Episodios

  • Beg Bounty: The New Wave of Unrequested Bug Claims and What They Mean | A Conversation with Casey Ellis | Redefining CyberSecurity with Sean Martin

    Beg Bounty: The New Wave of Unrequested Bug Claims and What They Mean | A Conversation with Casey Ellis | Redefining CyberSecurity with Sean Martin
    Nov 19 2025
    ⬥EPISODE NOTES⬥Understanding Beg Bounties and Their Growing ImpactThis episode examines an issue that many organizations have begun to notice, yet often do not know how to interpret. Sean Martin is joined by Casey Ellis, Founder of Bugcrowd and Co-Founder of disclose.io, to break down what a “beg bounty” is, why it is increasing, and how security leaders should think about it in the context of responsible vulnerability handling.Bug Bounty vs. Beg BountyCasey explains the core principles of a traditional bug bounty program. At its core, a bug bounty is a structured engagement in which an organization invites security researchers to identify vulnerabilities and pays rewards based on severity and impact. It is scoped, governed, and linked to an established policy. The process is predictable, defensible, and aligned with responsible disclosure norms.A beg bounty is something entirely different. It occurs when an unsolicited researcher claims to have found a vulnerability and immediately asks whether the organization offers incentives or rewards. In many cases, the claim is vague or unsupported and is often based on automated scanner output rather than meaningful research. Casey notes that these interactions can feel like unsolicited street windshield washing, where the person provides an unrequested service and then asks for payment.Why It Matters for CISOs and Security TeamsSecurity leaders face a difficult challenge. These messages appear serious on the surface, yet most offer no actionable details. Responding to each one triggers incident response workflows, consumes time, and raises unnecessary internal concern. Casey warns that these interactions can create confusion about legality, expectations, and even the risk of extortion.At the same time, ignoring every inbound message is not a realistic long-term strategy. Some communications may contain legitimate findings from well-intentioned researchers who lack guidance. Casey emphasizes the importance of process, clarity, and policy.How Organizations Can PrepareAccording to Casey, the most effective approach is to establish a clear vulnerability disclosure policy. This becomes a lightning rod for inbound security information. By directing researchers to a defined path, organizations reduce noise, set boundaries, and reinforce safe communication practices.The episode highlights the need for community norms, internal readiness, and a shared understanding between researchers and defenders. Casey stresses that good-faith researchers should never introduce payment into the first contact. Organizations should likewise be prepared to distinguish between noise and meaningful security input.This conversation offers valuable context for CISOs, security leaders, and business owners navigating the growing wave of unsolicited bug claims and seeking practical ways to address them.⬥GUEST⬥Casey Ellis, Founder and Advisor at Bugcrowd | On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseyjohnellis/⬥HOST⬥Host: Sean Martin, Co-Founder at ITSPmagazine and Host of Redefining CyberSecurity Podcast | On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/imsmartin/ | Website: https://www.seanmartin.com⬥RESOURCES⬥Inspiring Post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/caseyjohnellis_im-thinking-we-should-start-charging-bug-activity-7383974061464453120-caEWDisclose.io: https://disclose.io/⬥ADDITIONAL INFORMATION⬥✨ More Redefining CyberSecurity Podcast: 🎧 https://www.seanmartin.com/redefining-cybersecurity-podcastRedefining CyberSecurity Podcast on YouTube:📺 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnYu0psdcllS9aVGdiakVss9u7xgYDKYq📝 The Future of Cybersecurity Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7108625890296614912/Contact Sean Martin to request to be a guest on an episode of Redefining CyberSecurity: https://www.seanmartin.com/contact⬥KEYWORDS⬥cybersecurity, bug bounty, vulnerability disclosure, beg bounty, hacking, researcher, ciso, security teams, risk management, web security, security policy, vulnerability reporting, cyber risk, bugcrowd, discloseio Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    36 m
  • Building a Real Security Culture: Why Most AppSec Champion Programs Fall Short | AppSec Contradictions: 7 Truths We Keep Ignoring — Episode 5 | A Musing On the Future of Cybersecurity with Sean Martin and TAPE9 | Read by TAPE9

    Building a Real Security Culture: Why Most AppSec Champion Programs Fall Short | AppSec Contradictions: 7 Truths We Keep Ignoring — Episode 5 | A Musing On the Future of Cybersecurity with Sean Martin and TAPE9 | Read by TAPE9
    Nov 6 2025

    Most organizations have security champions. Few have a real security culture.

    In this episode of AppSec Contradictions, Sean Martin explores why AppSec awareness efforts stall, why champion programs struggle to gain traction, and what leaders can do to turn intent into impact.

    🔍 In this episode:

    • Why compliance training doesn’t build culture
    • The data showing champion programs lack leadership and incentive alignment
    • How developers, AppSec teams, and business leaders each contribute to the gap
    • Insights from OWASP, ENISA, and Forrester on what’s missing

    Sean’s Take:

    When security culture is treated as a checkbox, nothing changes. When it’s connected to ownership, incentives, and everyday work — everything does.

    Catch the full companion article in the Future of Cybersecurity newsletter for deeper analysis and more research.

    For developers: Has your security-champion program helped ship safer code—or just added meetings?
    For application security professionals: Are your metrics tied to risk reduction or participation counts?
    For business leaders: Can you connect your “security culture” investment to measurable resilience?

    📖 Read the full companion article in the Future of Cybersecurity newsletter for deeper insights: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/building-real-security-culture-why-most-appsec-fall-martin-cissp-eab7e

    🔔 Subscribe to stay updated on the full AppSec Contradictions video series and more perspectives on the future of cybersecurity: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnYu0psdcllRWnImF5iRnO_10eLnPFWi_

    ________

    This story represents the results of an interactive collaboration between Human Cognition and Artificial Intelligence.

    Enjoy, think, share with others, and subscribe to "The Future of Cybersecurity" newsletter on LinkedIn: https://itspm.ag/future-of-cybersecurity

    Sincerely, Sean Martin and TAPE9

    ________

    Sean Martin is a life-long musician and the host of the Music Evolves Podcast; a career technologist, cybersecurity professional, and host of the Redefining CyberSecurity Podcast; and is also the co-host of both the Random and Unscripted Podcast and On Location Event Coverage Podcast. These shows are all part of ITSPmagazine—which he co-founded with his good friend Marco Ciappelli, to explore and discuss topics at The Intersection of Technology, Cybersecurity, and Society.™️

    Want to connect with Sean and Marco On Location at an event or conference near you? See where they will be next: https://www.itspmagazine.com/on-location

    To learn more about Sean, visit his personal website.


    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    2 m
  • Bridging the Cybersecurity Divide Between the Haves and Have-Nots: Lessons from Australia’s CISO Community | A Conversation with Andrew Morgan | Redefining CyberSecurity with Sean Martin

    Bridging the Cybersecurity Divide Between the Haves and Have-Nots: Lessons from Australia’s CISO Community | A Conversation with Andrew Morgan | Redefining CyberSecurity with Sean Martin
    Nov 5 2025
    ⬥GUEST⬥Andrew Morgan, Chief Information Security Officer | On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewmorgancism/⬥HOST⬥Host: Sean Martin, Co-Founder at ITSPmagazine and Host of Redefining CyberSecurity Podcast | On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/imsmartin/ | Website: https://www.seanmartin.com⬥EPISODE NOTES⬥The cybersecurity community has long recognized an uncomfortable truth: the gap between well-resourced enterprises and underfunded organizations keeps widening. This divide isn’t just about money; it’s about survivability. When a small business, school, or healthcare provider is hit with a major breach, the likelihood of permanent closure is exponentially higher than for a large enterprise.As host of the Redefining CyberSecurity Podcast, I’ve seen this imbalance repeatedly — and the conversation with Andrew Morgan underscores why it persists and what can be done about it.The Problem: Structural ImbalanceLarge enterprises operate with defined budgets, mature governance, and integrated security operations centers. They can afford redundancy, talent, and tooling. Meanwhile, small and mid-sized organizations are often left with fragmented controls, minimal staff, and reliance on external vendors or managed providers.The result is a “have and have not” world. The “haves” can detect, contain, and recover. The “have nots” often cannot. When they are compromised, the impact isn’t just reputational — it can mean financial collapse or service disruption that directly affects communities.The Hidden Costs of ComplexityEven when smaller organizations invest in technology, they often fall into the trap of overtooling without strategy. Multiple, overlapping systems create noise, false confidence, and operational fatigue. Morgan describes this as a symptom of viewing cybersecurity as a subset of IT rather than as a business enabler.Simplification is key. A rationalized platform approach — even if not best-of-breed — can deliver better visibility and sustainability than a patchwork of disconnected tools. The goal should not be perfection; it should be proportionate protection aligned with business risk.The Solution: Culture, Collaboration, and ContinuityCyber resilience starts with people and culture. As Morgan puts it, programs must be driven by culture, informed by risk, and delivered through people, process, and technology. Security can’t succeed in isolation from the organization’s purpose or its people.The Australian CISO Tribe provides a real-world model for collaboration. Its members share threat intelligence, peer validation, and practical experiences — a living example of collective defense in action. Whether formalized or ad-hoc, these networks give security leaders context, community, and shared strength.Getting Back to BasicsPractical resilience isn’t glamorous. It’s about getting the basics right — consistent patching, logging, phishing-resistant authentication, verified backups, and tested recovery plans. It’s about ensuring that, if everything fails, you can still get back up.When security becomes a business-as-usual practice rather than a project, organizations begin to move from reactive defense to proactive resilience.The TakeawayBridging the cybersecurity divide doesn’t require endless budgets. It requires prioritization, simplification, and partnership. The “have nots” may never mirror enterprise scale, but they can adopt enterprise discipline — and that can make all the difference between temporary disruption and permanent failure.⬥RESOURCES⬥Inspiring Post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andrewmorgancism_last-night-i-was-fortunate-enough-to-spend-activity-7383972144507994112-V3Zr/⬥ADDITIONAL INFORMATION⬥✨ More Redefining CyberSecurity Podcast: 🎧 https://www.seanmartin.com/redefining-cybersecurity-podcastRedefining CyberSecurity Podcast on YouTube:📺 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnYu0psdcllS9aVGdiakVss9u7xgYDKYq📝 The Future of Cybersecurity Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7108625890296614912/Contact Sean Martin to request to be a guest on an episode of Redefining CyberSecurity: https://www.seanmartin.com/contact⬥KEYWORDS⬥sean martin, andrew morgan, australia, ciso, risk, resilience, cybersecurity, business continuity, governance, compliance, redefining cybersecurity, cybersecurity podcast, redefining cybersecurity podcast Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    52 m
  • How to Stay Resilient When Cybercrime Becomes Your Competition | A Conversation with Author and Former FBI Agent, Eric O'Niell | Redefining CyberSecurity with Sean Martin

    How to Stay Resilient When Cybercrime Becomes Your Competition | A Conversation with Author and Former FBI Agent, Eric O'Niell | Redefining CyberSecurity with Sean Martin
    Oct 30 2025
    ⬥GUEST⬥Eric O'Neill, Keynote Speaker, Cybersecurity Expert, Spy Hunter, Bestselling Author. Attorney | On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-m-oneill/⬥HOST⬥Host: Sean Martin, Co-Founder at ITSPmagazine and Host of Redefining CyberSecurity Podcast | On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/imsmartin/ | Website: https://www.seanmartin.com⬥EPISODE NOTES⬥In this episode of the Redefining CyberSecurity Podcast, host Sean Martin reconnects with Eric O’Neill, National Security Strategist at NeXasure and former FBI counterintelligence operative. Together, they explore how cybercrime has matured into a global economy—and why organizations of every size must learn to compete, not just defend.O’Neill draws from decades of undercover work and corporate investigation to reveal that cybercriminals now operate like modern businesses: they innovate, specialize, and scale. The difference? Their product is your data. He argues that resilience—not prevention—is the true marker of readiness. Companies can’t assume they’re too small or too obscure to be targeted. “It’s just a matter of numbers,” he says. “At some point, you will get struck. You need to be able to take the punch and keep moving.”The discussion covers the practical realities facing small and midsize businesses: limited budgets, fragmented tools, and misplaced confidence. O’Neill explains why so many organizations over-invest in overlapping technologies while under-investing in strategy. His firm helps clients identify these inefficiencies and replace tool sprawl with coordinated defense.Preparation, O’Neill says, should follow his PAID methodology—Prepare, Assess, Investigate, Decide. The goal is to plan ahead, detect fast, and act decisively. Those that do not prepare spend ten times more responding after an incident than they would have spent preventing it.Martin and O’Neill also examine how storytelling bridges the gap between security teams and executive boards. Using relatable analogies—like house fires and insurance—O’Neill makes cybersecurity human. His message is simple: security is not a technical decision; it’s a business one.Listen to hear how the business of cybercrime mirrors legitimate enterprise—and why understanding that truth might be your best defense.⬥RESOURCES⬥Book: Spies, Lies, and Cybercrime by Eric O’Neill – Book linkBook: Gray Day by Eric O’Neill – Book linkFree, Weekly Newsletter: spies-lies-cybercrime.ericoneill.netPodcast: Former FBI Spy Hunter Eric O'Neill Explains How Cybercriminals Use Espionage techniques to Attack Us: https://redefiningsocietyandtechnologypodcast.com/episodes/new-book-spies-lies-and-cyber-crime-former-fbi-spy-hunter-eric-oneill-explains-how-cybercriminals-use-espionage-techniques-to-attack-us-redefining-society-and-technology-podcast-with-marco-ciappelli⬥ADDITIONAL INFORMATION⬥✨ More Redefining CyberSecurity Podcast: 🎧 https://www.seanmartin.com/redefining-cybersecurity-podcastRedefining CyberSecurity Podcast on YouTube:📺 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnYu0psdcllS9aVGdiakVss9u7xgYDKYq📝 The Future of Cybersecurity Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7108625890296614912/Contact Sean Martin to request to be a guest on an episode of Redefining CyberSecurity: https://www.seanmartin.com/contact⬥KEYWORDS⬥eric oneill, sean martin, nexasure, fbi, cybercrime, ransomware, resilience, cybersecurity, business, risk, redefining cybersecurity, cybersecurity podcast, redefining cybersecurity podcast Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    40 m
  • CI/CD Pipeline Security: Why Attackers Breach Your Software Pipeline and Own Your Build Before Production | AppSec Contradictions: 7 Truths We Keep Ignoring — Episode 4 | A Musing On the Future of Cybersecurity with Sean Martin and TAPE9 | Read by TAPE9

    CI/CD Pipeline Security: Why Attackers Breach Your Software Pipeline and Own Your Build Before Production | AppSec Contradictions: 7 Truths We Keep Ignoring — Episode 4 | A Musing On the Future of Cybersecurity with Sean Martin and TAPE9 | Read by TAPE9
    Oct 29 2025
    Organizations pour millions into protecting running applications—yet attackers are targeting the delivery path itself.This episode of AppSec Contradictions reveals why CI/CD and cloud pipelines are becoming the new frontline in cybersecurity.🔍 In this episode:A 188% surge in malicious open-source packages (Sonatype 2025)30% of 2024 cyberattacks traced to suppliers (Financial Times 2025)47% of organizations unable to assess pipeline risk (ENISA 2023)CISA labels build systems “high-value targets” (2025)Sean’s Take:The pipeline is production. Integrity beats visibility. Security must flow through delivery.Catch the full companion article in the Future of Cybersecurity newsletter for deeper analysis and more research.👉 Have you made CI/CD security measurable—or does it still feel like an endless patchwork of scripts, secrets, and trust? Are your pipelines part of your threat model—or an afterthought? How confident are you in the integrity of every artifact you release? Share your take—we’d love to hear your story—whether your team has succeeded in securing the software delivery pipeline from build to deploy, or whether attackers and complexity keep finding the cracks between your tools.📖 Read the full companion article in the Future of Cybersecurity newsletter for deeper insights: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cicd-pipeline-security-why-attackers-breach-your-own-martin-cissp-eqdxe/🔔 Subscribe to stay updated on the full AppSec Contradictions video series and more perspectives on the future of cybersecurity: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnYu0psdcllRWnImF5iRnO_10eLnPFWi_________This story represents the results of an interactive collaboration between Human Cognition and Artificial Intelligence.Enjoy, think, share with others, and subscribe to "The Future of Cybersecurity" newsletter on LinkedIn: https://itspm.ag/future-of-cybersecuritySincerely, Sean Martin and TAPE9________Sean Martin is a life-long musician and the host of the Music Evolves Podcast; a career technologist, cybersecurity professional, and host of the Redefining CyberSecurity Podcast; and is also the co-host of both the Random and Unscripted Podcast and On Location Event Coverage Podcast. These shows are all part of ITSPmagazine—which he co-founded with his good friend Marco Ciappelli, to explore and discuss topics at The Intersection of Technology, Cybersecurity, and Society.™️Want to connect with Sean and Marco On Location at an event or conference near you? See where they will be next: https://www.itspmagazine.com/on-locationTo learn more about Sean, visit his personal website. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    4 m
  • The Silent Risk in AI-Powered Business Automation: Why No-Code Needs Serious Oversight | A Conversation with Walter Haydock | Redefining CyberSecurity with Sean Martin

    The Silent Risk in AI-Powered Business Automation: Why No-Code Needs Serious Oversight | A Conversation with Walter Haydock | Redefining CyberSecurity with Sean Martin
    Oct 16 2025

    ⬥GUEST⬥

    Walter Haydock, Founder, StackAware | On Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/walter-haydock/

    ⬥HOST⬥

    Sean Martin, Co-Founder at ITSPmagazine and Host of Redefining CyberSecurity Podcast | On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/imsmartin/ | Website: https://www.seanmartin.com

    ⬥EPISODE NOTES⬥

    No-Code Meets AI: Who’s Really in Control?

    As AI gets embedded deeper into business workflows, a new player has entered the security conversation: no-code automation tools. In this episode of Redefining CyberSecurity, host Sean Martin speaks with Walter Haydock, founder of StackAware, about the emerging risks when AI, automation, and business users collide—often without traditional IT or security oversight.

    Haydock shares how organizations are increasingly using tools like Zapier and Microsoft Copilot Studio to connect systems, automate tasks, and boost productivity—all without writing a single line of code. While this democratization of development can accelerate innovation, it also introduces serious risks when systems are built and deployed without governance, testing, or visibility.

    The conversation surfaces critical blind spots. Business users may be automating sensitive workflows involving customer data, proprietary systems, or third-party APIs—without realizing the implications. AI prompts gone wrong can trigger mass emails, delete databases, or unintentionally expose confidential records. Recursion loops, poor authentication, and ambiguous access rights are all too easy to introduce when development moves this fast and loose.

    Haydock emphasizes that this isn’t just a technology issue—it’s an organizational one. Companies need to decide: who owns risk when anyone can build and deploy a business process? He encourages a layered approach, including lightweight approval processes, human-in-the-loop checkpoints for sensitive actions, and upfront evaluations of tools for legal compliance and data residency.

    Security teams, he notes, must resist the urge to block no-code outright. Instead, they should enable safer adoption through clear guidelines, tool allowlists, training, and risk scoring systems. Meanwhile, business leaders must engage early with compliance and risk stakeholders to ensure their productivity gains don’t come at the expense of long-term exposure.

    For organizations embracing AI-powered automation, this episode offers a clear takeaway: treat no-code like production code—because that’s exactly what it is.

    ⬥ADDITIONAL INFORMATION⬥

    ✨ More Redefining CyberSecurity Podcast:

    🎧 https://www.seanmartin.com/redefining-cybersecurity-podcast

    Redefining CyberSecurity Podcast on YouTube:

    📺 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnYu0psdcllS9aVGdiakVss9u7xgYDKYq

    📝 The Future of Cybersecurity Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7108625890296614912/

    Interested in sponsoring this show with a podcast ad placement? Learn more:

    👉 https://itspm.ag/podadplc

    ⬥KEYWORDS⬥

    sean martin, walter haydock, automation, ai, nocode, compliance, governance, orchestration, data privacy, redefining cybersecurity, cybersecurity podcast, redefining cybersecurity podcast


    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    38 m
  • Beyond the Title: What It Really Takes to Be a CISO Today — Insights Following A Conversation with Solarwinds CISO, Tim Brown | A Musing On the Future of Cybersecurity with Sean Martin and TAPE9 | Read by TAPE9

    Beyond the Title: What It Really Takes to Be a CISO Today — Insights Following A Conversation with Solarwinds CISO, Tim Brown | A Musing On the Future of Cybersecurity with Sean Martin and TAPE9 | Read by TAPE9
    Oct 16 2025

    What does it really take to be a CISO the business can rely on? In this episode, Sean Martin shares insights from a recent conversation with Tim Brown, CISO at SolarWinds, following his keynote at AISA CyberCon and his role in leading a CISO Bootcamp for current and future security leaders. The article at the heart of this episode focuses not on technical skills or frameworks, but on the leadership qualities that matter most: context, perspective, communication, and trust.

    Tim’s candid reflections — including the personal toll of leading through a crisis — remind us that clarity doesn’t come from control. It comes from connection. CISOs must communicate risk in ways that resonate across teams and business leaders. They need to build trusted relationships before they’re tested and create space for themselves and their teams to process pressure in healthy, sustainable ways.

    Whether you’re already in the seat or working toward it, this conversation invites you to rethink what preparation really looks like. It also leaves you with two key questions: Where do you get your clarity, and who are you learning from? Tune in, reflect, and join the conversation.

    📖 Read the full companion article in the Future of Cybersecurity newsletter for deeper insights: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/beyond-title-what-really-takes-ciso-today-insights-sean-martin-cissp-n73ie/

    ________

    This story represents the results of an interactive collaboration between Human Cognition and Artificial Intelligence.

    Enjoy, think, share with others, and subscribe to "The Future of Cybersecurity" newsletter on LinkedIn: https://itspm.ag/future-of-cybersecurity

    Sincerely, Sean Martin and TAPE9

    ________

    Sean Martin is a life-long musician and the host of the Music Evolves Podcast; a career technologist, cybersecurity professional, and host of the Redefining CyberSecurity Podcast; and is also the co-host of both the Random and Unscripted Podcast and On Location Event Coverage Podcast. These shows are all part of ITSPmagazine—which he co-founded with his good friend Marco Ciappelli, to explore and discuss topics at The Intersection of Technology, Cybersecurity, and Society.™️

    Want to connect with Sean and Marco On Location at an event or conference near you? See where they will be next: https://www.itspmagazine.com/on-location

    To learn more about Sean, visit his personal website.


    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    8 m
  • First CISO Charged by SEC: Tim Brown on Trust, Context, and Leading Through Crisis - Interview with Tim Brown | AISA CyberCon Melbourne 2025 Coverage | On Location with Sean Martin and Marco Ciappelli

    First CISO Charged by SEC: Tim Brown on Trust, Context, and Leading Through Crisis - Interview with Tim Brown | AISA CyberCon Melbourne 2025 Coverage | On Location with Sean Martin and Marco Ciappelli
    Oct 15 2025
    First CISO Charged by SEC: Tim Brown on Trust, Context, and Leading Through Crisis - Interview with Tim Brown | AISA CyberCon Melbourne 2025 Coverage | On Location with Sean Martin and Marco CiappelliAISA CyberCon Melbourne | October 15-17, 2025Tim Brown's job changed overnight. December 11th, he was the CISO at SolarWinds managing security operations. December 12th, he was leading the response to one of the most scrutinized cybersecurity incidents in history.Connecting from New York and Florence to Melbourne, Sean Martin and Marco Ciappelli caught up with their longtime friend ahead of his keynote at AISA CyberCon. The conversation reveals what actually happens when a CISO faces the unthinkable—and why the relationships you build before crisis hits determine whether you survive it.Tim became the first CISO ever charged by the SEC, a distinction nobody wants but one that shaped his mission: if sharing his experience helps even one security leader prepare better, then the entire saga becomes worthwhile. He's candid about the settlement process still underway, the emotional weight of having strangers ask for selfies, and the mental toll that landed him in a Zurich hospital with a heart attack the week his SEC charges were announced."For them to hear something and hear the context—to hear us taking six months off development, 400 engineers focused completely on security for six months in pure focus—when you say it with emotion, it conveys the real cost," Tim explained. Written communication failed during the incident. People needed to talk, to hear, to feel the weight of decisions being made in real time.What saved SolarWinds wasn't just technical capability. It was implicit trust. The war room team operated without second-guessing each other. The CIO handled deployment and investigation. Engineering figured out how the build system was compromised. Marketing and legal managed their domains. Tim didn't waste cycles checking their work because trust was already built."If we didn't have that, we would've been second-guessing what other people did," he said. That trust came from relationships established long before December 2020, from a culture where people knew their roles and respected each other's expertise.Now Tim's focused on mentoring the next generation through the RSA Conference CSO Bootcamp, helping aspiring CISOs and security leaders at smaller companies build the knowledge, community, and relationships they'll need when—not if—their own December 12th arrives. He tailors every talk to his audience, never delivering the same speech twice. Context matters in crisis, but it matters in communication too.Australia played a significant role during SolarWinds' incident response, with the Australian government partnering closely in January 2021. Tim hadn't been back in a decade, making his return to Melbourne for CyberCon particularly meaningful. He's there to share lessons earned the hardest way possible, and to remind security leaders that stress management, safe spaces, and knowing when to compartmentalize aren't luxuries—they're survival skills.His keynote covers the different stages of incident response, how culture drives crisis outcomes, and why the teams that step up matter more than the ones that run away. For anyone leading security teams, Tim's message is clear: build trust now, before you need it.AISA CyberCon Melbourne runs October 15-17, 2025 Coverage provided by ITSPmagazineGUEST:Tim Brown, CISO at SolarWinds | On LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-brown-ciso/HOSTS:Sean Martin, Co-Founder, ITSPmagazine and Studio C60 | Website: https://www.seanmartin.comMarco Ciappelli, Co-Founder, ITSPmagazine and Studio C60 | Website: https://www.marcociappelli.comCatch all of our event coverage: https://www.itspmagazine.com/technology-and-cybersecurity-conference-coverageWant to share an Event Briefing as part of our event coverage? Learn More 👉 https://itspm.ag/evtcovbrfWant Sean and Marco to be part of your event or conference? Let Us Know 👉 https://www.itspmagazine.com/contact-us Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    27 m