The Defender's Journal Episode 38 - Ashwin Mithra

Welcome to another special spin-off episode of The Defender’s Journal!This week, Divyangi Anchan joins us - a technology and risk leader whose career has spanned operational risk and privacy leadership at American Express to enterprise AI risk and controls at Google thus far.In this episode, we explore who should actually be accountable when autonomous AI makes a decision, why AI governance needs orchestration rather than another layer of isolated controls, and why the next generation of risk leaders must “operate at the intersection of three distinct mindsets”. Divyangi also shares a more human perspective on intuition, judgement and knowing when the data doesn’t tell you everything...+ Interested in joining us on the show? Connect with either Jeff Harrod or Cameron Wenham on LinkedIn or via our website.

Welcome to Episode 38 of The Defender’s Journal!This week, Ashwin Mithra joins us - Global Head of Information Security at CloudBees, where his team sits at the intersection of software delivery, cloud operations and AI-driven development at scale. In this episode, we explore why security can no longer survive as a checkpoint in the pipeline. Ashwin breaks down why developers route around friction, why “death by screenshot” governance doesn’t work when AI is shipping thousands of changes a day, and why the future of secure delivery depends on making security automatic, inherited and ambient - not something teams learn reluctantly at the end.+ Interested in joining us on the show? Connect with Cameron Wenham on LinkedIn or via our website.

Welcome to Episode 37 of The Defender’s Journal!This week, Bashar Abouseido joins us - President of Cybersecurity at TENEX.AI and former long-serving CISO at Charles Schwab, where cyber decisions carried consequences beyond systems and into markets, trust and business continuity…In this episode, we explore why the traditional security model of adding more analysts, more tools and more process has reached its limit. Bashar breaks down why “you can’t out-hire a machine”, why culture can eat your threat model, and why the next generation of security operations will be defined by AI-native scale, context engineering and human-led decision-making at machine speed.+ Interested in joining us on the show? Connect with Cameron Wenham on LinkedIn or via our website.

Welcome to Episode 36 of The Defender’s Journal!This week, Kevin Fielder joins us - CISO at NatWest Boxed, operating at the intersection of embedded finance, cloud-native banking and real-world security trade-offs...In this episode, we explore what it takes to secure a banking platform that sits behind major consumer brands, why “yes, but safely” beats defaulting to no, and how AI is changing the way teams need to think about trust, verification and risk. Kevin also shares why great security leadership is rarely about fixing everything at once - it’s about understanding what matters most, and moving the business forward without losing control.+ Interested in joining us on the show? Connect with Cameron Wenham on LinkedIn or via our website.

Welcome to another special crossover episode of The Defender’s and Disruptor’s Journal!This week, Lee Rossey joins us - CTO and Co-Founder of SimSpace, a company helping organisations prove whether their teams, tools and AI agents can perform under real-world pressure.In this episode, we explore why cyber readiness can no longer rely on assumptions, vendor claims or controlled lab results. Lee breaks down the value of high-fidelity cyber ranges, AI proving grounds and digital twin-style environments - and why the future of security may depend on testing machine-speed responses before they ever reach production…+ Want to be part of the journey? Connect with host Cameron Wenham or explore both shows via our website! 

Welcome to another special crossover episode of The Defender’s and Disruptor’s Journal!This week, Matt Moynahan joins us - CEO of GetReal and a leader focused on one of the most urgent questions in security: what happens when identity itself can be fabricated in real time?In this episode, we explore why traditional security stacks were never designed for a world of synthetic media, deepfake detection and forensic verification. Matt breaks down where enterprise failures are already emerging - from candidate fraud and account takeover to executive impersonation - and why the next decade of security may depend on restoring trust to digital communication itself.+ Want to be part of the journey? Connect with host Cameron Wenham or explore both shows via our website! 

Welcome to another special crossover episode of The Defender’s and Disruptors’ Journal.This week, Rick Caccia joins us - CEO of WitnessAI and former CMO at companies including Palo Alto Networks and Google Cloud. Having spent three decades shaping how major technology markets are understood, Rick is now building in one of the fastest-moving spaces of all: safe enterprise AI adoption.In this episode, we explore why most organisations are still struggling to understand how AI is really being used, why “blocking everything” creates a false sense of control, and how WitnessAI shifted from a fear-led security message to solving the far less glamorous - but far more urgent - problem of AI compliance, visibility and governance.+ Want to be part of the journey? Connect with host Cameron Wenham or explore both shows via our website! 

Welcome to Episode 35 of The Defender’s Journal!This week, Omkhar Arasaratnam joins us - a Distinguished Engineer at LinkedIn whose career has taken him from factory work and DJ’ing to leading cyber and engineering functions across IBM, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, JPMorgan and Google.In this episode, we explore why careers are rarely ladders, the difference between advisors and operators, and what changes when you build security into systems serving millions of users. Omkhar also reflects on analysis paralysis, mentorship, and the mindset that turns every day into a “bonus round”.You can find more from Omkhar at omkhar.net and learn about his scholarship work at skscholarship.com.+ Interested in joining us on the show? Connect with Cameron Wenham on LinkedIn or via our website.

Welcome to another special crossover episode of The Defender’s and Disruptors’ Journal.Today’s guest is Damon Kachur, CEO of SecureG - a leader who has spent over two decades building the invisible infrastructure that digital trust depends on, from issuing billions of device identities to securing the networks behind telecom, IoT and critical systems.In this episode, we explore what it really means to build trust at scale - from the early days of PKI and stopping large-scale fraud, to the future of quantum-resistant cryptography and machine identity. Damon also shares his mindset as a leader under pressure, why trust infrastructure is still misunderstood at board level, and how the next wave of AI and connected systems will redefine identity entirely...+ Want to be part of the journey? Connect with host Cameron Wenham or explore both shows via our website! 

Welcome to Episode 34 of The Defender’s Journal!This week, George Totev joins us - a CISO who has spent over 20 years operating at the intersection of regulation, product and real-world risk, building and scaling security and compliance functions across organisations like Goldman Sachs, Visa and Atlassian...In this episode, we explore how security leaders should think about trade-offs at scale - from balancing prevention vs reaction, to understanding diminishing returns in security investment, and why incident management is ultimately the last line of defence. George also touches on how to communicate risk effectively to boards - not through theory, but through cost, consequence and real-world impact.+ Interested in joining us on the show? Connect with Cameron Wenham on LinkedIn or via our website.