In this episode of Cyber Inspiration, Evgeniy Kharam is joined by John Spiegel, Jaye Tillson, and Graham Ludlow, authors of Zero Trust Done Right: A practitioner’s guide to zero trust security in the age of AI.

Based on decades of real world experience, they break down why most Zero Trust initiatives fail and what organizations need to do differently.

This is not a technical deep dive. It is a practical conversation about leadership, communication, and execution.

We cover:

• Why Zero Trust is a business initiative, not an IT project

• The human side of Zero Trust and why culture matters

• How to communicate with executives and gain buy in

• Why most initiatives never get finished

• How to position Zero Trust without even using the term

• Lessons learned from real world failures

If you are attending RSA, you can meet the authors and get your copy signed:

• Monday at the Cloud Security Alliance event

• Wednesday at the RSA Bookstore

Grab the book here

In this episode of Cyber Inspiration, Evgeniy Kharam sits down with David Sequino and Bill Lattin of OmniTrust (formally INTEGRITY Security Services - ISS), and authors of Trust on the Edge: The New Front Line in IoT Cybersecurity.

With decades of experience in cryptography and embedded systems, David and Bill share how a real world manufacturing challenge led them to build solutions focused on securing connected devices.

As everything from vehicles to medical devices becomes connected, cybersecurity is no longer optional. It must be built into products from the very beginning.

This conversation explores why embedded security is different from enterprise security, how the attack surface is rapidly expanding, and why leadership must take responsibility for security across the entire product lifecycle.

In this episode of Cyber Inspiration, Evgeniy Kharam sits down with Stanley Li, Founder of Netswitch Technology Management, to unpack a 30 year journey through technology, entrepreneurship, and cyber governance.

Born in Hong Kong, educated in England, and building his career in San Francisco, Stanley’s path was anything but linear. From bartending at a yacht club to becoming a cable puller, to network architect, to founder during the dot com era, his story reflects persistence, risk, and reinvention.

We discuss:

• Starting at the bottom and learning the industry from the ground up

• Launching a company in 2000 just as the dot com crash hit

• Building early voice recognition technology before the iPhone existed

• The emotional toll of failed partnerships

• Trust but verify in business relationships

• Why entrepreneurship is different when it is your own money

• How cyber governance became the next chapter

• The vision behind their open source Risk Indicator data visualization tool

Stanley also shares powerful advice about staying focused, elevating awareness, and protecting your character in business.

If you are navigating leadership, startups, or cybersecurity strategy, this episode is a masterclass in resilience.

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Read more on Netswitch: https://www.netswitch.net

Connect with Stanley Li: https://www.linkedin.com/in/netswitchstanleyli/

Connect with Evgeniy Kharam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ekharam/

Sharon Isaaci, Co-Founder and CEO of Tonic Security, joins Evgeniy Kharam to explore what it really takes to build a cybersecurity company that helps defenders focus on what matters.

After years in military intelligence and incident response, Sharon kept seeing the same pattern. Organizations had visibility, alerts, and tools. But they still got breached. Why? Because they missed the context.

This episode dives into how that insight led to Tonic Security, how GenAI is being used to cut through noise, and why Sharon now hires for values and learning ability instead of just technical skill.

What You’ll Learn

1. Why visibility is not the issue, but context is
2. How Tonic reduces irrelevant security findings by over 99 percent
3. The origin story behind Tonic Security
4. Lessons from Israeli cyber teams and elite talent
5. How Sharon approaches hiring and leadership
6. The personal tools he uses to stay grounded, from martial arts to music

In this episode, host Evgeniy Kharam speaks with Omar Romero, CEO of Rose IT Services, a Trinidad-based MSP serving the Caribbean and North America. Omar shares his story of launching the company post-2008 crash, scaling without VC or franchising, building a team from scratch, and adapting to evolving tech, from cybersecurity to automation. He also explores cultural differences in client communication and how COVID shaped his documentation-first mindset.

Key Topics:

• MSP growth lessons from New York to Trinidad
• How culture impacts IT service delivery
• Scaling a business without losing the personal touch
• Why cybersecurity became central to Rose IT
• Real work-life balance while running a global MSP
• Automating, documenting, and preparing for the unexpected

🔗 Learn more: https://www.rose-it.com/

🔗 Guest: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omar-romero-roseitservices

🎧 Host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evgeniykharam

Mentioned in this episode:

Cyber Innovation Showcase

Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst is excited to invite you to the Cyber Innovation Showcase – a Brampton-based event uniting business leaders, cyber experts, and innovators to spotlight the cutting-edge technologies that can help protect and future-proof your business. Join us for an evening highlighting made-in-Canada solutions from this year’s Cyber Challenge companies, each driving the future of cybersecurity across Ontario’s most critical sectors. 📅 Thursday, December 11, 2025 ⏰ 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM 📍 The Rose Theatre, 1 Theatre Lane, Brampton, ON L6V 0A3 At the Showcase, you’ll be able to: ● Get early access to innovative Canadian cyber technologies ● Watch live demos featuring real-world industry applications ● Gain insights to strengthen your organization’s digital resilience ● Network with experts, tech providers, and business professionals Register today: https://luma.com/xxl336v2

Ross Young joins Evgeniy Kharam to talk about his new book Cybersecurity Secret: Why Most Budgets Go to Waste — and how the industry can do better. From optimizing spend and retiring underperforming tools, to writing a book using AI and creating onboarding frameworks for developers, Ross shares insights every cybersecurity leader can use.

Topics Covered:

• Why cybersecurity spending often fails
• Who the book is for (CISOs, CFOs, vendors, and tech writers)
• The “Murder Board” framework to evaluate tool usage
• Total Cost of Ownership in cyber planning
• AI and ChatGPT for authorship + productivity
• Developer onboarding as a security risk
• Why Ross self-published and what’s next

Buy your copy

Guest: Ross Young

Host: Evgeniy Kharam

Resources:

https://www.cisotradecraft.com/freetemplates

https://www.cisotradecraft.com/course-master-the-budget-game-in-cybersecurity

In this episode, Evgeniy Kharam interviews Saryu Nayyar, CEO of Gurucul, to unpack how she turned a practitioner’s insight into a powerful cybersecurity platform. With no outside funding and a relentless focus on relationships, Saryu’s leadership helped Gurucul land in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant while continuing to innovate through AI, data optimization, and trust-first culture.

What We Cover:

• From Oracle to entrepreneurship
• Bootstrapping instead of raising VC
• Why product-market fit takes time
• Prioritizing when everything feels urgent
• How soft skills and team trust built Gurucul’s foundation

Resources:

Website: https://www.gurucul.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saryunayyar

Host: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evgeniykharam

🎧 Available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts & more!

In this episode of Cyber Inspiration, host Evgeniy Kharam sits down with Charles Henderson, Executive Vice President of Cybersecurity Solutions at Coalfire, to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping the cyber threat landscape.

From AI-driven impersonation attacks to the ethics and implications of deepfake technology, Charles shares firsthand insights from the frontlines of offensive and defensive security. Whether you’re a CISO, red teamer, or simply want to understand how threat actors are exploiting AI, this episode will challenge your assumptions and sharpen your awareness.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• Why AI is becoming the go-to tool for threat actors
• What “AI cloning” really means in a cyber context
• How to design systems that can’t fail, even if users do
• The difference between breaking things and building secure solutions
• How to prepare your team with modern, real-world security awareness training
• Why executives are prime targets — and how to protect them
• The limitations of detection tools in a fast-evolving AI arms race

Timestamps:

00:00 – Meet Charles Henderson: From hacker to EVP at Coalfire

02:00 – Can you just “become” a pen tester? It’s more than breaking things

06:30 – The abuse-case mindset: Thinking like an attacker

07:45 – AI, social engineering, and the blurry new threat landscape

11:00 – Why Coalfire’s team built AI cloning attacks to stay ahead of cybercriminals

13:00 – Simple, powerful explanation of AI cloning and pretexting

14:00 – Real-world example of AI-based awareness training that worked

15:30 – How to redesign systems to limit the impact of human error

17:00 – Executive verification: A must-have in today’s landscape

18:30 – Deepfake detection tools: Can tech keep up?

20:00 – Final thoughts + where to connect with Charles

Resources & Links:

🌐 Visit Coalfire.com

🎧 Subscribe to Cyber Inspiration on YouTube