AI Security, AI Cloud Ops & Infrastructure | ClearTech Loop

AI safety isn’t about slowing innovation — it’s about steering smarter. In this episode of ClearTech Loop, Jo Peterson sits down with Dutch Schwartz, Vice President of Cloud Services and fractional CISO at SideChannel, to talk about how CISOs can keep delivery velocity while adding the guardrails that actually reduce risk. 

Dutch shares real-world lessons from the Cloud Security Alliance’s AI Safety Initiative — where both he and Jo serve as members — and explains how pre-approved AI patterns and identity governance are key to responsible innovation. 

“It’s not about slamming on the brakes; it’s about putting up bumpers so you can move fast without ending up in the gutter.”
— Dutch Schwartz 

If you’re leading AI adoption inside your organization, this episode breaks down how to build controls that accelerate outcomes, not bureaucracy. 

Timestamps 

00:00 – Intro: What ClearTech Loop is and who Dutch Schwartz is 
01:27 – Dutch’s background and role at SideChannel 
03:13 – The “chaos manager” mindset in cybersecurity 
04:13 – What makes the CSA AI Safety Initiative different 
05:57 – How early AI adoption mirrors cultural waves 
06:37 – The “bumpers, not brakes” analogy explained 
08:15 – Why non-human identities will define the next phase of AI governance 
10:02 – Translating CSA frameworks into practical, recoverable steps 
12:15 – The quick hits CISOs need today 
13:18 – Jo’s closing reflections and invitation to continue the conversation 

Resources & Links 

• CSA AI Safety Initiative: https://cloudsecurityalliance.org/ai-safety-initiative 
• CSA White Paper: AI Matrix Controls 
• Previous Episode: The CSA AI Safety Initiative with George Finney 
• Related Read by Dutch: Securing generative AI: Applying relevant security controls 

Guest: Dutch Schwartz — VP of Cloud Services and fractional CISO at SideChannel 

Host: Jo Peterson — Chief Analyst, ClearTech Research 

CTA Footer: ClearTech Loop is where AI, cloud, and security intersect — hosted by Jo Peterson. 

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AI is moving fast — and the frameworks to secure it are racing to keep up. 

In this episode of ClearTech Loop, Jo Peterson sits down with George Finney, Chief Security Officer for the University of Texas System and Co-Chair of the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) AI Safety Council), to unpack the CSA AI Safety Initiative — a global effort to build practical guardrails for AI adoption. 

They cover: 

• Why the CSA is leading the charge on AI safety 
• How the AI Controls Matrix and “AI firewalls” help organizations evaluate tools responsibly 
• What third-party AI risk looks like in the enterprise stack 
• Why CISOs must have a voice in shaping AI governance 

If you’re a CISO, IT leader, or practitioner navigating the AI wave, this conversation connects the dots between security frameworks and real-world implementation. 

Listen now — and find out how the same group that defined cloud security standards is laying the foundation for AI. 

Resources Mentioned 

• Project Zero Trust — George Finney 
• Rise of the Machines: A Project Zero Trust Story — George Finney
  Also available as an audiobook on Amazon and Audible, narrated by Daniel Thomas May — best known for his role in The Walking Dead. 
• Cloud Security Alliance – AI Safety Initiative 
• CSA AI Controls Matrix 

About ClearTech Loop 

ClearTech Loop brings together the voices shaping what’s next in cloud, AI, and cybersecurity. Hosted by Jo Peterson, Chief Analyst at ClearTech Research, each episode delivers real conversations with practitioners who are redefining the technology landscape. 

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Jo Peterson explores why hybrid integration is now the foundation of full-stack automation — and how a unified platform helps IT leaders manage complexity, connect data across environments, and scale AI initiatives securely. Featuring insights on IBM webMethods Hybrid Integration.

Episode Description

Today’s enterprise runs everywhere — cloud, on-prem, SaaS, and edge. The real challenge isn’t connecting systems; it’s keeping control, visibility, and governance while doing it.

In this special edition of ClearTech Loop, Jo Peterson unpacks:

• What hybrid integration really means in practice
• Why a unified integration platform is essential for automation at scale
• How AI depends on hybrid integration for real-time, trusted data
• Where IBM webMethods Hybrid Integration fits into the modern enterprise tech stack

Want to learn more about how hybrid integration supports resilient, AI-driven automation?

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Episode Notes (extended)

Hybrid integration isn’t just a technical upgrade — it’s a strategic necessity for full-stack automation.

• It unifies APIs, data pipelines, and event streams into a single governance framework.
• It ensures consistent policy enforcement and observability across hybrid and multi-cloud deployments.
• It’s the backbone that lets AI systems access data securely, reliably, and at scale.

IBM’s webMethods Hybrid Integration offers a hybrid control plane purpose-built for this challenge — connecting innovation with infrastructure and giving organizations the flexibility to modernize without losing control.

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In this episode of ClearTech Loop, Jo Peterson sits down with Bil Harmer, Founder & CEO of Killswitch Advisory, to explore a topic every security leader wrestles with — how to make cybersecurity pay for itself. 

Harmer brings more than two decades of experience leading programs for startups, governments, and global financial institutions. He’s blunt, practical, and focused on one truth: cybersecurity isn’t a cost center — it’s a financial model. 

Jo and Bil break down what that means for CISOs under pressure to do more with less: 

• Why security is a cost of survival, not safety 
• How to redefine cyber risk as financial risk 
• Why governance now starts with procurement 
• What “acceptable loss” really looks like in practice 
• How to spot hidden AI clauses in your SaaS contracts before your data trains someone else’s model 

This episode cuts past the theory and gets into the business side of cybersecurity — where financial fluency is now just as important as technical skill. 

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 CISOs are being asked to do two things at once: deploy AI faster and guarantee it won’t backfire. In this ClearTech Loop episode, Jo Peterson talks with Josh Copeland — cybersecurity executive, professor, and author of Unpopular Opinion — about how to balance speed and safety in AI adoption. 

You’ll hear about: 

• Four AI “survival moves” CISOs can use now: hypothesis testing, knowledge synthesis, contextualized decision-making, and creativity catalysts. 
• Why Josh rates shadow AI an “eight out of ten” risk — and what CISOs can do to govern it instead of chasing it underground. 
• How to embed explainability, human oversight, and resilience into AI systems from the start. 
• Why every enterprise needs an AI Incident Response playbook before scaling. 

Josh brings 25+ years of experience spanning federal, state, and commercial sectors. He’s also the author of Unpopular Opinion: Burning Down the Bullsh*t to Rebuild Cybersecurity. 

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Episode Description (Short): 
Jo Peterson and Josh Copeland break down the CISO’s AI dilemma: how to move fast on AI adoption without breaking trust. 

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Summary

Jo Peterson explores how a full stack approach to automation — powered by a hybrid control plane and AI — helps IT leaders cut through fragmentation and build an AI-ready foundation. Featuring insights on IBM webMethods Hybrid Integration. 

Episode Description

Enterprise IT is more fragmented than ever — siloed apps, processes, and clouds that don’t talk to each other. The result? manual workarounds and architectures that can’t keep pace with business demand. 

In this ClearTech Loop special edition, Jo Peterson explores: 

• What a full stack approach to automation looks like in practice 
• Why a hybrid control plane is critical for IT leaders 
• How agentic AI is changing the automation playbook 
• Where IBM webMethods Hybrid Integration fits into this strategy 

Want to learn more about this evolution and what challenges webMethods Hybrid Integration can solve for you and your team today? 

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Episode Notes

• Automation isn’t just about speeding up processes — it’s about creating a cohesive, AI-ready foundation that can scale. 
• Hybrid and multicloud deployments are creating complexity that requires centralized governance. 
• Agentic AI is pushing enterprises beyond reactive prompts to autonomous systems that take on complex workloads. 
• IBM’s webMethods Hybrid Integration offers a hybrid control plane designed to unify governance across environments and support this next wave of automation. 

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AI isn’t just another shiny tool — it’s a catalyst to rethink how we secure and govern our organizations. 

In this ClearTech Loop episode, Jo Peterson sits down with Rob May — Executive Chairman of ramsac, UK Cybersecurity Ambassador, and author of Harnessing AI and The Human Firewall. 

Rob shares a practical playbook for CISOs navigating AI adoption: 

Reframe the Role of AI: Treat it as assistive intelligence — a thought partner that changes the questions you ask, not just a productivity add-on. 

Red Team Smarter: Use generative AI to simulate likely attack paths in your environment so you can adjust defenses before alerts ever fire. 

Build Security In: Stop bolting security on at the end. Embed privacy checklists, automated testing, and audit trails directly into the AI development lifecycle. 

Govern with Confidence: CISOs must own the narrative around visibility, accountability, data use, and explainability. AI is both a defense multiplier and a governance responsibility. 

If you’ve been wondering how to balance AI innovation with trust, or how to expand your CISO mandate without slowing your teams down, this episode is for you. 

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Key Quotes  

“Don’t think of it as artificial intelligence. Think of it as assistive intelligence.” — Rob May 

“When security and AI teams work side by side, you don’t slow down innovation — you accelerate trust in the outcomes.” — Rob May 

“AI can be both a force multiplier and a new category of risk. The CISO’s role is to maximize the former and govern the latter.” — Rob May 

Episode Notes

Listen: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2248577/episodes/17885925
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Tzf6dwfUh50
Subscribe to ClearTech Loop Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7346174860760416256/
Rob May’s books: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Rob-May/author/B078GYKHZJ 

Resources mentioned: 

• Harnessing AI: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1915074252 
• The Human Firewall: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1915074236 

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AI isn’t just a productivity tool — it’s a brand-new attack surface. 

In this ClearTech Loop episode, Jo Peterson sits down with David Linthicum — cloud pioneer, five-time best-selling author, and leading voice on cloud and AI strategy. 

David shares a practical roadmap for CISOs facing the reality of AI adoption: 

Weaponize AI for Good: Use generative AI to simulate attacks on your own systems. Find the gaps before adversaries do. 

Shift Security Left: Bake privacy and security into the first 20% of your AI/ML pipeline, not the last. 

Rethink Incident Response: Static PDFs don’t cut it. Build AI-driven playbooks that adapt to your live environment. 

Close the Governance Gap: Break down silos between DevOps and security. Shared responsibility doesn’t mean shared blame. 

If you’ve been wondering how to hack yourself before the hackers do, govern AI adoption without slowing innovation, or stop incident response chaos before it starts, this is your episode. 

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CISOs wear three hats in 2025: Operator, Strategist, Storyteller. 

In this ClearTech Loop episode, Jo Peterson sits down with Mark Lynd — Head of Executive Advisory & Strategy at Netsync, globally ranked AI & Security Thought Leader, and author of Cyber War One Scenario. 

Mark shares a practical field guide for CISOs navigating the complexity of AI adoption: 

• Operator: Shift SOCs from alert-chasing to question-asking. Measure time-to-decision, not tool count. 
• Strategist: Stop reinventing governance. Use paved roads with guardrails (NIST, ISO, vendor frameworks). 
• Storyteller: Boards don’t want tool inventories — they want proof you can protect the business. Translate cyber chaos into ROI and resilience. 

If you’ve been wondering how to brief the board, govern shadow AI, or actually augment your SOC with AI (without burning out your team), this is your episode. 

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Episode Notes

🎧 Listen: [Buzzsprout embed auto-fills] 

📺 Watch on YouTube: [insert link] 

📰 Subscribe to ClearTech Loop Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7346174860760416256/ 

📘 Mark Lynd’s book Cyber War One Scenario: https://www.amazon.com/Cyber-War-Scenario-Mark-Lynd/dp/B0FH41GRHS  

🔗 Resources mentioned: 

• NIST AI RMF 
• Gartner SOC Efficiency 
• PwC Digital Trust Insights 2025 

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Rules don’t scale. Architecture does. F5’s Lori MacVittie makes the case for putting security policy in the infrastructure—not the app—and for treating AI as its own threat surface. If your program is still chasing strings with rules, you’re already behind.  

If your “AI security” strategy is a pile of brittle rules, you’re governing yesterday’s system. In this no-fluff conversation, Lori MacVittie argues for a structural fix: move policy and enforcement into the architecture where they can evolve without redeploys—then govern AI as a distinct threat surface (prompts, context, responses, completions, agents), not just another API.  

She also shows how to use LLMs for what humans are bad at: fast pattern discovery. Her real-world example? A packet capture fed to an LLM surfaced a noisy IoT device in minutes—compressing mean-time-to-repair by skipping the rule-writing slog.  

Reality check: AI adoption is outrunning AI security. If you’re still reactive, you’re late.  

Quick explainer for non-practitioners: Regex (regular expressions) = rule-based string pattern matching; useful for forms, brittle against attackers who mutate text. Lori’s point: shift to semantic signals (meaning/behavior), not just string matches.  

In This Episode 

• From rules to semantics: why regex won’t save you—and how AI helps detect semantic patterns of abuse.  
• Put controls in the architecture: keep secure coding by default, but move policy/enforcement/governance out of the app to avoid security debt and dev drag.  
• Govern the AI loop: prompts, context windows, responses, completions, agents—the surface is broader than APIs or the network stack.  
• Adoption vs. security: the Road Runner problem—AI is sprinting ahead of the controls.  
• Practical win: use LLMs to accelerate discovery in telemetry (e.g., packet captures) and cut MTTR.  

Guest Bio

Lori MacVittie is a Distinguished Engineer & Chief Evangelist in F5’s Office of the CTO. She writes and speaks extensively on modern app delivery, AI-driven operations, and security governance. 

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