Trustpilot's Gary Hunter on Structuring Security Knowledge for AI Success

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Dec 23, 2025

Gary Hunter, Head of Security Operations at Trustpilot, shares insights from his journey in building a robust security team. He emphasizes treating AI agents like interns, with strict guardrails to ensure safe operations. Discover how competitive prompt testing fine-tunes AI performance and how democratizing learning fosters cultural buy-in for AI adoption. Gary also reveals strategies for multimodal brand protection and why constraints can spark creativity in security practices. Tune in for valuable tips on enhancing detection and empowering team members.

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ADVICE

Build From Loudest Pain Points

Start security builds by identifying the loudest pain points and meeting business leaders to understand risk.
Run focused POCs to backfill gaps in identity, endpoint, and cloud coverage before scaling detection efforts.

INSIGHT

Throughput Limits Force Prioritization

Human analysts can only triage a finite number of alerts per day, so throughput constraints shape prioritization.
Constraints breed creativity and force teams to find enabling technologies or justify trade-offs.

ADVICE

Automate Triage With Enrichment

Use AI to triage noisy alert volumes by parsing JSON, enriching context, and routing outcomes via SOAR.
Transform complex alerts into user-friendly messages before sending them to nontechnical end users.

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Gary Hunter, Head of Security Operations at Trustpilot, built a security team from scratch at a company synonymous with trust. Gary shares how his ten-person team leverages AI agents across alert triage, multimodal brand protection, and incident response.

He explores why he and his team treat AI agents like interns with codified guardrails, why competitive prompt testing reveals the best approaches, and how restricting AI to specific documentation sets prevents confusion. Gary also offers his tips on building weatherproof team members who adapt to any technology shift and reflects on why constraints breed creativity in resource-limited environments.

Topics discussed:

Building security operations from scratch by identifying pain points, understanding technology gaps, and systematically increasing detection coverage and visibility
Leveraging AI agents for alert triage and workflows to enable teams to run as fast as attackers while maintaining appropriate human oversight
Implementing competitive prompt testing by running multiple AI models to identify the most effective approach before deployment
Creating cultural buy-in for AI adoption by empowering team members to contribute prompts and democratizing learning across skill levels
Using AI for multimodal brand protection, analyzing screenshots and HTML content to score potential infringements and automate response workflows appropriately
Treating AI agents like interns, codifying processes, and limiting tool access based on what you'd delegate to junior team members
Building detection strategies that focus on behaviors and crown jewels while using AI to triage noisy but potentially valuable alerts
Documenting institutional knowledge concisely rather than overwhelming AI models with extensive documentation that creates conflicting or irrelevant responses
Shifting team focus from alert triaging to high-impact prevention work, vendor management, and building relationships across the business

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