Secure Talk Podcast

Justin Beals

Secure Talk reviews the latest threats, tips, and trends on security, innovation, and compliance. Host Justin Beals interviews leading privacy, security and technology executives to discuss best practices related to IT security, data protection and compliance. Based in Seattle, he previously served as the CTO of NextStep and Koru, which won the 2018 Most Impactful Startup award from Wharton People Analytics. He is the creator of the patented Training, Tracking & Placement System and the author of “Aligning curriculum and evidencing learning effectiveness using semantic mapping of learning assets,” published in the International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJet). Justin earned a BA from Fort Lewis College.

  1. 22h ago

    AI Is Eating Our Young: Data Center Revolts, Vanishing Junior Jobs & the EU AI Act

    Communities are blocking $130 billion in AI data centers while the entry-level jobs that used to train the next generation of engineers quietly disappear. Chapters:  00:00:  The Backlash: 800 Groups, 49 States, $130B BlockedGallup: 71% of Americans don't want a data center built near them (Gallup)Data center opposition tracker, Q1 2026 filings (referenced industry opposition data)CMMC as precedent for regulating critical infrastructure (DoW CMMC Phase 2 program) 04:30:  Why AI Is "Eating Our Young" in Education**Fran Berman & co-author's unpublished piece on the fraying mid-career pipelineBetter Tech (MIT Press) — Chapter appendix: AI classroom syllabus and exercises 14:00:  Tech as Critical Infrastructure, Not a ReligionBetter Tech prologue: treating tech like food, water, roads, and the power gridGDPR (EU, 2018) as a case study in regulation done right — and its limitsVermont's data broker law as a case study in weak enforcement 26:00: Design Can't Be Bolted On Later**Self-driving cars and the hidden environmental cost of full autonomyAttack surface risk: denial-of-service on connected, self-driving fleets 34:00: Governing the Hybrid Human-AI Society**EU AI Act — risk-tiered regulation: unacceptable, high-risk, low-risk categoriesU.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidance on algorithmic hiring 41:00: The Hype Curve and the Data Center Reckoning**Western Massachusetts communities rejecting new AI data centersEfficiency vs. quality of life — Berman's closing argument Communities are saying no to AI's biggest infrastructure bet.In the first quarter of 2026 alone, local opposition blocked or delayed 75 data center projects worth roughly $130 billion — nearly matching all of 2025's total in a single quarter. Dr. Fran Berman, former head of the San Diego Supercomputer Center, argues the fix isn't more hype, it's precedent we already have. She points to CMMC itself: "If we can look at the defense supply chain and say this is critical infrastructure, it has to meet a bar, then we can look at the trillion dollars of compute being built into the middle of American life and say the same thing." AI isn't just displacing jobs.  It's starving the pipeline that builds senior engineers. Berman's sharpest warning is about who trains the next generation of professionals when entry-level coding and writing jobs — the ones junior people used to cut their teeth on — get automated away. She compares it to a surgeon who's never had supervised time in the operating room: "Unless you have that experience and the mentorship of more senior professionals, it's really hard" to develop the judgment senior engineers rely on. Good regulation needs more than a law on the books. Drawing on her book Better Tech (MIT Press), Berman walks through why GDPR worked where Vermont's data broker law didn't — and previews how the EU AI Act's risk-tiered approach (unacceptable, high-risk, low-risk) could become the model for governing hybrid human-AI decision-making, where, as she puts it, "the only accountable entities are humans." ✍️ About the AuthorDr. Fran Berman is an award winning-data scientist, pioneer in public interesttechnology, and community leader and builder. She directs the Public InterestTechnology Initiative at UMass Amherst and is a Faculty Associate at the BerkmanKlein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard. Berman is former head the SanDiego Supercomputer Center and served as Vice President for Research atRensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She currently serves as a Trustee of the AlfredP. Sloan Foundation and is a popular regular panelist on public radio’s WAMCRoundtable with 400,000 monthly listeners in seven states. For more information,see https://www.franberman.com. Link to the book: https://mitpress.mit.edu/978026205488...

    AI Is Eating Our Young: Data Center Revolts, Vanishing Junior Jobs & the EU AI Act

  2. Jul 28

    Okta's Identity Chief: Most CISOs Can't Answer This AI Question

    Which AI agents can access what? Are those permissions even right? And can you stop a compromised agent mid-action? Okta's Dan Cinnamon says most enterprises can't answer any of the three. Dan Cinnamon has built software, run SAP GRC without an implementation partner, and now architects identity for one of the industry's biggest players. In this conversation with Justin Beals, he lays out why "discoverability" — simply knowing what agents exist and what they're touching — is the single biggest blind spot in enterprise AI right now, and why there's no silver bullet coming to fix it. They also dig into passkeys as a rare win-win security standard, the maturing MCP spec, and where the hard line on agent containment should actually sit. **Timestamps:** 0:00 Intro 1:20 From writing code to securing identity 4:45 Passkeys: the security/usability unicorn 8:30 The SAP GRC re-implementation story 14:10 Attribution and the agentic AI identity gap 18:55 How fast MCP has matured—and what's next 23:40 The 3 unanswered questions every enterprise faces 27:15 Granular identity vs. inherited permissions 32:00 Containment: moving controls closer to the data 36:45 Consent, provenance, and healthcare AI 40:30 Closing thoughts #CISO #AIstrategy, #enterprise #AIsecurity, #agentic #AIgovernance, #Okta #MCPstandard,  #zerotrust #AI agents

    Okta's Identity Chief: Most CISOs Can't Answer This AI Question

  3. Jul 17

    Special Episode: CMMC Phase 2 SUSPENDED: What DOD Just Did, What It Really Means, and Why Little Changed

    The Pentagon paused CMMC Phase 2 with zero warning — and half the defense industrial base is celebrating for the wrong reason. When the Department of War suspended CMMC Phase 2 rollout with no notice, panic spread fast across the defense contractor community — but the requirement to secure CUI never went away. In this special roundtable, host Justin Beals brings together three CMMC insiders — Logan Therrien (C3PAO Chief Strategy Officer, retired Navy submariner), Lance Arnold (30-year industry veteran, just completed his own CMMC Level 2 journey), and Brian Hubbard (President, Evolved Cyber Solutions, CMMC assessor since 2015) — to separate what actually changed from what didn't. They break down the difference between the assessment requirement (paused) and the security implementation requirement (still very much alive under NIST 800-171), why "self-assessment" doesn't mean "no requirement," and what small businesses and primes should do right now instead of waiting for clarity that may not come for months. Sources Referenced: DFARS 252.204-7021 (CMMC assessment clause) DFARS 252.204-7012 (NIST 800-171 compliance clause) DFARS 252.204-7019 (SPRS scoring requirement) 32 CFR Part 170 (CMMC Program Rule) 32 CFR Part 48 NIST SP 800-171 / NIST SP 800-172

    Special Episode: CMMC Phase 2 SUSPENDED: What DOD Just Did, What It Really Means, and Why Little Changed

  4. Jul 14

    An AI Security Maturity Model for CISOs, with Chris Cochran (SANS)

    Half the room at Chris Cochran's leadership dinners still calls themselves AI skeptics. He argues they can't afford to be — because the adversary already isn't. Chapters:  00:00 — Intro 02:49 — NSA/threat intel → AI security, storytelling 09:55 — Why leaders feel stuck / no roadmap 14:41 — Three pillars (Protect/Utilize/Govern) 17:00 — Governance as the real foundation / shadow AI 21:37 — Evidence-based scoring vs. pass/fail 26:27 — EU AI Act 28:44 — Fable/Mythos, Project Glasswing access controls 33:18 — Token subsidies, self-hosted models 37:52 — Data poisoning & context poisoning 40:12 — Iron Man suit framing 42:38 — Close: what's next

    An AI Security Maturity Model for CISOs, with Chris Cochran (SANS)

  5. Jun 16

    Considering Security, Compliance and Revenue with David Grazer

    Most companies chase certifications to win deals — but what actually keeps customers is something no audit can measure. In this episode, vCISO David Grazer makes the case that trust is a measurable economic asset hiding in plain sight: your customer retention rate. Drawing on 15+ years inside high-growth tech companies, David explains why compliance frameworks are customer acquisition tools, not retention strategies — and how the gap between the two is costing businesses more than they realize. This episode is for founders, security leaders, and C-suite executives who want to connect their security and privacy programs to real business outcomes. You'll learn: → Why a SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certification is only the beginning of earning customer trust → How customer churn functions as one of the most honest security metrics available → Why MFA and common security controls often fail the users who need them most → What "Trust by Design" looks like in product development and AI programs → How to translate security risk into language that resonates with your CFO Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Secure Talk and Trust 03:42 David Grazer's Journey into Security and Privacy 08:09 Navigating Compliance and Customer Trust 12:49 The Role of Consulting in Security 18:07 Trust as a Measurable Economic Asset 23:42 Identity Management in the Entertainment Industry 26:09 The VC SO Model and Its Impact 29:13 The Evolution of Compliance Conversations 33:17 Exploring the Intersection of Technology and Society 🔔 Subscribe to SecureTalk for weekly conversations at the intersection of cybersecurity, compliance, and business strategy. #cybersecurity #compliance #CISO #trustbydesign #vciso #informationsecurity #GRC #dataprivacy

    Considering Security, Compliance and Revenue with David Grazer

  6. Jun 2

    Why you could fail your CMMC Level 2 C3PAO audit | Secure Talk with Logan Therrien

    You did your self assessment and received a perfect 110 score, congratulations! You met with your C3PAO and scored less than 0. What happened! How can two CMMC assessors examine the same defense contractor and arrive at completely different scores? A lack of rigor in assessment methodology could mean the entire certification system is measuring the assessor — not your security. Logan Therrien, Chief Strategy Officer at Kieri Solutions and one of the original C3PAO lead assessors in the U.S., joins Justin Beals to expose a critical flaw in how CMMC Level 2 assessments are conducted today: no standardized evidence sampling methodology. This episode is for DoD contractors, compliance consultants, and defense industry executives who want to understand what's at stake — and how to navigate assessments before the rules tighten further. What you'll learn: Why NIST 800-171 was intentionally vague — and how that backfired for assessorsHow one assessor might review a single evidence point while another reviews 100%What ISO 17020 accreditation will require of C3PAOs and why it matters nowWhat the 48 CFR expansion means for 118,000+ contractors in the supply chainHow to prepare for an assessment so it feels like an open-book test Logan also co-authored the peer-reviewed paper "The Need for Standardized Evidence Sampling in CMMC Assessments: A Survey-Based Analysis of Assessor Practices" (with John Hastings) — one of the first data-driven studies of assessment methodology in the CMMC ecosystem. Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Secure Talk and Psychometrics 01:45 Understanding CMMC and Its Implications 05:32 Logan Therian's Background and Insights 09:16 The Challenges of Assessment Methodologies 16:10 The Scale and Impact of CMMC Assessments 20:31 Navigating Standards in Cybersecurity 23:53 Evidence Testing in CMMC Assessments 27:43 The Importance of Reliable and Accurate Assessments 36:22 Building Trust Between Industry and Defense 41:46 Future Directions in CMMC Research Resources: Therrien, Logan and Hastings, John. (2026, February 10). The need for standardized evidence sampling in CMMC assessments: A survey-based analysis of assessor practices. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.09905

    Why you could fail your CMMC Level 2 C3PAO audit | Secure Talk with Logan Therrien

  7. May 19

    Mark Zuckerberg has an AI twin. Who Is Mark Zuckerberg?

    Mark Zuckerberg built an AI version of himself that attends meetings and approves budgets while he's elsewhere. That's not science fiction — it's happening now. But when an AI replica makes a consequential decision, who's legally responsible? Who owns it when you die? Dr. Candi Cann, Thanatologist and professor at Baylor University, joins SecureTalk host Justin Beals to explore the uncomfortable intersection of technology, mortality, and identity — and what it means for data governance, digital rights, and the future of enterprise accountability. In this episode: Key topics: digital identity, AI accountability, data governance, CMMC compliance, death technology, digital ethics, AI agents, enterprise security If your organization is deploying AI agents that act on behalf of humans — approving transactions, attending meetings, representing employees — this episode raises the governance questions your security and legal teams need to be asking right now. Subscribe to SecureTalk for weekly conversations at the edge of cybersecurity, compliance, and technology culture. Resources: Book: Augmented: Life and Death as a Cyborg by Candy Cann, MIT Press, 2026. Link: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262051118/augmented/

    Mark Zuckerberg has an AI twin. Who Is Mark Zuckerberg?

  8. May 5

    CMMC Is an HR Problem, Not an Enclave Problem — Here's the Proof

    The biggest cybersecurity failures in recent memory — Raytheon, Penn State, Georgia Tech — weren't caused by missing software. They were caused by the wrong people being assigned the wrong tasks, with no shared language to connect the rules to the work. This SecureTalk episode with Dorian Cougias (MoxyWolf, former Unified Compliance Framework CEO) is one of the most systems-level conversations we've had on the show. Dorian spent decades building the infrastructure that compliance programs run on — and he's now rebuilding it from scratch, in the open. What you'll hear: → Why the compliance industry is structurally fragmented across three authority domains that don't communicate → How Bloom's Taxonomy — a tool from education — maps directly to which compliance tasks belong to which roles → Why the Oxford English Dictionary doesn't have "personal data" in it, and what that tells us about regulatory language → The O*NET framework and why the Department of Labor might be the most underused tool in cybersecurity → Shannon's entropy theory, applied to compliance and cognitive load → A new open-source STIG API infrastructure that StrikeGraph is integrating as a launch partner Whether you're deep in the compliance trenches or just fascinated by how complex systems fail — and how to redesign them — this is worth your time. 🔗 strikegraph.com | stigviewer.com Chapters: 00:00 Introduction and Background 02:43 Exploring Compliance and Natural Language Processing 05:15 Military Experience and Signal Intelligence 08:01 Cognitive Load and Compliance Frameworks 10:49 The Importance of Language in Compliance 13:39 The Evolution of Dictionaries and Lexicons 16:16 Bridging Gaps in Compliance Communication 18:47 Innovations at MoxieWolf and Future Directions 22:04 Mapping Skills and Regulatory Guidelines 25:05 Job Applicability and Knowledge Requirements 28:02 The Importance of O*NET in Cybersecurity 29:21 Challenges in CMMC Compliance 33:23 The Role of Technology in Compliance 35:38 Horizontal Practices in Compliance 38:15 Building Effective Teams for Compliance 42:21 Introduction to Compliance Failures 45:19 The Human Element in Compliance 48:10 Navigating Compliance Complexity with Technology 48:57 Introduction to Cybersecurity Compliance Challenges 54:09 The Role of People in Compliance Success 56:01 Guest Introduction: Dorian Cougas 01:00:48 Exploring Bloom's Taxonomy in Compliance 01:05:48 The Importance of Shared Lexicons 01:09:32 Navigating Compliance with Technology 01:15:11 MoxieWolf's Approach to Compliance 01:20:49 The Interconnectedness of Compliance Tasks 01:27:51 Real-World Compliance Challenges 01:33:57 Building Effective Teams for Compliance #Cybersecurity #ComplianceCulture #CMMC #HumanFactors #GRC #TechPolicy #SecureTalk

    CMMC Is an HR Problem, Not an Enclave Problem — Here's the Proof
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4.8
out of 5
39 Ratings

About

Secure Talk reviews the latest threats, tips, and trends on security, innovation, and compliance. Host Justin Beals interviews leading privacy, security and technology executives to discuss best practices related to IT security, data protection and compliance. Based in Seattle, he previously served as the CTO of NextStep and Koru, which won the 2018 Most Impactful Startup award from Wharton People Analytics. He is the creator of the patented Training, Tracking & Placement System and the author of “Aligning curriculum and evidencing learning effectiveness using semantic mapping of learning assets,” published in the International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJet). Justin earned a BA from Fort Lewis College.

Information

  • Creator
    Justin Beals
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    259
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved
  • Show Website
    Secure Talk Podcast

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