CISO Series

14 episodes scanned. 12% of ad slots promote the show's own products.

Recent Episodes

1. Once You Peel Back the Layers of Redundant Tooling, You'll Find the ROI

   Nov 3, 2026

   Todd Carroll, VP of information security at Aspect and a former FBI agent, joins David Spark and Andy Ellis for a CSO Series episode on vendor relationships, trust, and tool rationalization. The discussion covers how new security leaders should audit inherited tools and vendor contracts, why vendors often fail to build trust after the sale, and how security teams can benchmark against peers. The panel also addresses whether closed versus open AI models matter in security work and how governance of AI tools should be framed.

2. We Lead the Industry in OT (Obviously Terrible) Security

   Oct 27, 2026

   Recorded live at CYBR.SEC.CON in Houston, this CISO Series episode features CISO Jerich Beason of WM and Frost Bank's Eddie Contreras, with host David Spark, on incident response under AI-driven load, zero trust in OT environments, build-versus-buy decisions, and vendor and vulnerability management. The panel also includes a 'What's Worse' scenario game and a series of audience questions. Beason's OT perspective draws on prior work in nuclear, defense, and oil and gas environments.

3. Why Should AI Give You Back Time When It Could Just Replace You?

   Oct 20, 2026

   Alexandra Landegger, corporate CISO at RTX, joins co-host Jacob Combs and host David Spark for a discussion of security topics from recent industry articles. Topics include structural versus code-level problems and technical debt, whether continuous pen testing covers continuous attack-path remediation, and whether AI security tools are sold as headcount reduction or as capacity gains. The episode also covers whether CEOs need cyber literacy and how CISOs can frame risk decisions for executives.

4. I Sent the AI a Strongly Worded Prompt. I Think We'll Be Fine.

   Oct 13, 2026

   Chad Rubin, SVP of cybersecurity at Publicis Re:Sources, joins David Spark and Andy Ellis on the CISO Series podcast to discuss AI security themes drawn from recent industry commentary. The conversation covers getting started with AI governance, bringing security into digital transformation early, the trade-off between shadow AI and formal approval processes, layered controls for autonomous agents, and startup strategy. The episode also includes the show's "What's Worse" segment and a discussion of Publicis Re:Sources' shared-services role within its parent marketing group.

5. Data Is the New Oil, in That It's Useless Until You Refine It

   Oct 6, 2026

   Jake Lorz, VP Information Technology and CISO at Cintas, discusses how AI and agentic systems are forcing security teams to shift from identity-centric to action-centric security models. The episode explores how organizations must redesign containment controls, merge security and safety functions, implement robust data governance, and prepare AI security operations centers to fail safely before deploying them to production.

6. Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who Has the Best Infrastructure of Them All?

   Sep 29, 2026

   Ryan Lloyd, Chief Product Officer at GuardSquare, discusses mobile app security challenges and misconceptions in this episode. The conversation covers LLM-based code scanners versus deterministic tools, MCP server risks as uncontracted vendor relationships, and practical mobile app threat models across financial services, gaming, and healthcare sectors. Lloyd emphasizes the importance of understanding the 'why' behind security requirements rather than blindly implementing compliance checklists, and advocates for building security knowledge communities among mobile developers.

7. Our AI Agents Are So Safe and Reliable You Can't Buy Insurance for Them

   Sep 22, 2026

   Aaron Stanley, former VP of Security at DBT Labs, discusses AI agent identity governance and the challenges of securing autonomous systems at scale. The episode explores how organizations should commission and decommission agent identities, why identity governance is critical (not just perimeter controls), and the emerging insurance and liability gaps around AI-powered systems. Stanley emphasizes that effective security leadership requires deliberate communication strategy and seizing the current moment to embed security thinking into AI development before it becomes bolted-on afterthought.

8. BONUS EPISODE: Super Cyber Friday Express - Hacking Vendor Selection

   Sep 21, 2026

   David Spark hosts Karl Mattson (founder and managing director of Squared Circle Ventures) and Howard Holton (founder and principal analyst at Phronia Counsel LLC) to discuss vendor selection strategy in cybersecurity. The conversation explores how organizations evaluate and choose security vendors, the role of existing infrastructure in purchasing decisions, common vendor messaging pitfalls, and the importance of sales relationships and team usability in the selection process.

9. We Strongly Value Your Willingness to Accept Less

   Sep 15, 2026

   Gina Ciavarro, former managing director of infrastructure and CISO at Accordion, discusses evolving vulnerability management frameworks like SSVC, the problematic hiring market for first-time CSOs, the importance of pre-incident decision rights and incident command structures, and architectural security challenges posed by AI-driven development. The episode covers patching strategies, CVSS limitations, board-level risk acceptance, and detecting system decay versus superficial health.

10. Backlogs? Where We're Going We Don't Need Backlogs.

    Sep 8, 2026

    Varsha Agrawal, Head of Information Security at Prosper Marketplace, discusses critical challenges in modern security leadership including vendor lock-in with AI tools, board governance failures, and how AI should reshape security team capabilities. The episode examines the tension between business speed and security controls, the need for boards to make conscious risk decisions rather than rely on traffic-light dashboards, and what security teams should actually be optimizing for when time is no longer the constraint.