Who Owns Your AI Security Policy? with Chris Cochran

More from Hacker Valley Studio All episodes →

1. 

   S6 · E431 · 23 Jun 2026 · 32 min

   What's Really Stopping AI From Running Your SOC with Aqsa Taylor

   In 2025, out of all 70+ guests we had on our show, not one of them said they’d trust AI to run their SOC. Now in 2026, that mindset is shifting. In this episode, Ron sits down with Aqsa Taylor, Chief Security Evangelist at Exaforce, to find out what changed, and what's still standing in the way of security teams being able to trust AI agents with response. The conversation covers what's really behind the agentic SOC hype, why "vibe hunting" might be the most fun phrase in cybersecurity right now, and how teams can build enough confidence to hand over the keys to detection, investigation, and…

2. 

   S6 · E430 · 16 Jun 2026 · 29 min

   Feed Your Brain: What Cybersecurity Veterans Are Getting Wrong with Johnny Xmas

   Is AI really coming for your red teaming job? What does it actually take to build a team that thinks like the adversary, and what happens when that team stops caring? And what do you do when you've been in this field long enough that the job that once fired you up has started to feel hollow? In this episode, Ron catches up with Johnny Xmas, Head of Offensive Security at a Fortune 150 Global Food Manufacturer, and one of the most candid voices in offensive security, for a conversation that covers a lot of ground fast. They go deep on where AI actually fits into offensive security workflows,…

3. 

   S6 · E429 · 9 Jun 2026 · 25 min

   Fighting Smarter: What Combat Sports Teaches Us About Cyber Defense with Robin Black

   What does a calf kick have to do with vulnerability management? What can a fighter's mindset teach a security practitioner about operating against an adversary they've never faced? Ron Eddings brings back fan-favorite combat sports analyst and commentator Robin Black for a conversation that was never meant to be about cybersecurity, and ends up being one of the most insightful episodes on the human side of the field. They dig into how underdogs actually win (hint: we're usually wrong about who the underdog is), what it really means to maintain control in a fight, and why the highest level of…

4. 

   S6 · E428 · 2 Jun 2026 · 36 min

   Is Vibe Coding Breaking the Internet? with Tanya Janca

   What happens when AI writes all the code and nobody reads it? What if the security prompt you trusted still produced software designed to leak your secrets? And who exactly is on the hook when an AI-generated application takes down your company? In this episode, Ron sits down with returning guest Tanya Janca, Secure Coding Trainer at SheHacksPurple Consulting, to dig into one of the most underestimated risks in software development today: vibe coding. Tanya breaks down what vibe coding actually means, why AI trained on the internet's worst repositories is quietly baking the OWASP Top 10 into…

5. 

   S6 · E427 · 26 May 2026 · 36 min

   Why Smart People Fall for Deepfakes with Perry Carpenter

   What if the most sophisticated attack has nothing to do with your firewall? In a world where AI can clone voices, re-lip-sync politicians, and spread a fake newscast to 200,000 people in days, the real target has always been your brain. Ron sits down with Perry Carpenter, Chief Deception Strategist at KnowBe4, to unpack why we're still getting fooled in 2026 and what we can actually do about it. Perry gets into the neuroscience behind why our brains are wired the way they are, how attackers exploit that, and what it really takes to build better instincts in a world full of AI-generated…

6. 

   S6 · E425 · 1 May 2026 · 35 min

   Turning 30,000 Findings Into 50 That Matter with Dan Pagel and Brad Hibbert

   Mythos just found 30,000 new vulnerabilities, and now every security team is asking the same question: what actually matters? In this episode, Ron Eddings sits down with Dan Pagel, CEO at Brinqa, and Brad Hibbert COO & CSO at Brinqa, to break down the Anthropic Mythos moment that rattled the security industry. From the panic of millions of new findings dropping overnight to the strategy of narrowing them down to the 50 that actually matter in YOUR environment, this episode is a masterclass in exposure management at machine speed. Dan and Brad share how Brinqa helps organizations make sense…

7. 

   S1 · E424 · 24 Apr 2026 · 39 min

   Killing the Playbook with Agentic AI with Allan Alford and Tom Findling

   SOAR promised to close the loop in the SOC and fell flat. Agentic AI is finally delivering what a decade of playbooks couldn’t. In this episode, Ron sits down with Allan Alford, SVP at NTT Global Data Centers, and Tom Findling, co-founder and CEO of Conifers.ai. They cover why static playbooks broke under real-world conditions and how agentic systems are flipping the SOC operating model. They get into hallucination guardrails, human-on-the-loop versus human-in-the-loop, and the QR-code phishing investigation an agent solved on its own without being told how. The conversation closes on trust…

8. 

   S6 · E423 · 17 Apr 2026 · 35 min

   The Epidemic of Sameness Is Killing Your Brand with Don Jeter

   In 2025, Torq brought a monster truck to RSAC. And Don Jeter, Torq's CMO, will be the first to tell you: nobody's buying an AI SOC platform because of a grave digger in the booth. In this episode, Ron sits down with Don to discuss what Torq is actually doing in a category packed with 60 near-identical vendors, and why "the epidemic of sameness" is the real threat to every cybersecurity brand right now. Don explains why Torq builds everything in-house, why he starts every strategy by listening instead of pitching the product, and why the only differentiator left in cyber marketing is how much…

9. 

   S6 · E422 · 7 Apr 2026 · 29 min

   Minutes to Meltdown: Cyber Recovery When It Counts with Chris Bevil

   Most organizations are prepping for disaster recovery when they should be building for cyber recovery, and those are not the same thing. Recorded live at RSAC Conference 2026, Ron sat down with Chris Bevil, Principal Security AI Strategist at Commvault, to break down what actually happens after a breach hits and why most teams are caught flat-footed. Chris walks us through Commvault's Minutes to Meltdown tabletop exercise, why isolated recovery environments matter, and how clean data determines whether you get your company back in hours or in 200+ days. This episode will tell you what…

10. 

    S6 · E421 · 1 Apr 2026 · 24 min

    Building AI Governance Before the Incidents Hit with Guru Sethupathy

    AI adoption is outpacing governance at every level, and the cost of waiting is getting higher by the day. Guru Sethupathy, General Manager of AI Governance at Optro and former Founder of FairNow, breaks down what it really takes to build trust in AI systems before things go sideways. Guru lays out a simple but powerful 3 P’s Framework: policies, process, and people, connecting it to what teams are actually dealing with right now, from shadow AI to security threats that don’t look like anything we’ve seen before. If 2026 is the year AI moves from experiments to real operations, this…