Catch this episode on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, Amazon, or Google. You can read the show notes here.   The word AI, much like Zero Trust, has come with a lot of baggage in the past few years. It’s a term that’s been misused, slapped on the front of startups’ overpriced booths at RSA and Black Hat, and it feels like every cybersecurity product under the sun now supports it in some flavor or fashion. It's the same cycle we’ve been in the past, but this time everyone is jumping in. This week we are getting in front of the bandwagon and chat with a pioneer in the cybersec AI space who has seen how the technology has been evolving over the past decade, Oliver Tavakoli, the CTO of Vectra AI.   “My contemporaneous definition of AI at any given moment in time is there's got to be enough pixie dust in it for people to view it as somewhat magical; so that's my incredibly technical definition. I'd say over the past 10-15 years, that is typically meant neural nets-that has those have been a stand in-and and obviously, neural nets can be used for discrimination [As opposed to a generative AI model]. Again, the example of cat (You search “Cat” on Google images, and it returns results that show images, in theory, of only cats) is an example of how they can be used in a generative sense, which is really the latest revolution that you see. And then the other thing is how broadly applicable they are and how well read they are.   Tavakoli’s definition of AI provides the context for how AI is primarily applicable today in cybersecurity. But, in the past, typically these concepts were held back by technology. There is also a stark difference between what has been referred to as AI, or a discriminative AI model, and what is most popular today, or generative AI. It turns out in these large language models, as you make them bigger, there was always kind of the question of if you make them big enough. Will they just plateau or will they take off? It really wasn't a foregone conclusion that if you made them big enough they would take off, but it was a bet that was placed and a bet that turned out to have some merit to it. And that is the crux of today’s interview: what was and will be the past and future impact of AI on cybersecurity? Key Takeaways AI plays a significant role in both offensive and defensive cybersecurity strategies. Threat actors use AI to enhance their attacks, making them more believable and harder to detect. Defensive uses of AI include improving workflow and making SOCs more productive. Organizations must always assume that compromise is possible and focus on minimizing the impact of breaches.

Zack Butcher, founding engineer at Tetrate, discusses building upon NIST’s Zero Trust policies and standards. They explore the challenges of implementing Zero Trust, the importance of identity-based segmentation and API security, and the role of service mesh in enhancing security and control in a distributed system. They also discuss the implementation and evolution of the Google BeyondCorp system.

Season two, episode 15: We talk ZT History and API security with the godfather of Zero Trust, Dr Zero Trust, and Richard Bird. Catch this episode on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, Amazon, or Google. You can read the show notes here. In the past few years, supply chain attacks and their impacts have or will soon overtake that of the damage done by ransomware. It’s of no surprise then that APIs are a critical attack vector that threat actors like to exploit, yet many organizations do not have a good understanding of how many doors they have running into their data. This week we chat with the godfather of Zero Trust, Dr. Zero Trust, and a chief security officer about the current state of API security maturity. Considering our guests, we, of course, also took the opportunity to chat a bit about Zero Trust's history. This week we have three very special guests: John Kindervag, the creator (godfather) of Zero Trust Chase Cunningham, AKA Dr Zero Trust, and the now VP of Market Research for G2 Richard Bird, Traceable AI’s Chief Security Officer Key Takeaways Like any other cybersecurity concept, APIs must have an asset inventory There is enough margin of error tied to the intended use of APIs that require continuous monitoring/verification There is a current maturity gap associated with securing the use of APIs in the name of speed and innovation, and often there is not a well-established owner Editors Note We will be taking a publishing break for the month of September as my daughter has arrived, and I will need to catch up on all the sleep I can get. We should be back in October and run through until the holiday break before we wrap season two. I’m also working on a few experimental podcast series during my parental leave, so stay tuned. At least one in particular should be of interest to our audience here. Also, if you work for a cybersecurity org and are interested in launching a podcast, slide into my inbox if you need a hand.

The podcast discusses the illusion of passwordless technology and how it is not a new concept. It emphasizes the importance of multifactor authentication for successful cybersecurity. The guest, Derek Hanson, shares insights on passwordless concepts, passkeys, and the split between identification and authentication. The podcast also delves into the significance of physical devices and certificates in security practices, explores vulnerabilities of using MFA through smartphones, and highlights the need to move away from SMS OTP for better security.

Global CISO Janet Heins discusses cybersecurity prevention in a global organization like iHeartMedia. Topics include Zero Trust philosophy, prevention measures, challenges in the radio industry, navigating tools in media, OT/IT security intersection, and cultural perspectives in cybersecurity.

Guests discuss the journey towards deep trust in Zero Trust, building a culture of security awareness in product companies, meeting security requirements, and the intersection of compliance and security. They emphasize the importance of multiple layers of trust and the role of security practitioners in guiding the business.

Last episode, we brought to you a wild story of a victim who was SIM-swapped four times, and this week we’re back to basics with some fresh research and a closer look at a critical piece of Zero Trust: Non-federated applications.   Cerby’s Chief Trust Officer, Matt Chiodi, was kind enough to add a bit of color to a research report they released at RSA that helps validate what they’ve been building the past 3 years. Before we get to that, it’s worthwhile to define what nonfederated applications are, as, like many cybersecurity concepts, it’s going through an identity crisis.   Nonfederated applications are essentially the opposite of how organizations should be inventorying, tracking, and providing access to applications (SaaS platforms are a good example). To align with Zero Trust, or really any modern cybersecurity strategy, SSO, SAML, and other solutions designed to scale are necessary so IT and security teams can properly manage access. However, there are always outliers, which the business still needs access to, such as managing admin access to a social media profile.   This brings us back to Matt and the Ponemon Institute, who produced the recent research report: The Hidden Cybersecurity Threat in Organizations: Nonfederated Applications.

Taking a break from our usual format, this week we chat with a victim-turned-CEO who was hit by SIM-swapping attacks. However, not all harsh starts have to end that way, and Haseeb Awan made the best of a bad situation. After being compromised not once… nor twice, but four times, Haseeb eventually took matters into his own hands and developed a new solution and company, Efani. Haseeb was kind enough to share his personal experience of being SIM swapped where he describes the fear and anxiety felt as a result of the attacks and explained how easy it is to compromise a phone number.

In this episode, we chat with Phil Vachon, Head of Information Security Architecture at Bloomberg, about how they transformed their security organization with Zero Trust. Zero trust involves three principles: trust but verify, assume compromise, and strong posture. It is a continuing journey, not a destination, requiring a good mindset about implementing controls and reasoning about security architecture.

There’s no avoiding it, the headlines have not been kind to the ways we access systems today. Users are still using 1234, password, and even their dog's name. Not just using these weak passwords but also reusing them across multiple platforms, making it incredibly easy to breach someone once they’ve been caught up in a previous breach. On the vendor side, well we all know what’s happened there in the past 12 months, and now more than ever, password management platforms have growing targets on their back as high-value assets.   But we are not here to throw rocks in the glass house nor try to dissect what goes well or goes wrong in these situations; however, we should all focus on what we can take away from them and ensure they are not repeated. This concept aligns well with Zero Trust, where we should assume systems are already breached, that your users - be it intentionally to shitpost in a discord channel or accidentally fall for a phishing lure- and we should remove as much implicit, unchecked trust as possible. At least until Skynet takes us all out, but we have a few good years ahead.    Jokes aside, we have a great episode for you and appreciate Bitwarden lending us two of their C-suite members who cover a range of topics, including how they navigate these challenges. This week we chat with Bitwarden’s CEO Michael Crandell and Chief Customer Officer Gary Orenstein. Bitwarden offers an integrated open-source password management solution for individuals, teams, and business organizations. It also offers a self-hosted solution, which appeals to those who want greater control over their secrets. Key Takeaways The use of a Zero Knowledge architecture means that the company, whether cloud-hosted or self-hosted, should not be able to access sensitive information without the user's permission. Open-sourced solutions offer additional layers of trust as there are more eyes are on the product and can vet it for security Passwordless authentication is the future