group.   Technology we use Podcast Recording Platform – Cleanfeed.com Cyber Sidekicks Show Host – Podbean.com Edited & mastered in GarageBand

This week's episode sees us in discussion with the globetrotting CISO of Cequence Security, Randolph Barr about everything to do with AI, preventing API vulnerabilities, security hygiene and the dream of a fully agentic AI vulnerability management lifecycle...  Cybersecurity Society of the Philippines IN THE NEWS Programmers Using AI Create Way More Glaring Security Issues, Data Shows SentinelOne to Acquire Observo AI in $225 Million Deal   Leave us a message! Want to leave some feedback and suggestions but would prefer not to write an email? You can leave us a voicemail (90 seconds max). We will share any that are not too spicy in the following episode. SpeakPipe link - https://www.speakpipe.com/Cyber_Sidekicks Or, send us an email: Christina Richmond – christina@richmondadvisorygroup.com Rory Duncan – rory@richmondadvisorygroup.com Subscribe to our Newsletter - "Signal, not noise"Our monthly newsletter is free to subscribers! Sign-up now at Richmond Advisory Group.   Technology we use Podcast Recording Platform – Cleanfeed.com Cyber Sidekicks Show Host – Podbean.com Edited & mastered in GarageBand

Rock Lambros, CEO & Founder of Rock Cyber joins us again this week to delve deeper into the emerging opportunities, risks and challenges of using agentic AI in your SecOps - and what you can do to minimize potential exposure and risk. OWASP GenAI / Agentic AI resources In the news: Personal Liability, Security Become Bigger Issues for CISOs Varonis Acquires Email Security Provider SlashNext to Enhance BEC Defenses   Leave us a message! Want to leave some feedback and suggestions but would prefer not to write an email? You can leave us a voicemail (90 seconds max). We will share any that are not too spicy in the following episode. SpeakPipe link - https://www.speakpipe.com/Cyber_Sidekicks Or, send us an email: Christina Richmond – christina@richmondadvisorygroup.com Rory Duncan – rory@richmondadvisorygroup.com Subscribe to our Newsletter - "Signal, not noise"Our monthly newsletter is free to subscribers! Sign-up now at Richmond Advisory Group.   Technology we use Podcast Recording Platform – Cleanfeed.com Cyber Sidekicks Show Host – Podbean.com Edited & mastered in GarageBand

This week we chat with Chris Newton-Smith, CEO of ISMS Online about AI compliance, governance and the regulatory requirements relating to ISO 42001, the EU AI Act and more! In the news: US, Allies Push for SBOMs to Bolster Cybersecurity US Offers $10 Million for Three Russian Energy Firm Hackers  Rewards for Justice (RFJ) Leave us a message! Want to leave some feedback and suggestions but would prefer not to write an email? You can leave us a voicemail (90 seconds max). We will share any that are not too spicy in the following episode. SpeakPipe link - https://www.speakpipe.com/Cyber_Sidekicks Or, send us an email: Christina Richmond – christina@richmondadvisorygroup.com Rory Duncan – rory@richmondadvisorygroup.com Subscribe to our Newsletter - "Signal, not noise"Our monthly newsletter is free to subscribers! Sign-up now at Richmond Advisory Group.   Technology we use Podcast Recording Platform – Cleanfeed.com Cyber Sidekicks Show Host – Podbean.com Edited & mastered in GarageBand

This week we delve into OWASP's recently-released OWASP Agentic AI SecOps Framework and Market Landscape report: https://genai.owasp.org/resource/ai-security-solutions-landscape-for-agentic-ai-q3-2025/ This week's guest is Paul Farrington, Chief Product Officer at Glasswall. Paul, Christina & I talk about the evolution of Zero Trust and where the industry is headed.... Leave us a message! Want to leave some feedback and suggestions but would prefer not to write an email? You can leave us a voicemail (90 seconds max). We will share any that are not too spicy in the following episode. SpeakPipe link - https://www.speakpipe.com/Cyber_Sidekicks Or, send us an email: Christina Richmond – christina@richmondadvisorygroup.com Rory Duncan – rory@richmondadvisorygroup.com Subscribe to our Newsletter - "Signal, not noise"Our monthly newsletter is free to subscribers! Sign-up now at Richmond Advisory Group.   Technology we use Podcast Recording Platform – Cleanfeed.com Cyber Sidekicks Show Host – Podbean.com Edited & mastered in GarageBand

This week's guest is Simon Hodgkinson, Strategic Advisor to security firm Semperis. We chat about the importance of business fundamentals, the data and infrastructure hygiene required for effective cybersecurity, and what keeps him up at night! Leave us a message! Want to leave some feedback and suggestions but would prefer not to write an email? You can leave us a voicemail (90 seconds max). We will share any that are not too spicy in the following episode. SpeakPipe link - https://www.speakpipe.com/Cyber_Sidekicks Or, send us an email: Christina Richmond – christina@richmondadvisorygroup.com Rory Duncan – rory@richmondadvisorygroup.com Subscribe to our Newsletter - "Signal, not noise"Our monthly newsletter is free to subscribers! Sign-up now at Richmond Advisory Group.   Technology we use Podcast Recording Platform – Cleanfeed.com Cyber Sidekicks Show Host – Podbean.com Edited & mastered in GarageBand

In this week's special 30th Episode (woot!) we have a great discussion with IBM's Global Managing Partner of Cybersecurity Services, Mark Hughes around the adoption of AI, AI Agents and how to prepare for and manage the cybersecurity challenges and risks to the enterprise. Leave us a message! Want to leave some feedback and suggestions but would prefer not to write an email? You can leave us a voicemail (90 seconds max). We will share any that are not too spicy in the following episode. SpeakPipe link - https://www.speakpipe.com/Cyber_Sidekicks Or, send us an email: Christina Richmond – christina@richmondadvisorygroup.com Rory Duncan – rory@richmondadvisorygroup.com Subscribe to our Newsletter - "Signal, not noise"Our monthly newsletter is free to subscribers! Sign-up now at Richmond Advisory Group.   Technology we use Podcast Recording Platform – Cleanfeed.com Cyber Sidekicks Show Host – Podbean.com Edited & mastered in GarageBand