Welcome to Data Security Decoded. Join host Caleb Tolin in conversation with Morgan Adamski who leads Cyber, Data, and Tech Risk at PwC and is a former US national security leader who spent 16 years tracking nation-state threats inside the US government. Coming out of a career spent inside secure facilities without windows or phones and working to address China’s prepositioning in US critical infrastructure, Morgan shares a direct view of how geopolitics is now shaping cyber risk decisions in boardrooms.

What You'll Learn:

Why only 24% invest in proactive defense, even while 60% call cyber a top priority

How AI agents are cutting breach timelines to under 80 days

Why cyber insurance is now a hygiene scorecard, not just financial protection

The real reason leaders lack confidence in resilience

Where legacy systems and supply chain dependencies expose blind spots

How public–private collaboration changed the response to China’s infrastructure campaign

What CISOs must confront now to avoid being blindsided by the next crisis

The conversation gives security leaders and decision-makers a clear view of where current strategies fall short and the choices required to build real resilience before the next crisis forces it.

Episode Highlights:

[03:43] Why China prepositions inside US critical infrastructure to trigger disruption and panic in a crisis

[04:20] Collective defense in action: how victims and industry exposed the campaign

[09:27] The truth behind cyber budgets: only 24% invest in proactive defense

[11:57] How AI agents are shortening breach lifecycles to under 80 days

[13:07] Why cyber insurance is now a security scorecard, not a safety net

Episode Resources

Caleb Tolin on LinkedIn

Morgan Adamski on LinkedIn

PwC’s 2026 Global Digital Trust Insights report

In this episode of Data Security Decoded, join host Caleb Tolin as he welcomes back Joe Hladik, Head of Rubrik Zero Labs, to unpack the findings from their new report, Identity Crisis: Understanding & Building Resilience Against Identity-Driven Threats, Joe breaks down how the explosion of non-human identities, from API keys to AI agents, is rewriting the threat landscape and forcing security leaders to rethink the perimeter itself.

He explains why identity resilience is the new foundation of cyber defense, how to prioritize recovery when every system matters, and what steps teams can take now to stay ahead of emerging agentic AI-driven attacks.

What You'll Learn:

Why identity has replaced the network as the modern security perimeter

How non-human identities outnumber humans 82 to 1, and what that means for control and monitoring

Practical steps to build recovery plans around dependency mapping and minimal viable operations

Why ransom payments remain high and how better resilience planning can reverse that trend

How threat actors exploit backup systems to gain total business leverage

What agentic AI really means for cyber defense and how to prepare for its impact

The episode offers a clear framework for leaders to transform identity resilience from a reactive measure into a proactive pillar of enterprise security.

Episode Highlights:

[05:13] The 82:1 Ratio: Why Non-Human Identities Now Define Risk

[07:03] Prioritizing Recovery: Building for Minimal Viable Operations

[10:53] Declining Recovery Confidence and the Rise of Ransom Payments

[15:46] Backups Under Attack: How Threat Actors Seize Business Control

[16:32] Agentic AI and the Shifting Nature of Cyber Threats

[25:32] What Defenders Can Do Now to Build Identity Resilience

Episode Resources

Caleb Tolin on LinkedIn

Joe Hladik on LinkedIn

Rubrik Zero Labs report, Identity Crisis: Understanding & Building Resilience Against Identity-Driven Threats

Welcome to Data Security Decoded. Join host Caleb Tolin in conversation with Lauren Zabierek, Senior Vice President for the Future of Digital Security at the Institute for Security and Technology. A former CISA leader and long-time national security professional, Lauren unpacks the principles of Secure by Design, Secure by Default, and Secure by Demand and how these frameworks are reshaping the software supply chain.

What You'll Learn:

Why security must be a business decision led by executives rather than a technical afterthought

How Secure by Design principles inspired more than 300 companies to eliminate entire classes of vulnerabilities

The economic incentives that drive insecure software and what must change to realign the market

How customers can evaluate vendors and ask the right questions to ensure secure authentication and transparent practices

The role of Secure by Demand in helping buyers assess software safety before and after adoption

Why initiatives like #ShareTheMicInCyber are essential for expanding diversity and innovation across cybersecurity policy

The conversation offers a practical roadmap for executives, CISOs, and technology leaders to integrate secure development practices into business strategy, turning software security from a compliance checkbox into a competitive advantage.

Episode Highlights:

[08:46] Inside CISA’s Secure by Design Pledge

[09:41] The Three Pillars: Secure by Design, Default, and Demand

[11:59] Why Security Is an Economic Issue, Not Just Technical

[15:41] How Customers Can Drive Change Through Secure by Demand

[18:23] The Story and Impact of #ShareTheMicInCyber

Quotes:

"Security has to be a business decision led by business leaders in the company. It should not be an afterthought. It shouldn't just be left to the security team to sort of try to convince the rest of the company that they should do this. It's the company leadership that should say, this is a priority and therefore orient the different resources and priorities around that particular topic."

"Having more secure software is not a technical impossibility. The companies right now are acting rationally in a misaligned market. Secure by Design, at its core, is about shifting those incentives in order to drive a change in behavior."

"Software is what economists would refer to as a credence good. It's very hard to assess the quality of a product or a service both before you consume it and after you consume it. We don't have the criteria or benchmarks to fully assess that, and that’s a problem."

"We looked at really how to provide guidance, and then we also created the Secure by Design pledge. And at the time when we launched it in 2024 at RSA, we had 68 software companies sign on… And then by the time we left, we had over 300 companies sign on. Now this pledge, you know, it addressed certain things like eliminating entire classes of vulnerability. It talked about enabling multifactor authentication by default across product lines. It talked about a vulnerability disclosure policy. Those are just a few things, but you can see that they're very concrete, measurable actions that lead to better outcomes."

Episode Resources

Caleb Tolin on LinkedIn

Lauren Zabierek on LinkedIn

Institute for Security and Technology (IST)

Secure by Demand Guide from CISA

Cyber resilience in financial services is often treated as a checklist of tools and controls, rather than what it truly is: a system of people, intelligence, and collaboration working together.

In this episode of ⁠Data Security Decoded⁠, join ⁠Caleb Tolin⁠ as he sits down with ⁠Troy Wells⁠, Intelligence Officer at FS-ISAC and former U.S. Army intelligence officer, to explore how principles like teamwork, trust, and preparation, forged in national security, translate directly into protecting the global financial system. From using fire-safety lessons to explain prevention, detection, and response, to breaking down the difference between AI models and AI agents, Troy shares practical guidance for banks and financial institutions building resilience in the face of evolving threats.

What You’ll Learn:

Episode Highlights:

[00:22] Troy’s path from Army intelligence officer to FS-ISAC[03:20] Fire-safety lessons: framing prevention, detection, and response in cybersecurity[08:15] The difference between AI models and AI agents, and how to guide each[12:22] Four principles for adopting AI securely in financial institutions[17:00] Cloud misconfigurations and why resilience must be built into architecture[21:39] The top three threats to watch in the next 12–24 months: identity, supply chain, and AI-driven attacks[27:35] Why speed and sophistication make resilience and collaboration essential

Episode Resources:

Identity-based ransomware is no longer a fringe tactic; it’s becoming the playbook of today’s most dangerous adversaries. Scattered Spider, a financially motivated e-crime group, has shifted the model from smash-and-grab encryption to a far more devastating combination of double extortion, social engineering, and hypervisor encryption attacks.

In this episode of Data Security Decoded, host Caleb Tolin welcomes back Joe Hladik, Head of Rubrik Zero Labs, to unpack how Scattered Spider is evolving the ransomware playbook. From double extortion and identity compromise to hypervisor encryption and legacy system exploitation, Joe explains why these tactics succeed where traditional defenses fail and why building cyber resilience, not just detection and response, is the critical next step for security leaders.

What You’ll Learn:

Episode Highlights:

[00:30] Joe on Scattered Spider’s financial motivations and shift to double extortion 

[06:53] Why identity compromise and social engineering bypass traditional defenses 

[08:49] Disabling EDR with “living off the land” techniques and vulnerable drivers 

[13:06] Hypervisor encryption: how attackers can take entire backup systems offline 

[16:21] Cyber resilience as the future: assuming breach and restoring trusted systems

Episode Resources:

Chinese state-backed cyber operations are often misunderstood as a single, centrally controlled machine. In reality, they are fragmented, diverse, and strategically aligned with China’s national objectives, from economic development to critical infrastructure positioning.

In this episode of ⁠Data Security Decoded⁠, join ⁠Caleb Tolin⁠ as he sits down with ⁠Mei Danowski⁠, Co-Founder of Natto Thoughts and expert in geopolitical intelligence, to explore how China’s cyber ecosystem operates and how it is shaped by cultural, political, and economic structures.

What You’ll Learn:

Highlights:

[01:50] The fragmented reality of Chinese state-backed cyber operations

[05:28] How cultural and political structures shape threat actor behavior

[08:47] Comparing China’s cyber strategy to Russia, North Korea, and Iran

[12:45] Why telecom, energy, and water systems are top targets

[21:24] China’s 14th Five-Year Plan successes and projections for the 15th

Episode Resources:

Cyber threat intelligence is often misunderstood, seen as a niche reporting function instead of the connective tissue that links defenders, leaders, and strategy. In this episode of ⁠Data Security Decoded⁠, join ⁠Caleb Tolin⁠ as he sits down with ⁠Scott Scher⁠, a cyber threat intelligence (CTI) expert with an unconventional backstory, to explore how his off‑grid years shaped his view on resilience, why CTI should be seen as “counter‑threat intelligence,” and how intelligence defenders, and policy teams can work as one to turn raw data into actionable security decisions.

What You’ll Learn:

Episode Highlights:

[00:01] Scott’s unconventional path from off‑grid homesteading to cybersecurity

[03:47] Breaking the “versus” mindset: How intelligence, defenders, and policy work as a formula

[08:19] What CTI and defenders really need to understand about each other

[12:45] CTI as “cover”: Giving defenders justification and prioritization for key decisions

[17:45] How CTI helps organizations protect their most sensitive data

Episode Resources:

In this episode of ⁠Data Security Decoded⁠, host ⁠Caleb Tolin⁠ sits down with ⁠Dustin Droullard⁠, a cyber threat intelligence expert and former Army intelligence analyst, to discuss how global conflict is increasingly playing out in cyberspace, from digital espionage to civilian-targeted cyber operations. This episode highlights why organizations must rethink their cyber risk strategies in light of modern geopolitical threats and growing digital exposure.

What You’ll Learn:

Episode Highlights:

Episode Resources:

Welcome to the ⁠Data Security Decoded⁠ podcast, brought to you by ⁠Rubrik Zero Labs⁠. In each episode, we discuss cybersecurity with thought leaders and industry experts, getting their take on trends, themes, and how they see data security evolving. This is a must-listen for security and IT leaders looking to better understand trends shaping data security and how they can achieve cyber resilience. 

In this episode, our host, ⁠Caleb Tolin⁠, is joined by ⁠Errol Weiss⁠, Chief Security Officer at ⁠Health-ISAC⁠ and former cybersecurity leader at ⁠Citi⁠ and ⁠Bank of America⁠. Errol shares his journey from the NSA to building one of the most collaborative threat intelligence networks in healthcare, discussing cyber recovery, the minimum viable hospital model, and why culture and community matter in achieving true resilience.

Errol Weiss has been a driving force in advancing cybersecurity resilience across critical sectors, beginning with his early work at the National Security Agency and later leading security programs at Citi and Bank of America. As Chief Security Officer at Health-ISAC, he built a threat operations center from the ground up, delivering original threat intelligence to healthcare organizations that often lack the resources to do it alone. With deep experience across consulting, finance, and healthcare, Errol has become a leading voice in shifting the conversation from protection to recovery, promoting a resilience-first mindset, collaborative intelligence sharing, and a human-centric security culture.

Join Caleb and Errol as they explore what makes healthcare cybersecurity unique, how to embed security into clinical culture, and why building a “human firewall” is just as critical as any technical control in today’s evolving threat landscape.

Episode Highlights:

Episode Resources:

Navigating Modern Cybersecurity: From Supply Chain Risks to AI Evolution. In this episode of ⁠Data Security Decoded⁠, ⁠Allison Wikoff⁠, a 20-year veteran in information security and threat intelligence, explores current cybersecurity challenges, emerging threats, and practical defensive strategies for organizations of all sizes.

What You'll Learn:

Key Insights:

Highlights:

[00:00:00] Vulnerability Exploitation Trends

Allison Wikoff reveals that vulnerability exploitation has become a dominant attack vector across both criminal and state-sponsored threat actors. The shift marks a departure from traditional assumptions that mainly espionage-focused groups leveraged vulnerabilities.

[04:30] Supply Chain Security Essentials  

Wikoff emphasizes that modern supply chain security requires looking beyond just your own organization's defenses. Organizations must thoroughly understand their vendors' access levels and potential impact on operations.

[07:23] AI in Cybersecurity: Reality vs Hype

Tolin shares that while AI adoption by threat actors is increasing, it hasn't revolutionized attack tactics as many feared. Current AI usage focuses mainly on improving phishing email quality and assisting with malware code generation.

[14:08] Threat Profile Development

Tolin advocates for organizations to start by understanding what assets would interest attackers rather than chasing every new threat. The rapidly changing threat landscape makes it impossible to defend against everything, requiring a focused approach based on your specific risk profile.

Episode Resources: