June 25, 2026

E123 - AI vs Cybersecurity: What Founders & CISOs Need to Know Right Now

33 minutes

A customer discovered 11,000 AI agents running in their environment - and most weren't even built by developers.

In this episode of 10X Growth Strategies, host Preethy Padmanabhan talks to Ankur Shah (CEO, Straiker) and Nick Shevelyov (CEO, vCSO.ai) on how AI is reshaping cybersecurity for enterprises and startups alike.

In this episode, we discuss:

The two sides of AI and cybersecurity: using AI to improve security, and securing the AI itself

Why LLMs and AI agents can be socially engineered just like humans and why that's a fundamentally new attack surface

The discovery of 11,000 "citizen agents" inside a single enterprise, built without developer oversight

Why visibility, governance, and guardrails are the new foundation of AI security

What "YOLO mode" is, and why human-in-the-loop approval matters for high-risk agent actions

How CISOs are thinking about traceability, accountability, and blast radius when deploying agentic AI

Why distribution and trust are now the hardest problems in cybersecurity

How MYTHOS and AI-discovered vulnerabilities are changing patching cycles and concentration risk

Founder advice on building enduring companies in a crowded, fast-moving cybersecurity market

Whether you're a founder, a CISO, or an investor trying to understand where AI and cybersecurity intersect - this conversation is for you.

10X Growth Strategies is a community founded by Preethy Padmanabhan, started as a podcast five years ago and now grown into a community of over 7,500 founders, investors, and executives across Luma and LinkedIn. The community hosts monthly events on timely topics in tech, AI, and entrepreneurship.

Chapters:

00:00:10 - 00:00:55 - Introduction & Community Milestone

00:00:56 - 00:01:43 - Sponsor & Partner Shout-Outs

00:01:44 - 00:02:52 - Audience Check: Founders vs. Investors

00:02:53 - 00:03:38 - Meet the Speakers: Ankur Shah (Straiker)

00:03:39 - 00:05:01 - Meet the Speakers: Nick Shevelyov (vCSO AI)

00:05:02 - 00:06:44 - How AI is Changing Cybersecurity

00:06:45 - 00:08:36 - Why AI Agents are Hard to Secure

00:08:37 - 00:26:26 - Variables vs. Invariables in Cyber Strategy

00:26:27 - 00:28:40 - Audience Q&A: Standing Out in a Crowded Market

00:28:41 - 00:31:00 - Audience Q&A: Is Your Data Safe with ChatGPT & Claude?

00:31:01 - 00:33:19 - Closing Advice for Founders

Connect:

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/preepadu

Website: https://grow10x.podbean.com/

Luma: https://lu.ma/10xgrowthstrategies

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By Preethy Padmanabhan

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