Taking the Fear out of Risk

In this episode of Security Visionaries, host Emily Wearmouth welcomes Nycholas Szucko, a board member for many security companies who is based in Brazil, to discuss better approaches to solving misaligned communication between CEOs, boards, and security leaders. Using key data points from the Crucial Conversations report as a jumping off point, Nycholas offers practical strategies for CISOs and CIOs to bridge the gap. Together they cover the essential skills needed, from communication and storytelling to selling skills and understanding financials. They also offer advice around becoming a CEO’s "trusted lieutenant," determining your CEO's risk appetite (even using AI role-play for preparation), navigating frustration with technology as a "black box," and shifting investment from short-term "band-aid" fixes to strategic, long-term platform modernization. This episode provides constructive approaches for improving alignment, becoming proactive in strategic planning, and leading the business into the age of agentic AI. This conversation is a must-listen, whether you’re a CEO, board member, security leader, or anything in between.

In this episode of Security Visionaries, host Max Havey speaks with Beth Miller, Field CISO at Mimecast and author of Risk Reframing: How to Navigate Uncertainty With Resilience, about moving to a human-centered approach to cybersecurity. They discuss why fear-based training is ineffective, how the rise of AI makes human judgment more critical than ever, and how security leaders can redefine risk from a negative to an opportunity to "dare." Additionally Beth introduces some frameworks as practical tools for shifting security culture from one of control and compliance to one of resilience and navigation.

On this episode of Security Visionaries hosts Max Havey and Emily Wearmouth are joined by renowned social engineering expert Jenny Radcliffe, "The People Hacker," for a deep dive into the world of physical, and psychological, hacking. Jenny shares the unconventional path of her storied career, and further explores the role of physical infiltration in security. Additionally she digs into how the rise of AI is changing the reconnaissance process and creating new vulnerabilities, her thoughts on the 2025 Louvre heist, and the simple value of shutting up. This one is not to be missed!

 On this episode of Security Visionaries host Bailey Popp and guest Kirk Ball, CIO at Worldpay, explore the intricacies of the CIO role, particularly as it relates to AI, boardroom communication, and more. Together, Bailey and Kirk discuss balancing quarterly results with long-term risk management through strong architectural discipline, how to effectively communicate technical and cybersecurity value to a non-technical board audience, and the strategic approach CIOs should take in navigating the "organizational opportunity" of AI. Plus, Kirk shares his perspective on the long-term decisions that define a CIO’s legacy, emphasizing the importance of talent, culture, and empathy.

On the latest episode of Security Visionaries, we have all three co-hosts, Max Havey, Emily Wearmouth, and Bailey Popp, together to reintroduce themselves and talk about 2026. Together, they dig into the topics they gravitate toward, tips they’ve learned from past episodes, and some topics they’re hoping to cover in the year to come. Plus, stick around for a rousing game of Two Truths and a Lie to cap things off and get to know the hosts a little bit better.

 On the latest Security Visionaries podcast, host Emily Wearmouth invites Steve Riley back to demystify another key acronym in the AI world: MCP, or model context protocol.  They break down what MCP actually is, how it functions, and why it is critical to understanding AI interactions. From there, they pivot into a discussion about the critical security implications of MCP, covering the risks of unauthenticated servers and the necessity of building both an authorization layer and an external policy layer to ensure granular access, data security, and compliance as AI agents proliferate. As always, this conversation with Steve offers illuminating context and perspective on one of the key security terms going into 2026. You won’t want to miss it.

In this episode, host Emily Wearmouth welcomes back Steve Riley, VP and Field CTO at Netskope, to demystify CSMA: Cybersecurity Mesh Architecture. They dive into what CSMA is, how it's being evangelized by analysts, and its vital role in moving beyond a simple zero trust model to achieve continuous adaptive trust. Steve explains the industry friction holding back standardization and issues a call to action for technology buyers to demand CSMA-ready products from their vendors, prioritizing interoperability to improve security posture and reduce risk.

Host Max Havey digs into the world of agentic AI-enabled threats and cyber espionage with guests Neil Thacker, Global Privacy and Data Protection Officer at Netskope, and Ray Canzanese, Head of Netskope Threat Labs. Together they discuss a recent report from Anthropic about the first-ever reported agentic AI-orchestrated cyber espionage campaign, exploring why this report lacked key technical evidence and the potential motivations behind them. They also dissect the notion that AI is making existing attack techniques—like phishing and social engineering—more accessible and faster, and debate the likelihood of another agentic AI-driven data breach in 2026.

Host Emily Wearmouth is joined by Netskope's Chief Digital and Information Officer, Mike Anderson, and Chief Information Security Officer, James Robinson, to discuss the evolving, and often conflicting, mandates of CIOs and CISOs concerning AI adoption. They dive into how to identify high-impact AI projects, the security challenge of shadow AI, and the need for new security models, like Model Context Protocol (MCP), to manage agent-to-agent communication. Additionally, learn about the internal initiatives Mike and James help to drive, such as the "Promptathon" and "AI Ambassador" program, designed to bridge the gap between innovation and security, and get their top tips for both disrupting and defending your organization in the age of generative AI.

In this episode host Max Havey dives deep into the world of unified security with guests Sinead O’Donovan, VP of Product Management, Identity and Network Access at Microsoft, and Eliot Sun, VP of Product Management at Netskope. Eliot and Sinead offer their perspectives on how an ideal unified strategy brings together data, network access, and identity. Additionally, they dig into the topline benefits, key metrics, and how organizations need to evolve to make a unified strategy a reality.