CISO Confidential

In this CISO Confidential episode with Saket Modi, Tim Brown - former CISO of SolarWinds, opens up about the SUNBURST attack that compromised 18,000 customers worldwide and reshaped the cybersecurity industry overnight. Tim walks through the first 48 hours of the breach, the anatomy of the nation-state attack that sat undetected in SolarWinds' build system for nearly a year, and the brutal persona...

In this CISO Confidential episode with Saket Modi, Ben breaks down the real playbook for high-speed security decisions: building “networks in a box” before supply chains locked up, balancing controls with urgency, and evolving from scrappy crisis-mode fixes to a mature, defensible risk program. The conversation also goes deep on why quantifying risk (and aligning with standards like FAIR and insur...

CISO Confidential: Speaking Exec – Tony on Turning Cyber Risk into Business Decisions In this eye-opening episode of CISO Confidential , host Saket Modi sits down with Tony, a seasoned technology risk leader, to unpack one of his most vivid experiences: a SQL injection attack that triggered suspected customer data exfiltration. Tony shares not just the technical details of the breach, but the huma...

CISO Confidential: Leadership Under Fire – Drew Simonis on Surviving a Week-Long Cyber Crisis Saket Modi sat down with Drew Simonis to unpack what it really feels like to lead through a prolonged cyber incident. In this episode of CISO Confidential, Drew goes beyond the technical details to reveal the hidden pressures — from executives demanding answers to teams struggling with burnout — and share...

CISO Confidential: What Really Happens After a Cyber Breach – Supro Ghose on Leadership Under Pressure Saket Modi sat down with Supro Ghose, CISO of Graphene Security, to explore what it truly means to lead with resilience in today’s evolving threat landscape. In this episode of CISO Confidential, Supro opens up about the human challenges behind the role, navigating burnout, driving cultural chang...

CISO Confidential: CISO Pressure - Leading Through a Breach Saket Modi sat down with John Sapp, CISO of Texas Mutual Insurance Company , to talk about what it really feels like to lead a security team through the aftermath of a major breach. In this episode of CISO Confidential, John shares how he responded when a large-scale attack struck his organisation. From FBI involvement to restoring intern...

CISO Confidential: Breach Incoming – Leading Through a Live Cyber Incident What really happens when a breach hits and you're the one responsible? In this episode of CISO Confidential , SAFE’s CEO Saket Modi sits down with Brandon Pinzon, a veteran CISO in financial services and insurance, to unpack the reality of leading security through a live cyber incident. Brandon shares an unfiltered look at...

CISO Confidential: How a CISO Turned a Misstep into a Playbook for Cyber Resilience In this episode of CISO Confidential , SAFE’s CEO Saket Modi sits down with Anand Singh , Former Chief Information Security Officer at UnitedHealth (OptumInsight) , to uncover what it truly feels like to lead security in one of the world’s largest and most complex organizations. Anand opens up about the emotional w...

Saket sat down with Erik Decker, Chief Information Security Officer at Intermountain Health, taking us deep into the real frontline of cyber defense in hospitals. From ransomware attacks that lock critical systems to the unseen war on patient data, this episode uncovers the threats you don’t hear about — and why healthcare might be the next battleground. If you’re in cybersecurity, risk, or tech l...

In this episode of CISO Confidential , Elias Oxendine, now the CISO of Tractor Supply shares a raw and candid account of his nerve-wracking first board meeting as a CISO prior to his current role, where technical metrics failed to engage the room and silence signaled a disconnect. Through trial, mentorship, and a strategic shift to risk-based financial narratives, he turned the experience around—g...

In this episode of CISO Confidential , Randy Herold, CISO of Manpower Group, shares an intense real-world cybersecurity breach. From discovering the attack to shutting down email and handling executive pressure, this episode is a must-watch for cybersecurity professionals and business leaders. Randy Herold, the Chief Information Security and Privacy Officer at ManpowerGroup. With over 25 years of...