Absolutely Critical

There's no shortage of frameworks telling organizations what to do about third-party and supply chain risk. What they don't have is a program. In this episode of Absolutely Critical, host Lee Mangold sits down with Jeffrey Sweet, a 35-year risk management veteran, former Security Director at American Electric Power, and founder of Resolute Cybersecurity Strategies, to talk about the hard work that...

Attackers don't need sophisticated malware when they can turn your own management tools into weapons. In this special episode of Absolutely Critical, host Lee Mangold sits down with Dave Gordon, Senior Threat Intelligence Specialist, and Andrea Schaumann-Phillips, Director of Federal Engagement at Fortress, to walk through the Q1 2026 threat intelligence brief covering 157 critical incidents targe...

In this episode of the Absolutely Critical podcast, host Lee Mangold explores the often-avoided world of risk management with David White, Co-founder of Axio. While many organizations treat risk as a mere checkbox for auditors, David argues it must be a repeatable "machine" that drives executive decisions. They dive into the limitations of qualitative 5x5 matrices, often called the "lighter shade...

The AI revolution has arrived, and the primary target isn't your software, it’s your human instincts. In this episode of Absolutely Critical, host Lee Mangold sits down with 25-year cybersecurity veteran James McQuiggan to explore the high-stakes world of AI-driven social engineering. They break down the "wake-up call" story of a global organization that lost $25 million to a deepfake video call a...

Absolutely Critical, a podcast by Fortress, goes inside how today’s leaders defend the systems, partners, and infrastructure their missions depend on from relentless cyber threats. Spanning government and commercial industries, the show explores what it takes to protect operations where disruption, compromise, or failure is not an option. Each episode delivers hard lessons, real strategies, and th...