KBKAST

KBI.FM

Unlike every other security podcast, we don’t get stuck down in the technical weeds. Our remit is to speak with experts around the globe at the strategic level – how security technology can improve the experience and risk optimisation for every organisation. The Voice of Cyber® - In Partnership with Vanta

  1. 4D AGO

    From Elastic{ON} Sydney 2026 – KB On The Go | Mandy Andress

    Data is exploding. Environments are getting noisier and the line between observability and security, it’s basically gone. Search isn’t just a feature anymore, it’s infrastructure. It’s how you see, how you detect, and ultimately how you defend from ai, power detection, engineering to unified visibility across logs, metrics, t races and security telemetry. We’re officially in a world where if you can’t search it in real time, you can’t secure it. This bonus episode features Mandy Andress, CISO at Elastic, live from Elastic{ON} Sydney 2026. As Australia navigates its unique, sector-led approach to AI regulation, Karissa Breen and Mandy Andress explore the challenges—and opportunities—facing CISOs on the front lines of the agentic AI revolution. Mandy Andress is currently the CISO of Elastic and has a long career focused on information risk and security.‬ Prior to Elastic, Mandy led the information security function at MassMutual and established and built information security programs at TiVo, Evant, and Privada. She worked as a security consultant with Ernst & Young and Deloitte & Touche, focusing on energy, financial services, and Internet technology clients with global operations. She also founded an information security consulting company with clients ranging from Fortune‬ 100 companies to start up organizations.‬ ‭She is a published author, with her book Surviving Security having two editions and used at multiple‬ universities around the world as the textbook for foundation information security courses. Mandy also tested‬ and reviewed information security products for multiple publications as well as serving as the author for the weekly InfoWorld security column. She has been a sought after expert in the field, speaking at signature‬ security conferences such as BlackHat and Networld+Interop. In addition, she has taught a graduate level‬ Information Risk Management course for UMass Amherst in the College of Information and Computer‬ Sciences.‬ Mandy has a JD from Western New England University, a Master’s in Management Information Systems from Texas A&M University, and a B.B.A in Accounting from Texas A&M University. Mandy is a CISSP, CPA, and‬ member of the Texas Bar.‬

    42 min

  2. 6D AGO

    Episode 360 Deep Dive: Simon Cook | The Right To Be Forgotten, Navigating GDPR, IRAP and Global Standards in Physical and Cybersecurity

    In this episode, we sit down with Simon Cook, Director of New Offerings at Genetec, as he discusses the convergence between physical and cybersecurity, and the impact of global standards such as GDPR and IRAP on industry practices. Simon details the shift from siloed teams to collaborative approaches, highlighting how increased connectivity and advancements like generative AI have expanded the attack surface, making cyber risks a broader business concern. He explores the ongoing challenges of device security—from consumer cameras to enterprise solutions—and the market’s growing awareness of attack vectors stemming from seemingly innocuous network devices. Simon also unpacks the complexities of privacy legislation, especially the right to be forgotten, emphasizing the need for technology providers to embed privacy and trust by design at every stage of product development. Finally, he offers insight into the future direction of physical security, predicting the acceleration of proactive, technology-driven systems and deeper integration of compliance frameworks worldwide. Simon is a highly motivated, innovative and creative security professional with almost 20 years’ experience in the Pre-Sales and design space working with hardware, software and cloud solutions. Leadership experience and a proven track record of success growing and evolving teams in both medium and large organisations and on a global scale. Accustomed to speaking up to C- Level, in public forums and to press. A commercial techie that is inspired by good products, and passionate and motivated people.

    39 min

  3. MAR 18

    Episode 359 Deep Dive: Omar Khawaja | Data Intelligence for Cybersecurity

    In this episode, we sit down with Omar Khawaja, Vice President of Security and Field CISO at Databricks, as he explores the intersection of data, AI, and cybersecurity defense. Omar addresses the real fatigue facing CISOs amidst rising AI hype, emphasizing that combining high-quality data with AI—not just AI alone—is pivotal to effective cyber defense. He shares insights on the growing need for organizations to get their data in order, challenges in adapting operating models for AI, and the importance of reducing security tool sprawl through robust, unified platforms. Omar also discusses the increasing role of AI agents in automating routine tasks, the evolving skills required to leverage AI securely, and why mature frameworks and a growth mindset are critical as organizations navigate the complexities and risks of AI adoption. Omar Khawaja is the VP, Field CISO at Databricks where he gets to work with CISOs to help them securely shepherd their organisations’ data+AI journey. He leads Databricks’ Field Security practice globally, teaches at Carnegie Mellon’s CISO program, sits on the boards of HITRUST and FAIR Institute, spent 9 years as CISO of a $26B enterprise and is leading a team that developed an actionable AI security framework for 11,000 enterprise data platform customers at Databricks.

    47 min

  4. MAR 11

    Episode 358 Deep Dive: Lisa Black | How Leaders Survive Major System Failures

    In this episode, we sit down with Lisa Black, Director of Public Sector at Aeon Nexus Corporation, as she shares her perspectives on crisis leadership and organizational resilience when critical systems fail. Lisa draws from her extensive background leading government operations to highlight how real risk in a crisis is often less about technology and more about maintaining trust, clear communication, and effective decision-making under pressure. We explore the pitfalls of traditional and predictable crisis training, the importance of cross-training team members, and the value of embedding continuous improvement and consequence-based learning into daily operations. Lisa also discusses the crucial role of cadence in incident communications, the need to manage rumor mills and public scrutiny, consequences of over-reliance on technology, and why true collaboration between public and private sectors is essential to strengthen defenses against modern threats. Lisa Black is the Director of Public Sector at Aeon Nexus Corporation where she consults with government clients who are committed to enhancing justice through modernizing technology. Utilizing Aeon’s legal case management solution to deliver a single, secure, centralized, cloud-based system to public sector entities Lisa and her company work with public safety agencies, the offices of District Attorneys, Public Defenders, mediators and courts throughout the US. With over two decades of government experience, Lisa previously served as the Chief Deputy County Executive in Suffolk County, NY. There she managed the daily operations of a local government that served 1.5 million residents with a $4 Billion budget and a workforce of approximately 12,000 staff. Lisa has also held leadership roles with two NY State Senate Majority Leaders, two New York City Mayors and a NY Governor serving as Senior Advisor at the NYS Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services. Lisa’s advantage in serving in both republican and democratic governments has been instrumental in her ability to communicate across the aisle where she has been involved in crisis and emergency management for over half of her career. Formerly trained in emergency management and operational decision-making during crisis, Lisa has also earned certificates in Government Leadership and Cybersecurity Policy and Technology from the JFK School of Government at Harvard University Executive Education Program. Importantly, her skills and training helped her lead the Unified Command Incident Response to a 2022 countywide ransomware attack including incident identification, containment, eradication and operational recovery. She has spoken publicly about the experience at conferences and forums across the US including those with the NY State Association of Counties (NYSAC), the US Secret Service Cyber Fraud Task Force, NY State Local Government Information Technology Directors Association (NYSLGITDA), the National Federation of Municipal Analysts (NFMA), the International Association of Emergency Manager’s (IAEM) Region II Inaugural Conference, the National Association of Counties (NACo) Chief Information Officer Forum, the FBI & Fordham Law School’s International Cyber Security Summit and the 2020Partners Counterterrorism, Counter-Narcotics & Cyber Security Miami Conference.

    47 min

  5. MAR 6

    From The SimSpace Summit 2026 – KB On The Go | Rushell Hopkins and Stanley McChrystal (Part 2)

    Karissa Breen [00:00:10]: Welcome to KB On The Go. I’m coming to you from my new place of residence, Orlando, Florida. And today I’m being hosted at the SimSpace Summit. Cybersecurity is hitting a breaking point, compliance checklists, tabletop exercises, and confidence claims. Aren’t enough anymore, especially as AI accelerates both attack and defense. This summit is about something different, proving readiness under real pressure, real tools, real teams, real-world chaos. Today, I’m speaking with leaders and former US government officials pushing cyber training testing and validation out of theory and into reality. Because when the next incident hits, what matters isn’t what looks good on paper, it’s what actually holds up. Karissa Breen [00:00:57]: Stay with me, we’re diving into the conversations that matter. This is KB On The Go from SYNSPACE Summit 2026. Karissa Breen [00:01:04]: Let’s get into it. Joining me now in person is Rochelle Hopkins, Professor, Computer Science and Cybersecurity at Florida Southwestern State College, and today we’re discussing the future of cyber workforce. So, Rochelle, thanks for joining and welcome. Rushell Hopkins [00:01:23]: Well, thanks for having me. Karissa Breen [00:01:24]: Okay. So Rochelle, I’m really interested in the work that you do. And when we were talking before, you were sort of describing like how things are nowadays. And I think it’s really interesting to explore that a little bit more. So I want to start perhaps with your view on the growing concern about cognitive atrophy in the younger generation. And what are your thoughts here? Rushell Hopkins [00:01:46]: Absolutely. One of the things I also didn’t share with you is I’m part of a cohort or consortium called the AAC&U, which is the American Association of Colleges and Universities. And I’m in this cohort where we’re trying to bring AI into higher education and kind of look at what that’s going to do. I share concerns with many of the educators in what they’re calling cognitive offloading or cognitive atrophy in our younger generation. In cybersecurity, I tend to have really remarkable, creative, compassionate, and technically advanced students. But what I’m seeing and the shift that I’m seeing is that these students are using AI at a level where it’s eroding their patience, their deep focus, and their willingness to wrestle with the deeper problems. And learning, especially in cybersecurity, requires discomfort. We have to think outside the box. Rushell Hopkins [00:02:33]: It really requires us to sit with something, and if we don’t understand it, we are breaking it down and we’re building up that mental endurance, right, to solve it. And when their answer is just one click away, right, to these problems, that muscle greatly weakens. Karissa Breen [00:02:50]: This is where I think it gets really interesting as well, because I’m a millennial, and even when we were learning things, it’s still fundamentally different. Doesn’t feel that long ago. But when you’re talking about what you’re describing versus when I came up through the ranks, it’s not that long ago, but it does feel a lot longer. So I’m curious to see What does this sort of mean now for how people are actually learning things? You mentioned before 15-minute to 20-minute blocks before you had to say, right, we’re gonna get up, go for a walk, we’re gonna do something else. That’s a very short period of time when you think about it. How, what’s going on here? Rushell Hopkins [00:03:32]: So there’s a lot, there’s a lot of things. People are starting to do a lot of research on attention span, right? And I don’t wanna go down too much that down that road because I don’t have any degrees in psychology or, you know, I teach computer science and cybersecurity. But I’ve watched a lot of content, and I don’t mean social media content, I mean research, where shows like Cocomelon, right, that we put our kids in...

    40 min

  6. MAR 5

    From The SimSpace Summit 2026 – KB On The Go | Peter Lee and Ernie Ferraresso (Part 1)

    Cybersecurity is hitting a breaking point. Compliance checklists, tabletop exercises and confidence claims aren’t enough anymore, especially as AI accelerates both attack and defense. In this bonus episode, KB sits down with Peter Lee, Chief Executive Officer and President of SimSpace, and Ernie Ferraresso, Senior Director of Cyber Florida. Together they discuss cyber readiness and why Florida treats cyber like a mission. Peter Lee, Chief Executive Officer and President of SimSpace Peter serves as the Chief Executive Officer and President of SimSpace, the realistic, intelligent cyber range that strengthens teams, technologies, and processes to outsmart adversaries before the fight begins. Previously, Peter was co-founder and CEO of DataSynapse, an infrastructure software company acquired by TIBCO; and CEO of RapidMiner, an open source machine learning platform acquired by Altair. At TIBCO, Peter served as Executive Vice President responsible for multiple businesses including the security, cloud computing, B2B, CX, and analytics product groups. Before launching his career in software, Peter was a strategy consultant with Deloitte and an investment banker with JP Morgan. Peter has extensive Board experience collaborating with top tier investors to grow innovative software companies, serving as Chairman for Attivio (acquired by ServiceNow), WorldQuant Predictive, and ActiveState, and as Director for Ektron (acquired by Accel-KKR), Vesta (acquired by TINT), Infomatix (acquired by EPAM), OpenAssemby (acquired by Fulcrum), BlogTalkRadio (acquired by iHeartRadio), Entrio and Chattermill. Peter also serves on the investment committees of Advanced Finance & Investment Group and Communitas Capital Partners. Peter graduated from Harvard College with an AB degree in Government (cum laude), received an MBA degree from The Wharton School in Entrepreneurial Management and an MA degree from The University of Pennsylvania in International Affairs. Peter has been invited twice to speak at the World Economic Forum in Davos and four times at The Milken Institute Global Conferences in LA and Singapore, explaining the impact of AI in terms of its business value and key use cases. Peter is a former Board member of Upwardly Global, alumnus of YPO and a member of the Development Board for Phillips Academy Andover. Ernie Ferraresso, Senior Director of Cyber Florida As the senior director of Cyber Florida, Ernie drives the organization’s strategic vision while overseeing the center’s day-to-day operations. He started with Cyber Florida in 2017 as associate director of programs and partnerships and brings decades of technology expertise and leadership experience to his role. Prior to Cyber Florida, Ernie worked for a small technology design and integration firm as the Director of Operations, overseeing the design and implementation of cybersecurity and emergency operations center technology solutions in the U.S. and throughout Latin America. He is a retired U.S. Marine Intelligence Officer who served in the U.S. and abroad. His work included assignments with the U.S. Special Operations Forces, the intelligence community, the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, and U.S. Cyber Command.

    49 min

  7. MAR 4

    Episode 357 Deep Dive: James Tennant | Why does AUKUS Need Sovereign Capital?

    In this episode, we sit down with James Tennant, Partner and Head of JAPAC at Boka Capital, as he discusses why AUKUS needs sovereign capital to successfully deliver on its strategic ambitions. James explores the disparity between the headline-grabbing investments of AUKUS Pillar 1 and the overlooked capital shortfalls of Pillar 2, emphasizing the urgent need to build a unified capital architecture across Australia, the UK, and the US. He highlights the challenges faced by defense technology startups, such as the “valley of death” funding gap and ESG constraints that lock out institutional investment, and draws valuable lessons from international examples like In-Q-Tel and Israel’s Yozma. Throughout the conversation, James argues for a coordinated sovereign capital framework, increased public education about dual-use technologies, and transparent government action to move from strategic announcements to real capital deployment, ensuring AUKUS can compete effectively on a global stage. James Tennant, Partner – Head of JAPAC, BOKA Capital James Tennant is a Fellow with ASPI’s Cyber, Technology and Security Program and a Partner at BOKA Capital, a leading AUKUS Investment House in London, Sydney and New York. His key role at BOKA is complemented by his service as an Officer in the Australian Army, where he specialises in Capability Development. He is also a Senior Partner at Gilmour Space Technologies, an Australian-based rocket company innovating in the field of low-cost small satellite launch vehicles. James is a seasoned investor and corporate leader with deep interests and investments in diverse fields such as Quantum, Artificial Intelligence, Space, CyberSec, Machine Learning, Internet of Things, Drones, Enterprise Infrastructure, and Autonomous Vehicles. His professional journey, spanning across different continents and industries, uniquely positions him at the intersection of finance, defence, and technology including artificial intelligence. James holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree with a specialisation in International Business from the University of Sydney, is a Graduate of Applied Finance at Macquarie University, and holds management courses in Private Equity and Venture Capital from Harvard Business School. He has also completed the Company Directors Course at the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

    40 min

  8. FEB 25

    Episode 356 Deep Dive: Simon Hodgkinson | The Burnout Crisis in the Cybersecurity Community

    In this episode, we sit down with Strategic Advisor at Semperis, as he shares his personal experience with burnout during his tenure as CISO at BP. Simon provides a candid look into the immense pressures and responsibilities of overseeing cybersecurity across a massive, global organisation, highlighting the challenges of balancing work with personal well-being and family life. He discusses the emotional toll of always being “on,” the importance of transparent communication about risks, and the necessity of setting clear boundaries—what he calls “red lines”—to safeguard health and relationships. Simon also reflects on the industry-wide burnout crisis, the tendency for CISOs to prioritize work over their own needs, and the critical role of organisational support and personal maturity in sustaining a long career in cybersecurity leadership. Simon Hodgkinson is a Strategic Advisor at cybersecurity firm Semperis, and a former Chief Information Security Officer at multinational energy company BP. In his 18 year tenure at BP, Simon held several senior IT leadership roles and was responsible for the company’s cybersecurity strategy, governance, architecture, education, counter threat operations, and incident response.   During this time, he drove a significant improvement in IT operational integrity, led a transformation program and spearheaded the commitment to improve employees’ IT experience. He led the CISO function in BP Supply & Trading, where he delivered a program to improve cyber-controls, many of which have been implemented across the BP group. Before joining bp, Simon worked in IT for a dotcom, an investment bank, and commercial software companies

    42 min
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About

Unlike every other security podcast, we don’t get stuck down in the technical weeds. Our remit is to speak with experts around the globe at the strategic level – how security technology can improve the experience and risk optimisation for every organisation. The Voice of Cyber® - In Partnership with Vanta

Information

  • Channel
    KBI.FM
  • Creator
    KBI.Media
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    402
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025 KBI.Media
  • Show Website
    KBKAST

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