KBKAST

In this episode, we sit down with Venkat Balakrishnan, CISO from TAL Australia, as he discusses the evolving concept of platformization in cybersecurity. Venkat explores how consolidating various cyber functions and tools into single platforms can drive efficiencies, reduce costs, and simplify management efforts. He emphasizes the maturity of network security and endpoint security operations as key areas ready for platformization, while also discussing the fragmented nature of identity and access management.

Venkat is an experienced cyber security and technology risk executive with expertise in building cyber resilience, safely enabling business growth and inspiring customer trust. Adept in building relationships and influencing stakeholders at all levels across organisations with strong customer focus to deliver pragmatic and innovative solutions to derive business value. Passionate people leader with demonstrated success of developing diverse and high performing teams. Experienced in building security practices from grassroots with innovative approaches for modernisation and by accelerating into scalable and sustainable operations.

In this episode, KB brings us the inside track at the AUKUS Advanced Technology Dialogue in Australia. Starting off with 2020Partners’ Founding Partner Greg Sim, who shares the significance of this strategic collaboration, KB also sits down with Paddy McGuinness, Former UK Deputy National Security Advisor (Intelligence Security and Resilience); Senior Advisor at Brunswick Group, Toby Jones, Founder from TJC, and Beth Sanner, Former Deputy Director for Mission Integration (ODNI); Director, Geopolitics and Strategy, International Capital Strategies as they discuss what it means to be ‘quantum-ready’, the convergence between government and industry, and the ‘Grey Zone’.

Paddy McGuinness, Former UK Deputy National Security Advisor (Intelligence Security and Resilience); Senior Advisor at Brunswick Group

Paddy McGuinness is a Senior Adviser at Brunswick Group, supporting clients on crisis and resilience and the interplay between geopolitics, national security and their transactions. He works closely with the Firm’s regional and specialist leads across Technology, Cyber, Aerospace and Defence, Litigation, Geopolitical, Activism and Competition and Regulatory Affairs.

From 2014 – 2018, Paddy was the UK’s Deputy National Security Advisor for Intelligence, Security and Resilience and Government Chief Security Officer advising two successive British Prime Ministers on UK Homeland Security policy, capabilities and related legislation. This included the UK’s National Risk Assessment and ability to respond to and recover from all hazards and threats, national crisis response and coordination, cyber strategies and programmes, counter terrorism and approach to managing hostile state activities, including the resilience of Critical National Infrastructure. He chaired the Investment Security Group reviewing FDI and M&A for National Security purposes.

As a Foreign Service officer Paddy led variously on Counter Terrorism, aspects of Cyber, the Middle East, Iran, Counter Proliferation and Africa. He served overseas in the Middle East and Europe and was an envoy on matters as diverse as Yemen, Counter Terrorism, and National Security and Law Enforcement access to data.

Away from Brunswick Paddy works with Governments on their Resilience and with Private Equity on emerging technologies, nuclear energy and space. He is a

Toby Jones, Founder from TJC

Toby is CEO of TJC and until recently was Head of UK’s Accelerated Capability Environment (ACE). TJC founded, mobilised and led ACE for the UK Home Office from

Toby is known as an inspiring and innovative leader who created ACE and who has had a multi-faceted career, grounded in national security and public safety, as a senior civil servant, in private sector with a global professional services firm and founder of a successful values-

Beth Sanner, Former Deputy Director for Mission Integration (ODNI); Director, Geopolitics and Strategy, International Capital Strategies

Beth Sanner is the Director of Geopolitics and Strategy at International Capital Strategies. She has held a wide range of national security positions for over 35 years, including in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security

Beth’s last government role was as the Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Mission Integration, where she oversaw the integration of Intelligence Community collection, analysis, and programs and served as the President Trump’s intelligence briefer.

Prior to this role, Beth was the Director of the President’s Daily Brief, Vice Chair of the National Intelligence Council, and a senior executive in CIA’s Directorate of Analysis. Beth continues to inform both business and government leaders and everyday Americans about foreign affairs through consulting, speaking engagements, writings, and as a CNN national security contributor.

She also is a Distinguished Fellow at the German Marshall Fund, a Non-Resident Senior Fellow with the Intelligence Program at Harvard University’s Belfer Center, and a Senior Fellow at the U.S. Chamber Foundation.

In this episode, KB brings us the inside track at the AUKUS Advanced Technology Dialogue in Australia. Starting off with 2020Partners’ Founding Partner Greg Sim, who shares the significance of this strategic collaboration, KB also sits down with Antony Reynolds, Vice President, Federal and National Security at Bridgeworks, Malcom Purcell, Vice President APAC, at Fivecast, and Jeff Lindholm, Chief Revenue Officer at Lookout Technologies as they discuss faster data delivery, how OSINT can address and ultimately reduce national security challenges, and why the the ‘bad guys’ are focusing on mobile edge.

Antony Reynolds, Vice President, Federal and National Security at Bridgeworks

Tony leads Public Sector and Global Channels for British AI Data Software Vendor,Bridgeworks Ltd and has extensive knowledge of enterprise software and high performance and super computing solutions. He previously worked in a variety of leadership positions with IBM to include Global

He supported deployment of Air Traffic Control and Interception Cells, (QRA), during the 2012 London Olympic Games. As well as detachments to the prestigious RAF Aerobatic Display Team, (The Red Arrows), and 32, The Royal Squadron, Tony deployed on J-2 Operations in Afghanistan, pre-deployment exercises in Africa and a humanitarian mission in the Caribbean. One of Tony’s final ceremonial duties was to represent the Royal Air Force at the parade of the Coronation of King Charles III on 6 May 2024 at Buckingham Palace.

Malcolm Purcell, Vice President APAC, at Fivecast

Malcolm is an experienced strategy and business development executive with broad experience working in the defence, security and intelligence sectors. Commencing his career as an Army Officer he had operational service in Iraq with the Combined Joint Special Operations Taskforce in 2003. Following a short period working for the Attorney-General’s Department, he has spent the past 18 years in sales leadership roles with multinational organizations including WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff and KPMG. Malcolm moved to Washington DC in 2020 and was instrumental in establishing Fivecast’s open-source intelligence business in North America – working closely with US & Canadian Government agencies. He currently leads the Canberra office for Fivecast, with market responsibilities across Asia Pacific region.

Jeff Lindholm, Chief Revenue Officer at Lookout Technologies

As the Chief Revenue Officer at Lookout, Jeff oversees all aspects of the company’s global sales, including the Americas, EMEA, and APAC regions, as well as Channel Sales, Commercial Sales and Sales Engineering. He brings a wealth of experience in networking and security sales leadership, having previously served as President and CEO of Plixer, a company focused on network traffic analysis and visibility solutions. Before that, Jeff led sales operations at both Brocade and Juniper Networks. As the Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales at Brocade, he oversaw a $2.5 billion global sales operation until the company’s acquisition by Broadcom Inc. At Juniper Networks, he served as Chief Revenue Officer, managing $2.5 billion in revenue.” He has also held significant global sales roles at Arbor Networks (the security division of NETSCOUT) and BigBand Networks. Jeff is based in Boston and holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College.

In this episode, KB brings us the inside track at the AUKUS Advanced Technology Dialogue in Australia. Starting off with 2020Partners’ Founding Partner Greg Sim, who shares the significance of this strategic collaboration, KB also sits down with Michael Loewy, Co-Founder at Tide, Daniel Churches, Sales Director, at ColorTokens, and Simon Hodgkinson, Advisor at Semperis as they discuss why the industry is broken, ‘breach-readiness’, and identity being the foundation of the digital ecosystem.

Michael Loewy, Co-Founder at Tide

Michael is a Co-founder of Tide Foundation, a deep tech start-up reimagining trust in the digital world. He’s a seasoned entrepreneur with a rich C-Level history leading the productization and commercialization of transformational software for organizations like Dell, Yahoo!, News Limited, NetRegistry, Telstra, Motorola through to greenfield startups. Michael was an academic professional at the University of Illinois, and currently serves on the advisory board of the Children’s Medical Research Institute.

Daniel Churches, Sales Director, at ColorTokens

Dan is an Australian and Asia Pacific Sales Leader with over 25 years’ IT experience in Hardware and Software Solutions and Services, Business Development, Enterprise engagements and Executive Relationships. He has worked for IBM, NTT Global and Verizon Enterprise Solutions driving business and building teams in Hardware, Software, Professional Services, Managed Services, Hybrid Cloud, PaaS, SaaS, Data Analytics, Security and Digital Transformation.

With ColorTokens, Dan is driving market penetration, brand development, partner engagement and client services and support. He is responsible for industry and buyer alignment and understanding of the ColorTokens “Breach Ready” messaging focusing on halting the spread of ransomware and malware attacks across IT/OT, IoT and Legacy environments providing customers a viable Cyber Resilience ‘Uptime’ compliance capability they can report to market.

Dan brings a wealth of experience to his role and to startup growth. He has worked with several startups as well as global organisations from around the world. His grasp of industry, cultural relevancies, and buying behavior are proven assets when winning trust and rapport with employees, partners and customers. He has built and delivered IT sales and coaching development programs in India, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Japan, Philippines, Australian, New Zealand, England and Germany.

Dan grew up in Denver, Colorado, lived in Bavaria, Germany for many years and is now an Australian citizen, living in Sydney, Australia. Dan continues to learn and build leadership skills and insights taking courses with Harvard Business Review and MIT Sloan. In addition to this, he finds time to travel with his wife and family, drink red wine and make homemade pasta.

Simon Hodgkinson is the former Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at bp. He was responsible for cybersecurity including strategy, governance, architecture, education, counter threat operations, and incident response. He joined bp in 2002 and has held several senior IT leadership roles.

Prior to becoming CISO, he was the VP for Infrastructure & Integration Services at bp. During this time, he drove a significant improvement in IT operational integrity, led a transformation program and spearheaded the commitment to improve employees’ IT experience. He led the CISO function in bp Supply & Trading, where he delivered a program to improve cyber-controls, many of which have been implemented across the bp group. Before joining bp, Simon worked in IT for a dotcom, an investment bank, and commercial software companies.

In this episode, we sit down with Leon Langlais, Chief Product Officer APAC at Genetec, as he discusses the pervasive cybersecurity gaps in both home and corporate networks. Leon delves into the consequences of inadequate updates and the critical need for secure, trusted devices, especially for critical infrastructures. We also explore regulatory debates, the role of state-owned vendors, and the integration of security from a product’s inception.

Leon has been with Genetec for five years having previously served in a multitude of technology leadership roles at Tyco across a near fifteen year tenure. Leon has previously worked as Senior Director of Growth Markets and Regional Strategy at Tyco Security Products, and Director of Product Management at Tyco Safety Products. Leon is an alumnus of the prestigious Universite de Sherbrooke and Polytechnique Montreal.

In this episode, we sit down with Dean Frye, Solutions Architect at Nozomi Networks, as he discusses the complex landscape of IT, IoT, and OT security challenges.

Dean delves into the critical importance of avoiding an “us vs. them” mentality between IT and OT teams, and how security interruptions can severely impact business continuity. We explore industry-specific vulnerabilities, such as those in factory chicken farming and Tasmanian salmon farming, and emphasize the necessity for executives to have a deeper technical understanding of cybersecurity. Dean also highlights the value of telemetry and real-time reporting, the evolving role of cloud solutions in OT environments, and the importance of a well-integrated, multidisciplinary team to effectively manage cyber risks.

Dean Frye is a Solutions Architect for Nozomi Networks in Australia and New Zealand. Dean is an experienced security professional with a demonstrated history of providing compliance strategy, pragmatic risk mitigation, security project delivery, threat abatement and vendor interface solutions with a significant commercial background. Covering more than twenty years, his previous roles span consulting and senior leadership, including a stint at Armis as solutions architect, and another tenure at Cisco as director of security for the APJ region.

In this episode, KB sits down with Guy Diedrich, SVP & Global Innovation Officer, Country Digital Acceleration (CDA), Cisco Networking Academy & Learning & Certification, and Anupam Trehan, Vice President for People and Communities APJC on the ground at Cisco Live 2024 in Melbourne. Together they discuss the impact of AI on the future workforce and the evolving landscape of remote and hybrid work in the digital age.

Guy Diedrich

Dr. Guy Diedrich is a Senior Vice President and the Global Innovation Officer at Cisco, where he is responsible for its Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) and Networking Academy programs, as well as Learning and Certifications (L&C). In this role, Dr. Diedrich collaborates closely with government and industry leaders around the world to drive mass-scale digitization and skilling initiatives that help increase GDP, create millions of next-generation jobs, and develop sustainable innovation ecosystems around the world. Dr. Diedrich continues to grow and evolve the programs into new markets, building trust with government, industry and academic stakeholders along the way.

Dr. Diedrich is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Cisco Foundation, which supports nonprofits and NGOs with grants, technology donations and expertise to help solve global challenges in communities around the world.

Prior to his current role at Cisco Systems, Dr. Diedrich was a Vice Chancellor at the Texas A&M University System where he was responsible for research, commercialization, federal government relations, state government relations and strategic initiatives.

Before joining Texas A&M, Dr. Diedrich served as President and CEO of GRA Inc., a software development and consulting company that he co-founded and grew from a start-up to a firm employing more than 130 professionals. The company was sold to a publicly-traded technology company.

Dr. Diedrich holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Texas A&M University, a Master’s degree from the University of Cambridge (Kings College) and a Ph.D. from Swansea University where he studied the economics of trust in organizations. Dr. Diedrich is a published author in cost accounting and medical psychology, and has worked extensively throughout Europe, the Americas, Asia, and the Middle East for more than two decades.

Anupam Trehan

Anupam is the People & Communities Leader for APJC. Anupam has been a strategic part of Cisco’s operations for a decade, having worked across different roles. Anupam is particularly passionate about talent & leadership development, organizational transformation, promoting an inclusive and diverse workplace and has been a strong voice in this space sharing her thought leadership in various forums both internal and external to Cisco.

She has previously worked with JP Morgan, Delphi Technical Centre & Tata AutoComp across various functions in HR. Anupam describes herself as a Mother, Traveler, Reader and an avid foodie.

In this episode, KB sits down with Raj Chopra, SVP & Chief Product Officer, Security Business Group, Cisco, Angelique Medina, Head of Internet Intelligence at Cisco ThousandEyes, and Matt Caulfield, VP of Product for Duo and Identity, Cisco on the ground at Cisco Live 2024 in Melbourne. Together they discuss Cisco’s vision of being an AI first company, data in flight, and the concept of ‘identity is the new spam’.

Raj Chopra, SVP & Chief Product Officer, Security Business Group, Cisco

Raj is a seasoned executive with a proven record of delivering market-leading innovation in security with a strong focus on user-first experiences. He is a strong advocate of supporting diverse teams and equitable environments that bring out the best in everyone.

Prior to taking on this role, Raj led product, design, and strategy for Proofpoint’s flagship Email Security portfolio, helping grow that business nearly 3-fold in 4 years.

Before Proofpoint, Raj was part of the founding team of Netskope. He built both the product and new market category of CASB (Cloud Access Security Broker) and spurred its growth into SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) and SSE (Security Services Edge). During his career, he launched more than a dozen cybersecurity products, including several in the past 15 years that rose to $250M+ in product revenue.

Raj holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley, and a BS in Computer Science from NIT (National Institutes of Technology) India and has a growing eagerness to go deeper into in his yoga practice.

Angelique Medina, Head of Internet Intelligence, Cisco ThousandEyes

Matt Caulfield, Vice President of Product for Duo and Identity, Cisco

In this episode, KB is joined by Tom Gillis, SVP and General Manager, Security Business Group, AJ Shipley, Vice President, Product Management, Threat Detection & Response, and Tom Casey, Senior Vice President and GM, Products & Technology, Splunk, a Cisco company on the ground at Cisco Live 2024 in Melbourne. Together they dive into critical topics such as Cisco’s innovative HyperShield solution for patch management, Cisco’s acquisition of Splunk, and how they plan to integrate and enhance their products.

Tom Gillis

Tom Gillis is the Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Cisco Security Business Group (SBG). A respected security industry leader with strong executive management skills and in-depth knowledge of the challenges surrounding secure enterprise computing, Tom is responsible for the company’s global security business to fundamentally simplify the security experience.

Prior to Cisco, Tom was the SVP/GM of the Network and Advanced Security Business Group at VMware, where he led the endpoint, networking, load balancing and network security businesses. He was also the CEO/co-founder of Bracket Computing which was acquired by VMware.

Before Bracket Computing, Tom was the GM of the Security Technology Group at Cisco where he led the company’s businesses for security management, appliances, applications, and endpoint services. Tom was also part of the founding team at IronPort Systems and served as senior vice president of marketing when the company was acquired by Cisco. Under his guidance, IronPort grew an average of 100 percent year-on-year for seven years. During his tenure, IronPort rose to become the leading provider of antispam, antivirus, and antimalware appliances for organizations ranging from small businesses to the Global 2000.

Tom has also worked at iBEAM Broadcasting, Silicon Graphics, and Boston Consulting Group in various technical and leadership roles. He is also a noted advisor to startups and venture capital companies and is a member of several boards of directors.

Tom holds an M.B.A. degree from Harvard University, and graduated Magna Cum Laude with an M.S.E.E. degree from Northwestern University and a B.S.E.E. from Tufts University.

AJ Shipley

Think big. Start small. Move fast. These three values drive AJ Shipley, Vice President, Product, Threat Detection & Response at Cisco Security Business Group. In this role, AJ is responsible for Extended Detection and Response (Cisco SecureX, Advanced Malware Protection), Risk-Based Vulnerability Management (Kenna Security), Endpoint Detection and Response (Cisco Secure Endpoint), Network Detection and Response (Cisco Secure Analytics, Talos), and Cisco Secure Email.

A dedicated product executive, AJ is passionate about creating phenomenal products that solve customers’ acute cyber-security business problems. He is equally enthusiastic about building and nurturing winning teams. That combination boded well in his previous position leading Cisco’s Customer Experience (CX) product management team, where he was

Having experienced both the trenches and the board room, AJ leverages his diverse background to inform his career journey and that of others. Prior to joining Cisco, AJ served as Vice President of Product Management for Palo Alto Networks Cloud Delivered Security Subscriptions, leading successful launches that he credits to the strength of the individuals and teams committed to those customer outcomes.

AJ has led various disciplines at multiple public and private companies — all honing his purpose and passion for developing the best products and bringing out the best in people while ensuring the teams and individuals responsible for those successes have the opportunity to achieve their career aspirations.

AJ is a Certified Information System Security Professional (CISSP), fluent in multiple cyber security disciplines, including email security, network security gateways, threat intelligence, encryption & PKI, network access control, security standards and certifications. He is a past TS/SCI clearance holder.

AJ holds undergraduate and graduate technical degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a graduate degree in Business Administration from The University of North Carolina.

Tom Casey

Tom Casey is the Senior Vice President and GM, Products & Technology for Splunk. With over 25 years of experience, Tom is responsible for evolving Splunk’s market-leading unified security and observability platform. Prior to joining Splunk, he served as Senior Vice President, Engineering at DocuSign, where he led the company’s product strategy, including development, execution and delivery of all products worldwide. Prior to DocuSign, Tom served as Vice President, Platform and Infrastructure at Apptio, where he helped scale the Company’s SaaS platform from a single offering to a multi-product portfolio. Before that, he spent 16 years at Microsoft in a number of leadership positions in product and engineering. He holds a B.S. from the University of Arizona.

Executive Sponsor: Neurodiversity Employee Resource Group

Join KB as she sits down with Mark Anderson, National Security Officer – Australia and New Zealand from Microsoft, who will give us an exclusive sneak peek into what you can expect from Microsoft AI Tour 2024 happening in Sydney at the ICC on December 11th. Mark shares insights into the event’s focus on real-world AI implementations by leading Australian organizations, highlights the tour’s comprehensive cybersecurity content, including Microsoft’s Secure Future Initiative, and the establishment of a local base of the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) in Australia.

Mark has over 28 years’ experience in the IT industry with 18 of those at Microsoft in various roles across the globe. As the National Security Officer for Microsoft Australia & New Zealand, Mark is responsible for working with customers, partners, governments, and industry regulators to ensure that the Microsoft platforms are not only understood by policymakers but also adhere to their security, compliance and risk management requirements. In addition, Mark is accountable for the PROTECTED level assessment of Azure, Office 365, and Dynamics. Mark holds a Master of Cyber Security degree with high distinction from Edith Cowan University and is a Visiting Associate Professor at Macquarie University.