Hacker Valley Studio

Latest Episodes:

Turning 30,000 Findings Into 50 That Matter with Dan Pagel and Brad Hibbert May 01, 2026

Show notes

Mythos just found 30,000 new vulnerabilities, and now every security team is asking the same question: what actually matters?

In this episode, Ron Eddings sits down with Dan Pagel, CEO at Brinqa, and Brad Hibbert COO & CSO at Brinqa, to break down the Anthropic Mythos moment that rattled the security industry. From the panic of millions of new findings dropping overnight to the strategy of narrowing them down to the 50 that actually matter in YOUR environment, this episode is a masterclass in exposure management at machine speed.

Dan and Brad share how Brinqa helps organizations make sense of massive volumes of findings, correlating data across 260+ connectors, enriching vulnerability context, and delivering clear, explainable actions to IT operations teams.

They also tackle the bigger question: how do you build enough trust in AI to let it take autonomous action on your behalf? The answer starts with better data, better explainability, and knowing when to keep humans in (or on) the loop.

Impactful Moments

00:00 - Introduction

02:00 - What just happened? Breaking down the Anthropic Mythos moment

04:10 - Why most new findings don’t apply to your environment

07:12 - What Mythos means to the broader market

09:09 - Why AI-driven discovery isn’t slowing down

11:00 - The gap between security and IT ops: how explainability closes it

13:38 - How fast you should go through findings

15:53 - Why MTTR is the wrong metric and what businesses actually care about

18:03 - Why real-time visibility is replacing scheduled scanning

19:50 - Human IN the loop vs. human ON the loop

22:14 - What happens when AI hallucinates?

27:20 - Why we’re over and under-estimating the impact of AI

29:54 - The immediate win Brinqa achieves for its customers

31:50 - What CISOs are really asking now: "What does good look like?"

Links

Connect with our guest, Dan Pagel, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dpagel/

Connect with our guest, Brad Hibbert, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bradhibbert/

Learn more about Brinqa: https://www.brinqa.com/

Check out our upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams

Love Hacker Valley Studio? Pick up some swag: https://store.hackervalley.com
Become a sponsor of the show to amplify your brand: https://hackervalley.com/work-with-us/

Killing the Playbook with Agentic AI with Allan Alford and Tom Findling Apr 24, 2026

Show notes

SOAR promised to close the loop in the SOC and fell flat. Agentic AI is finally delivering what a decade of playbooks couldn’t.

In this episode, Ron sits down with Allan Alford, SVP at NTT Global Data Centers, and Tom Findling, co-founder and CEO of Conifers.ai. They cover why static playbooks broke under real-world conditions and how agentic systems are flipping the SOC operating model. They get into hallucination guardrails, human-on-the-loop versus human-in-the-loop, and the QR-code phishing investigation an agent solved on its own without being told how. The conversation closes on trust thresholds, the speed of enterprise adoption, and Allan's blunt warning to any CISO trying to slow this train down… you're already on the tracks.

Impactful Moments
00:00 - Intro
02:30 - Why the lazy sysadmin always wins
05:15 - Why SOAR fell flat
08:00 - Guardrails, hallucinations, and showing the work
13:00 - The SOC AI holy grail
15:30 - The moment you start saying we
17:30 - QR-code phishing the agent solved alone
19:00 - Why playbooks were never going to scale
28:00 - Earning trust at enterprise scale
33:30 - Stand in front of this revolution and lose
35:40 - Risk quantification on business steroids

Links
Connect with our guest, Tom Findling, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomfindling/

Learn more about Conifers.ai at https://www.conifers.ai

Connect with our guest, Allan Alford, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allanalford/

___
Check out our upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams

Love Hacker Valley Studio? Pick up some swag: https://store.hackervalley.com

Become a sponsor of the show to amplify your brand: https://hackervalley.com/work-with-us/

The Epidemic of Sameness Is Killing Your Brand with Don Jeter Apr 17, 2026

Show notes

In 2025, Torq brought a monster truck to RSAC. And Don Jeter, Torq's CMO, will be the first to tell you: nobody's buying an AI SOC platform because of a grave digger in the booth.

In this episode, Ron sits down with Don to discuss what Torq is actually doing in a category packed with 60 near-identical vendors, and why "the epidemic of sameness" is the real threat to every cybersecurity brand right now. Don explains why Torq builds everything in-house, why he starts every strategy by listening instead of pitching the product, and why the only differentiator left in cyber marketing is how much you genuinely care. It's a conversation about brand, but it's really a conversation about trust, community, and what it takes to make a CISO text you back.

Impactful Moments
00:00 - Introduction
03:50 - How Don landed at Torq
06:09 - What the Torq brand stands for
07:41 - Giving cybersecurity pros their flowers
09:09 - Cookie-cutter booths, cookie-cutter brands
12:00 - Why Torq built everything in-house
15:34 - Start with listening, not the product
18:13 - "We have to out-care the other teams"
21:45 - Nobody buys because of a monster truck
24:06 - Welcome to the experience age
28:30 - Entertain them or lose them

Links
Connect with our guest, Don Jeter, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donjeter/

Check out our upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams

Love Hacker Valley Studio? Pick up some swag: https://store.hackervalley.com

Become a sponsor of the show to amplify your brand: https://hackervalley.com/work-with-us/

Minutes to Meltdown: Cyber Recovery When It Counts with Chris Bevil Apr 07, 2026

Show notes

Most organizations are prepping for disaster recovery when they should be building for cyber recovery, and those are not the same thing.

Recorded live at RSAC Conference 2026, Ron sat down with Chris Bevil, Principal Security AI Strategist at Commvault, to break down what actually happens after a breach hits and why most teams are caught flat-footed.

Chris walks us through Commvault's Minutes to Meltdown tabletop exercise, why isolated recovery environments matter, and how clean data determines whether you get your company back in hours or in 200+ days.

This episode will tell you what separates a team that recovers from a team that unravels.

Impactful Moments
01:16 - Live at RSAC 2026 with Chris Bevil, Principal, Security AI Strategist at Commvault
01:40 - Minutes to Meltdown origin story
03:00 - What goes into a Meltdown?
04:48 - What happens in the first 30 minutes of chaos
07:00 - What Commvault actually does
08:21 - What is IRE? Isolated recovery environment breakdown
10:40 - What is Disaster Recovery in 2026?
13:00 - How cyber recovery differs from disaster recovery
14:20 - Where attackers go in the first 30 minutes
15:40 - The 3-2-1 rule and where teams fail
21:45 - What successful recovery looks like
25:14 - AI strategy at Commvault

Links
Connect with our guest, Chris Bevil, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-b-211998a/

Love Hacker Valley Studio? Pick up some swag: https://store.hackervalley.com

Become a sponsor of the show to amplify your brand: https://hackervalley.com/work-with-us/

Building AI Governance Before the Incidents Hit with Guru Sethupathy Apr 01, 2026

Show notes

AI adoption is outpacing governance at every level, and the cost of waiting is getting higher by the day. Guru Sethupathy, General Manager of AI Governance at Optro and former Founder of FairNow, breaks down what it really takes to build trust in AI systems before things go sideways.

Guru lays out a simple but powerful 3 P’s Framework: policies, process, and people, connecting it to what teams are actually dealing with right now, from shadow AI to security threats that don’t look like anything we’ve seen before.

If 2026 is the year AI moves from experiments to real operations, this conversation is your blueprint for keeping it under control.

Impactful Moments
00:00 - Introduction
02:25 - What does Optro do? Helping companies with the AI governance journey.
03:10 - Why AI governance is really about trust, not control
05:15 - The moment AI went mainstream, and why that changed everything
05:50 - The three real business risks: performance, security, and transparency
07:30 - Human accountability in an AI-driven world
08:48 - What’s actually happening with AI regulation, EU, US, and standards
10:28 - Where Optro fits, orchestration vs monitoring in AI governance
13:05 - The 3 Ps framework: policies, process, and people
14:47 - Governance 101, why AI inventory is the first move every team misses
16:12 - The reality check, AI adoption is outpacing governance everywhere
17:45 - Shadow AI explained, what your team is doing that you can’t see
19:45 - Optro’s top use cases: visibility, compliance, and operationalizing governance
20:43 - Who owns AI governance, and why it’s becoming a team sport
22:20 - Final advice, start now or play catch-up later

Links
Connect with our guest, Guru Sethupathy, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/guru-sethupathy/

Learn more about Optro: https://optro.ai/

Check out our upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams

Join our creative mastermind and stand out as a cybersecurity professional: https://www.patreon.com/hackervalleystudio

Love Hacker Valley Studio? Pick up some swag: https://store.hackervalley.com

Continue the conversation by joining our Discord: https://hackervalley.com/discord

Become a sponsor of the show to amplify your brand: https://hackervalley.com/work-with-us/

What Happens When Attackers Collaborate More Than Defenders? Ron Eddings Reporting Live from RSAC Conference Mar 31, 2026

Show notes

What happens when attackers collaborate better than defenders?

Recorded live from RSAC 2026, this solo episode with Ron breaks down the biggest themes shaping cybersecurity right now, from organized threat groups and massive data breaches to the growing tension between productivity and control inside modern organizations.

This conversation highlights a hard truth. The threat landscape is evolving through collaboration. From phishing-as-a-service platforms like Tycoon 2FA to supply chain breaches impacting entire ecosystems, attackers are sharing tools and moving faster than ever.

But there’s another side to the story. As AI becomes embedded in how work gets done, security teams are being pushed to rethink their role. Blocking tools is no longer enough. The real challenge is enabling the business while managing risk, and that requires trust, alignment, and a stronger sense of community across the industry.

This episode is a call to rethink how we approach security. Not as isolated teams enforcing policy, but as a connected community working together to adapt, respond, and move forward.

Impactful Moments
00:00 - Introduction, live from RSAC 2026
02:50 - Tycoon2FA and the rise of phishing-as-a-service
04:45 - The TELUS breach and what a petabyte-scale attack looks like
06:21 - Why you need strict controls … everywhere
07:30 - Are AI agents the new Shadow IT?
09:00 - The balance between productivity and security controls
09:27 - Boards’ demands for their teams to use AI
11:53 - Why leading security teams is more like parenting than policing
12:42 - Community is the foundation for the future of cybersecurity

Links
Connect with Ron Eddings on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronaldeddings/

Check out our upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams

Love Hacker Valley Studio? Pick up some swag: https://store.hackervalley.com

Become a sponsor of the show to amplify your brand: https://hackervalley.com/work-with-us/

RSAC 2026: Show Up or Fall Behind Mar 20, 2026

Show notes

What does it mean when your smart doorbell becomes an entry point for surveillance? What happens when a single hacker can jailbreak every major AI model within hours of its release? And why are the same tools being used by both nation-state attackers and the defenders trying to stop them?

In this solo episode, Ron Eddings breaks down the urgent case for practitioner unity in cybersecurity, from AI-powered jailbreaking and IoT surveillance creep to geopolitical cyber operations. With RSAC 2026 just around the corner, this episode is a rallying cry for the community to come together, share intelligence, and build the defenses that no single team can build alone.

The episode also tackles one of the biggest misconceptions in the industry right now. AI already came for your job, but now it is changing how we define responsibility, decision-making, and trust. Add in rising pressure across the workforce, new legislation pushing for human oversight, and real-world examples of AI being used in global conflict, and the stakes become hard to ignore.

Impactful Moments
00:00 - Introduction
02:00 - Pliny the Elder, God Mode and AI Jailbreaks
03:30 - Cyber in US-Israeli Operations in Iran and Anthropic Tensions
06:00 - Cyber threats that are hitting normal people
07:30 - Is my Ring Doorbell a surveillance risk?
10:05 - Attackers are collaborating and sharing more than defenders today
11:30 - RSAC: the cyber Super Bowl
14:30 - AI has already replaced your job
14:30 - Why mental health is cybersecurity's hidden crisis
17:00 - Governance in AI and what Texas is doing about it
19:00 - Was Claude used in state-level ops?

Links
Connect with Ron Eddings on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronaldeddings/

Check out our upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams

Love Hacker Valley Studio? Pick up some swag: https://store.hackervalley.com

Become a sponsor of the show to amplify your brand: https://hackervalley.com/work-with-us/

What’s Next After Building a $2.5B Cybersecurity Company with Dean Sysman Mar 16, 2026

Show notes

What does it look like when a cybersecurity founder who built a $2.5 billion company decides to level up, again? Dean Sysman, co-founder of Axonius, sits down with Ron Eddings to pull back the curtain on what it really took to go from zero to $100M ARR in four and a half years, and what came next.

Dean breaks down the founder mindset, the emotional weight of tying your identity to your company, and why he stepped into the Executive Chairman role while simultaneously pursuing a PhD in AI systems at Columbia University. He gets into how boxing taught him what solo performance reveals about leadership, why vulnerability is a non-negotiable skill at scale, and what it means to care about something bigger than yourself. This one hits differently if you're building, leading, or figuring out what your next chapter looks like.

Impactful Moments

00:00 – Introduction
05:00 – Boxing for charity: raising $55K
08:00 – Competitive by nature, born to build
10:00 – Solo performance sharpens team leadership
13:00 – Axonius: zero to $100M ARR in 4.5 years
15:00 – Founder identity tied to company success
21:00 – Purpose bigger than yourself fuels resilience
25:00 – Self-awareness as the #1 growth tool
28:00 – Executive Chairman + Columbia PhD pursuit
33:00 – Ron's personal reflection on founder identity

Links

Connect with our guest, Dean Sysman, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deansysman/
Check out our upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams
Love Hacker Valley Studio? Pick up some swag: https://store.hackervalley.com
Become a sponsor of the show to amplify your brand: https://hackervalley.com/work-with-us/

Can AI Do Your Cyber Job? Post Your Job Req and Find Out with Marcus J. Carey Mar 06, 2026

Show notes

Last episode, Ron and Marcus made predictions. This episode, they brought the receipts.

A journalist built an app with vibe coding and got hacked on live television.

A social network built entirely by AI (not a single line of human code!) exposed 1.5 million authentication tokens and private messages between agents.

And 88% of organizations have already had an AI security incident, while barely 14% of deployed agents ever saw a security review.

The warnings from last episode aged fast. Marcus J. Carey is back to talk about what that actually means for the people building right now, not the people theorizing about it. Ron and Marcus are in the code themselves, and this conversation is what that experience actually looks like: OpenClaw running loose on your machine, agents racking up API bills, and why guidance, not prompts, not tools, is the real skill that separates builders who thrive from builders who ship disasters.

Impactful Moments
00:00 - Introduction
02:00 - Vibe coding hack on live TV
03:30 - Mo Book leaks 1.5M auth tokens
06:00 - Marcus' origin story: War Games, 1983
08:00 - OpenClaw escapes the lab
13:30 - AT&T cuts help desk spend 90%
17:00 - Context is king, guidance is everything
19:00 - Can AI do your job rec right now?
24:00 - The first cybersecurity jobs agents will replace
27:00 - Expertise + AI = 1000x yourself
30:00 - Focus on outcomes, not new tools

Links
Connect with our guest, Marcus J. Carey, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcuscarey/

Read the articles we referenced in this episode:
The vibe coding hack that aired on live TV, ICAEW breaks down exactly how it happened and what it means for anyone building with AI: https://www.icaew.com/insights/viewpoints-on-the-news/2026/feb-2026/cyber-dangers-of-agents-and-vibe-coding

88% of organizations have already had an AI security incident. See the full data from the Cisco State of AI Security 2026 report: https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/02/23/ai-agent-security-risks-enterprise/

Check out our upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams

Love Hacker Valley Studio? Pick up some swag: https://store.hackervalley.com

Become a sponsor of the show to amplify your brand: https://hackervalley.com/work-with-us/

Why 69% of CISOs Are Ready to Walk Away with Anthony Johnson Mar 06, 2026

Show notes

The CISO role isn’t the finish line, it’s a launchpad. 69% of security executives are eyeing the exit, and Anthony Johnson is proof that what comes next can be even bigger.

Anthony Johnson, former Global CISO at JP Morgan and Fannie Mae, now founder and managing partner at Delve Risk, breaks down what really happens when a security leader stops buying tools and starts building companies. From the trap of unpaid advisory boards to why AI is eliminating the entry-level pipeline, Anthony delivers a no-nonsense look at career strategy, the future of fractional work, and why understanding how your company makes money is the most underrated skill in cybersecurity. If you’re a security practitioner at any level, this episode will change how you think about your next move.

Impactful Moments
00:00 - Introduction
01:00 - Meet Anthony Johnson
02:00 - 69% of CISOs want out
06:00 - Why Anthony left the CISO seat
09:00 - Revenue changes your security priorities
11:00 - Career paths after the CISO role
13:00 - The advisory board compensation trap
17:00 - AI’s threat to the talent pipeline
22:00 - Hiring for aptitude over competency
24:00 - Soft skills win in the AI era
29:00 - Corporate loyalty is dead—now what
31:00 - Networking that actually lands roles
34:00 - Know how your company makes money
36:00 - Ron’s personal reflection on freedom

Links
Connect with our guest, Anthony Johnson, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthony-johnson-delverisk/

Check out our upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams

Join our creative mastermind and stand out as a cybersecurity professional: https://www.patreon.com/hackervalleystudio

Love Hacker Valley Studio? Pick up some swag: https://store.hackervalley.com

Continue the conversation by joining our Discord: https://hackervalley.com/discord

Become a sponsor of the show to amplify your brand: https://hackervalley.com/work-with-us/

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected