The AI Security Podcast

In this episode, we dig into model weight security — what it means, why it’s emerging as a critical issue in AI security, and whether the framing in the recent RAND report on securing AI model weights actually helps defenders and policymakers.We discuss the RAND report Securing AI Model Weights: Preventing Theft and Misuse of Frontier Models — exploring its core findings, including how model weights (the learnable parameters that encode what a model “knows”) are becoming high-value targets and the kinds of attack vectors that threat actors might use to steal or misuse them.#ai #aisecurity #cybersecurity 👉 Read the full RAND report here:https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA2849-1.html

In this episode, we dig into Model Context Protocol (MCP) and agent-to-agent (A2A) communication — what they are, why they matter, and where the real risks start to emerge.We cover:- What MCP actually enables beyond “tool calling”- How A2A changes the threat model for AI systems- Where trust boundaries break down when agents talk to each other- Why existing security assumptions don’t hold in agentic systems- What practitioners should be thinking about now (before this ships everywhere)This one’s for anyone working on AI systems, security, or governance who wants to understand what’s coming before it becomes a headline incident.As always: curious to hear your takes — especially where you think the biggest risks (or overblown fears) really are.

As promised, I’m back with Tania for a deep dive into the wild world of agentic AI security — how modern AI agents break, misbehave, or get exploited, and what real case studies are teaching us. We’re unpacking insights from the Taxonomy of Failure Modes in Agentic AI Systems, the core paper behind today’s discussion, and exploring what these failures look like in practice.We also break down three great resources shaping the conversation right now:Microsoft’s Taxonomy of Failure Modes in Agentic AI Systems — a super clear breakdown of how agent failures emerge across planning, decision-making, and action loops: https://cdn-dynmedia-1.microsoft.com/is/content/microsoftcorp/microsoft/final/en-us/microsoft-brand/documents/Taxonomy-of-Failure-Mode-in-Agentic-AI-Systems-Whitepaper.pdfOWASP’s Agentic AI Threats & Mitigations — a practical, security-team-friendly guide to common attack paths and how to defend against them: https://genai.owasp.org/resource/agentic-ai-threats-and-mitigations/Unit 42’s Agentic AI Threats report — real-world examples of adversarial prompting, privilege escalation, and chain-of-trust issues showing up in deployed systems: https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/agentic-ai-threats/Join us as we translate the research, sift through what’s real vs. hype, and talk about what teams should be preparing for next 🚨🛡️.

A quick end-of-year message to say thanks. Thanks for being part of the channel this year — whether you’ve been watching quietly, sharing, or arguing with me in the comments. I really appreciate it.I hope you have a good Christmas and holiday period, whatever that looks like for you. Take a break if you can. See you in 2026.

In this episode, I’m joined by Bandana Kaur — a cybersecurity researcher, speaker, and all-round superstar who somehow managed to do in her teens what most people are still figuring out in their thirties. 🤔Bandana is just 18 years old, entirely self-taught in cybersecurity, already working in the field, and recently gave three talks at Black Hat. Yes, three! 😱We talk about how she taught herself cybersecurity as a teenager, how she broke into the industry without a traditional pathway, and what it’s actually like being young (and very competent) in a field that still struggles with gatekeeping. Bandana shares what she focused on while learning, how she approached opportunities like conference speaking, and what she thinks matters most for people trying to get into security today.This conversation is part career advice, and part reminder that you don’t need permission — or a perfectly linear path — to do meaningful work in cybersecurity.Follow Bandana: @hackwithher

Remember that time I invited myself over to Greg's place with my camera? This is part 2 from that great conversation. I'm curious to hear whether you've heard a lot about EA? It's something really big in the AI world but I'm conscious a lot of people outside the bubble haven't heard of it. Let me know in the comments! Check out Greg's work here: https://www.goodancestors.org.au/MIT AI Risk Repository: https://airisk.mit.edu/The Life You Can Save (book): https://www.thelifeyoucansave.org/book/80,000 hours: https://80000hours.org/Learn more about AI capability and impacts: https://bluedot.org/

This week I invited myself over to Greg Sadler's place, the CEO of Good Ancestors, about AI safety. I brought sushi but I didn't have lunch so I ate most of it, and then I almost made him late for his next meeting. We specifically chat through AI capabilities, his work in policy, and building a not-profit. Greg is the kind of person who is so smart and cool that I feel like an absolute dummy interviewing him - so I know you're all going to like this episode. Stay tuned for part 2 where we dive into effective altruism and its intersection with AI!Check out Greg's work here: https://www.goodancestors.org.au/MIT AI Risk Repository: https://airisk.mit.edu/The Life You Can Save (book): https://www.thelifeyoucansave.org/book/80,000 hours: https://80000hours.org/Learn more about AI capability and impacts: https://bluedot.org/

Hi! 👋 In this episode, we’re diving into the US AI Action Plan — the White House’s new roadmap for how America plans to lead in AI.. and beat China.We’ll look at what’s inside the plan, what it really means for AI security and regulation, and whether it’s more of a policy promise… or a political one.📄 You can read the full plan here:https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Americas-AI-Action-Plan.pdfLet me know what you think — is this the kind of leadership AI needs, or a dangerous framing of AI capability?

Welcome back! 👋After taking a little break to reset and redesign everything behind the scenes, I’m back — and consolidating all my content. This episode is part of both The AI Security Podcast (on Spotify and Apple Podcasts) and my YouTube channel, HarrietHacks — so whether you prefer to listen or watch, you’ll get the same great conversations (and bad jokes) across both platforms.From now on, I’ll be posting at least fortnightly (with the occasional bonus episode when something big happens… like when I announced the book!).I’ve been in a few conversations lately where people have tried to convince me that AI Security is just Application Security in disguise. Naturally, I disagree. 🤷‍♀️ So in this episode, we dive into AI Security vs Application Security — how they overlap, where they diverge, and why securing AI systems demands new thinking beyond traditional AppSec.💌 Sign up for the newsletter: http://eepurl.com/i7RgRM📘 Pre-order The AI Security Handbook: [link coming soon]🎥 Watch this episode and more on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HarrietHacks🔗 Useful LinksSQL Injection Examples (W3Schools): https://www.w3schools.com/sql/sql_injection.aspApplication Security Blog (Medium): https://medium.com/@pixelprecisionengineering1/application-security-appsec-in-cybersecurity-855ad9ce5e5eEcholeak Zero-Click Copilot Exploit (Dark Reading): https://www.darkreading.com/application-security/researchers-detail-zero-click-copilot-exploit-echoleakTraditional AppSec vs AI Security (Pillar Security): https://www.pillar.security/blog/traditional-appsec-vs-ai-security-addressing-modern-risks

For a while we've been wanting to talk about Agentic AI Security.. the thing is that we could spend multiple episodes talking about it! So we decided to do just that. This is part 1 - a primer - where we talk about exactly what AI agents are and why we may need to consider their security a bit differently. Stay tuned for the rest of the series!