The Security Podcast of Silicon Valley

What if 80% of your security budget is protecting the wrong thing? Or Eshed built LayerX after realizing that firewalls and network tools were blind to exactly where breaches actually happen, in the browser. In this episode, Or breaks down how to build a future-proof security strategy around where employees actually work. Tune in. Or: www.linkedin.com/in/or-eshed LayerX Security: www.layerxsecurit...

A hacker who got kicked out of college for finding their vulnerabilities, became a national hacking champion, and is now building what he calls a sovereign-level cyber weapon. Alexis Lingad, founder of Kinosec, built an autonomous AI system that chains exploits across web, IoT, and physical infrastructure the same way a real attacker would, and he's already using it to sell AI pen testing to enter...

Google has said to be concerned about quantum computing by 2029. Kevin Kane, Co-Founder and CEO of American Binary, argues that timeline is already too relaxed and that companies treating post-quantum as a future problem are the ones most exposed right now. He breaks down what a real quantum-resilient architecture takes, why formal verification matters, and what harvest attacks mean for every encr...

Security incidents don't end when the threat is contained. They end when you can confirm no sensitive data left the building and most teams can't confirm that. Pranava Adduri and George Gerchow of Bedrock Data joined the show to talk through what data visibility actually looks like at enterprise scale, why the office of no is dead, and what a DBOM has to do with AI compliance. Together they make t...

Your printers know your passwords. They store credentials for your email server, your file shares, and your LDAP. Jim LaRoe, founder of Symphion, explains why 99% of enterprise printers sit at factory defaults, and what a single forgotten device actually costs you. Jim: www.linkedin.com/in/jim-laroe Symphion: www.symphion.com Jon: www.linkedin.com/in/jon-mclachlan Sasha: www.linkedin.com/in/aliaks...

The biggest AI mistake companies make isn't picking the wrong tool,  it's not understanding the dependencies underneath it. Jacob and Stephen from Talbot West share how they map entire organizations to find the right AI entry point, why LLMs are overhyped, and what technologies are actually underrated right now. Jacob: www.linkedin.com/in/jacobandra Stephen: www.linkedin.com/in/stephenkarafiath Ta...

You can have perfect infrastructure—and still be talking to the wrong person. In this episode, Jasson Casey (Beyond Identity) breaks down why identity—not infrastructure—is the real security boundary, how passwords created today’s vulnerabilities, and what a future without “moving secrets” looks like. If you’re building or scaling a company, this is a shift you can’t ignore. Listen now. Jasson: ww...

Is your security team drowning in noise while your developers struggle to keep up? Neatsun Ziv, CEO of Ox Security, explains why traditional "Shift Left" strategies have failed and how applying business context can help your team focus on the vulnerabilities that actually matter. Listen to the full episode to learn how to turn security into a competitive advantage. Neatsun: https://www.linkedin.co...

Most security decisions fail when the people doing the work don’t have the information they need. Garrett Smith, Founder and CEO of Reveal Technology and a Marine Corps Reserve Lieutenant Colonel, explains how bottom-up product design changes defense outcomes—and what business leaders can learn about building technology people actually adopt. Listen to learn how compliance, procurement, and missio...

AI agents can delete your production database and tell you everything is fine. Graham Neray, Co-Founder and CEO of Oso, breaks down why AI agents introduce a new level of risk for growing SaaS companies. If you’re adding AI to your product, moving upmarket, or selling into regulated industries, your authorization model is no longer a backend detail—it’s a growth dependency. Listen in to learn how...

The perimeter will fail. What matters is whether your business turns one incident into a disaster. Andrew Rubin, Founder and CEO of Illumio, explains how breach containment reduces blast radius, why category timing is “luck,” and what leaders must do as AI speeds up attackers and defenders. Listen for a founder-level playbook on building security that scales with growth. Andrew: https://www.linked...

AI won’t save your startup. Unless it can ship changes safely. Venkat Thiruvengadam breaks down why the real value isn’t the model, it’s the orchestration: guardrails, permissions, context, and human-in-the-loop workflows that let agents do more than “read-only.” Tune in for a practical conversation on scaling DevOps, security, and compliance without slowing the business. Venkat: www.linkedin.com/...

Trevor Hilligoss, Head of Security Research at SpyCloud  and former FBI agent, joins the show to discuss why humans remain the biggest security risk facing organizations today. From reused credentials to commoditized cybercrime tools, Trevor breaks down how attackers actually gain access — and why focusing on real-world human behavior is more effective than worrying about sophisticated nation-stat...

What if 90% of “secured” smart contracts were still exploitable? That’s the reality Olympix founder and CEO Channi Greenwall is seeing on-chain today. She breaks down why traditional audits are failing Web3 teams, why the attack surface is bigger than most founders realize, and how automated security is starting to close the gap. You’ll learn: Why Web3 security is closer to medical devices and avi...

Code ships faster than anyone can review it. Jack Cable, CEO and Co-Founder of Corridor, explains what actually gets missed when teams stop reviewing every pull request, why most security tools surface noise instead of risk, and how Corridor approaches secure-by-design when speed is non-negotiable. Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackcable Corridor: https://www.corridor.dev Jon: https://www.link...

What if your first security hire wasn’t a person, but a simple, guided program that made sense to everyone in your company? In this conversation, Sidekick founder and CEO Phil Howie breaks down how SMBs can build a security and privacy practice from the ground up—long before they can afford a full internal team. We cover the reality of compliance vs real security, working with MSPs, the role of de...

Most companies still test security long after code is shipped. That delay creates blind spots. In this episode, Rejah Rehim, Co-Founder & CEO of Beagle Security, explains how automated penetration testing gives teams a clearer picture of their real exposure—while keeping the process simple enough for developers to run themselves.   Rejah: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rejah/ Beagle Security: htt...

AI agents can burn through budgets and trust in minutes. Eric Olden, Co-Founder and CEO of Strata Identity, breaks down the control plane founders need: policy-driven guardrails, intent/context/outcome audit, and lifecycle governance—so you can move from sandbox to production with confidence. Eric: https://www.linkedin.com/in/boughtnotsold Strata Identity: https://www.strata.io Jon: https://www.li...

Most people think hackers exploit systems. The best hackers improve them. In this episode, Ted Harrington explains how to unlock your “inner hacker”—the mindset that turns obstacles into innovation. From breaking outdated rules to building smarter, safer companies, this conversation reframes what it means to lead with curiosity. Ted: https://www.linkedin.com/in/securityted/   Ted’s website: https:...

Cutting support costs usually tanks experience—unless you redesign the system. Veronica Moturi shares how Brinks built an AI “first line,” kept humans for nuance, and improved accuracy by unifying data, verification, and troubleshooting. If you’re scaling support, this is your roadmap to trust, speed, and measurable unit economics.   Veronica:  www.linkedin.com/in/veronica-moturi Brinks Home: brin...

Deepak Dutt, founder of Zighra, reveals how continuous behavioral authentication is changing the game—from stopping $200M fraud schemes to securing military operations. Deepak: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deepakdutt/ Zighra: https://zighra.com/ Jon: https:// www.linkedin.com/in/jon-mclachlan Sasha: https:// www.linkedin.com/in/aliaksandr-sinkevich YSecurity: https://www.ysecurity.io   🔒 Sponsored...

What if your first lines of code determined your startup’s ability to scale? Dirk Meister, founding engineer at Augment Code, walks us through the intentional security architecture decisions they made on day one—and why trust isn't something you can bolt on later. Dirk Meister: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meisterdirk/ Augment Code: https://www.augmentcode.com/ Jon McLachlan: https://www.linkedin.c...

Michael Nov, Co-Founder and CEO of Prime Security, reveals how ignoring the design stage creates costly security gaps later. He shares hard-won lessons from building at OwnBackup and launching a startup during crisis. Michael: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-nov Prime Security: https://www.primesec.ai Jon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-mclachlan   Sasha: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aliaksand...

Contracts aren’t controls. Jonathan Mortensen, CEO of Confident Security, lays out a practical path to provably private AI—confidential compute, attestation, and encrypted weights—so you can swap your OpenAI-compatible endpoint, keep crown-jewel data out of vendor training, and still close enterprise deals. Listen to learn how founders can pass security reviews, avoid GPU sprawl, and turn privacy...

AI isn’t just writing code—it’s joining the team. Scott Dietzen, Board Member at Augment Code, explains how Augment’s AI agents are changing the way enterprise software is built, secured, and scaled. These aren’t copilots for toy projects—they’re context-aware agents designed for real-world codebases and real production work. Scott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottdietzen Augment Code: https:// w...