In this Secured bonus soundbite, Amanda Singleton, Customer Care Manager at Lightcurve, highlights one of the most common—and effective—tactics used in social engineering attacks: urgency.

Singleton explains that scammers succeed not because of sophisticated technology, but because they exploit human behavior during busy, distracted moments. By creating a sense of urgency, attackers pressure individuals to act quickly, bypassing normal verification steps and critical thinking.

She emphasizes a clear best practice her teams reinforce with customers: legitimate organizations will never request confidential information through unsolicited messages. Any unexpected request for sensitive data should be verified through a trusted, alternate channel—such as calling a known phone number or logging into an official account portal.

This guidance is especially important as phishing and impersonation attempts become more convincing and widespread. Attackers are intentionally trying to interrupt routines, trigger emotional reactions, and rush decisions before red flags are noticed.

Singleton’s advice aligns closely with a core theme of Secured: strong security isn’t just about tools—it’s about habits. Slowing down, questioning urgency, and validating requests can stop many attacks before they cause harm. In an environment where speed is often rewarded, she reminds organizations that hesitation can be a powerful defensive move.

In this Secured bonus soundbite, Joshua Sullivan, Chief Operating Officer and Master Instructor of the Alive Active Shooter Survival Training Program, addresses one of the most overlooked gaps in organizational safety: mindset and preparation.

Sullivan explains that many organizations remain trapped in “optimism bias”—the belief that violence is unlikely to happen to them—despite clear evidence that workplace violence and political intimidation are occurring across offices, hospitals, schools, and public spaces nationwide. This mental blind spot, he argues, is one of the biggest barriers to effective preparedness.

When high-stress incidents occur, people don’t default to logic—they default to training. Without prior preparation, the brain is more likely to freeze in a fight-or-flight response. Sullivan emphasizes that proactive training gives individuals something to fall back on in moments of chaos, increasing the likelihood of decisive, life-saving action.

He draws a powerful comparison to fire drills, which most people have practiced since childhood, despite fires being statistically less likely than workplace violence events. The imbalance highlights a critical need for organizations to treat violence preparedness with the same seriousness and repetition.

Sullivan’s message reinforces a core theme of Secured: resilience isn’t built during a crisis—it’s built long before one occurs. By confronting bias, investing in accessible training, and normalizing preparedness, organizations can better protect their people in an increasingly unpredictable environment.

In this Secured bonus soundbite, Colin Cooper, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Illuminate XR, delivers a candid reflection on why many schools struggle to responsibly implement emerging technologies—not because of indifference, but because of exhaustion.

As institutions rush to adopt AI, virtual reality, and personalized learning tools, Cooper argues that speed has too often been mistaken for progress. Policies are written, platforms are deployed, and devices are distributed before educators are given the time, training, or emotional support needed to use them safely and effectively. The result is a widening gap between intention and execution.

Drawing parallels to the early days of social media in education, Cooper warns that AI and VR carry even higher stakes. These technologies don’t just influence behavior—they shape identity. Without ethical frameworks, emotional safeguards, and critical thinking embedded into everyday practice, students are left navigating powerful systems in environments that schools themselves may not fully understand.

Cooper challenges leaders to rethink what innovation really means. True progress, he argues, requires courageous leadership willing to slow down, ask hard questions, and prioritize people over platforms. The goal isn’t simply to use advanced technology—it’s to ensure that its adoption protects, empowers, and supports the students it’s meant to serve.

In this Secured bonus soundbite, Dahvid Schloss, CEO of Emulated Criminals, offers a practical, no-nonsense guide for organizations that want to become more proactive about cybersecurity—but may not yet have the budget for a full-time red team or continuous offensive testing.

Schloss reframes preparedness around a simple but often overlooked mindset shift: thinking like a criminal. Rather than chasing exotic vulnerabilities or headline-grabbing exploits, he urges security teams to focus on what attackers actually want—easy access to valuable data, weak permissions, misconfigured systems, and overlooked assets like open file shares or privileged user accounts. In his experience as an emulated criminal, these basic issues are far more likely to be exploited than the flashy threats organizations tend to obsess over.

The soundbite also highlights the importance of tuning alerts to reflect real-world behavior inside each organization. Schloss explains that security tools rarely work effectively out of the box; alerts must be customized to distinguish normal user activity from suspicious behavior. Knowing who should have access to sensitive systems—and who definitely shouldn’t—can dramatically reduce noise and speed up response times when something goes wrong.

Grounded in real-world experience and framed with a memorable analogy, Schloss reminds listeners that breaches don’t announce themselves politely. Preparation, rehearsal, and realistic training are what determine whether a team freezes or responds effectively when the “punch” finally comes.

In this Secured bonus soundbite, Andrew Feigenson, CEO of InformData, takes a critical look at why traditional background screening practices are no longer sufficient for today’s workforce.

Feigenson explains that most organizations still treat background checks as a one-time box to check during hiring, even though how people work—and the risks associated with their roles—have fundamentally changed. Employees move between positions, work remotely, and gain access to different systems and data over time. A static screening process, he argues, simply can’t keep up with these shifting realities.

Another major issue is data fragmentation. Many screening programs rely on incomplete or inconsistent public records and apply one-size-fits-all standards that fail to reflect the unique risk profile of each role. This not only creates inefficiencies, but can also lead to misinterpreted results, delayed hiring decisions, and unnecessary friction for qualified candidates.

Feigenson points to a growing need for dynamic, risk-based verification models that evolve alongside employees and organizations. Smarter infrastructure—capable of turning messy, outdated records into timely, decision-ready intelligence—is essential to maintaining trust and accountability in security-sensitive environments.

The takeaway aligns closely with Secured’s broader mission: real security depends on accuracy, context, and adaptability. As organizations rethink how they manage access, safety, and compliance, background screening must move beyond checklists and become an ongoing, intelligent part of a modern security strategy.

In this Secured bonus soundbite, Stephanie High—trauma-informed educator, performance psychology practitioner, and technology consultant—explores a critical but often overlooked dimension of safety: the human response under stress.

High challenges the assumption that stronger technology alone creates safer environments. While AI threat detection, encrypted systems, and lockdown protocols are essential, she argues that these tools can fail if the people using them aren’t psychologically prepared to act in high-pressure moments. In real-world crises, hesitation, miscommunication, or emotional overload can undermine even the most advanced security infrastructure.

Drawing from her work at the intersection of psychology and human-centered design, High emphasizes that resilience must be trained—not assumed. Organizations often rely on compliance checklists and technical audits, but true preparedness comes from scenario-based training, emotional regulation skills, and cultures that support clear thinking and communication during emergencies. Psychological safety, she explains, enables faster recovery and more effective decision-making when conditions are unpredictable.

Her message reinforces a core theme of Secured: systems don’t operate in isolation—people do. Just as organizations intentionally design their technology stacks, they must also invest in preparing the humans who operate within those systems. Safety isn’t only about detection and prevention; it’s about response, adaptability, and recovery.

As High reminds us, people don’t rise to the occasion—they fall to the level of their training. Building safer schools, healthcare facilities, and public spaces requires aligning technological innovation with psychological readiness to ensure security holds when it matters most.

In this bonus Secured soundbite, Colin Cooper, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Illuminate XR, explores how AI and immersive technologies are reshaping not just how students learn, but how they see themselves. As tools like AI-assisted writing and virtual reality become more common in education, Cooper warns of unintended mental health consequences that can emerge without thoughtful guidance.

He explains how AI’s instant, polished responses can quietly create a “comparison trap,” where students begin measuring their abilities and self-worth against machine-generated perfection—fueling imposter syndrome and diminishing confidence in independent thinking. Virtual reality, while powerful and engaging, introduces an even deeper challenge. Its immersive nature can blur the line between virtual and real-world identity, making it harder for students to emotionally re-engage once the headset comes off.

Drawing parallels to the impact of social media, Cooper highlights risks such as identity fragmentation, emotional disengagement, and reliance on simulated environments that feel safer or more rewarding than reality. His message is clear: the danger isn’t the technology itself, but adopting it without grounding students in confidence, curiosity, and human connection.

This soundbite reframes AI in education as more than a learning tool—it’s a mental health conversation. Without intentional leadership and safeguards, the next generation may gain more knowledge while feeling less connected to themselves.

In this episode of Secured, Mike Monsive reconnects with Idan Koren, EVP of Marketing at Verkada, for an inside look at how the company is redefining its channel strategy, partner experience, and industry influence through innovation and collaboration.

Koren discusses the surge in systems integrators embracing Verkada’s ecosystem — and the frustration felt by former employees who only now realize how efficient Verkada’s model truly is. He explains why these partnerships are essential to scaling cloud physical security, describing resellers as “the capillaries” that extend the company’s reach to every customer touchpoint. Over the past year, Verkada has quintupled its channel marketing investment, accelerating co-marketing programs and improving partner efficiency by as much as threefold.

A key part of that growth is measuring and improving the partner experience. Verkada’s use of Net Promoter Scores (NPS) — for both customers and integrators — helps identify top performers while maintaining accountability for the brand’s reputation. Koren also highlights the company’s plans to expand data-driven feedback loops, including follow-up surveys a year post-installation to ensure long-term satisfaction.

The conversation shifts to Verkada One, the company’s flagship event, where engineers, executives, and partners come together for hands-on collaboration. Koren shares how this year’s conference aims to set a new standard — evolving beyond product demos to focus on thought leadership in cloud physical security, deeper partner integration, and executive networking.

From product innovation to event strategy, Koren’s vision reflects Verkada’s commitment to staying customer-centric while scaling globally. As he puts it, the goal isn’t just to grow — it’s to redefine what partnership and trust look like in the future of connected security.

In this episode of Secured, Mike Monsive sits down once again with Idan Koren, EVP of Marketing at Verkada, to discuss how artificial intelligence is transforming the landscape of physical security, operational efficiency, and the broader business of technology.

The conversation begins with Verkada’s groundbreaking integration of natural language search in video surveillance — a feature Koren calls one of the most transformative innovations in usability. Instead of scrubbing through endless footage, users can now type queries like “white Tesla at 3 PM last Tuesday” and instantly retrieve relevant clips. Behind the scenes, AI drives not just convenience but optimization — from intelligent storage and detection to scalable processing on the edge and in the cloud.

Koren explains that AI at Verkada isn’t limited to descriptive analytics. It’s increasingly proactive — building toward agentic AI that can detect risks, initiate alerts, and even automate responses without human input. Yet with power comes responsibility. Koren emphasizes the company’s firm stance on privacy, moderation, and accountability, ensuring that innovation doesn’t cross into mass surveillance or misuse.

The episode also explores Verkada’s internal evolution — how the company’s software-first culture drives its AI development and sales models, leveraging data, automation, and software playbooks more common in Silicon Valley than in traditional security manufacturing.

As the discussion turns to the future, Koren touches on Verkada’s path toward an eventual IPO, the company’s rapid product expansion, and the lessons learned from scaling responsibly in an era where technology outpaces regulation.

At its core, this conversation captures a defining question for modern security: how do we harness AI’s power for safety and efficiency without compromising trust?

In this episode of Secured, Mike Monsive sits down once again with Idan Koren, EVP of Marketing at Verkada, to discuss how artificial intelligence is transforming the landscape of physical security, operational efficiency, and the broader business of technology.

The conversation begins with Verkada’s groundbreaking integration of natural language search in video surveillance — a feature Koren calls one of the most transformative innovations in usability. Instead of scrubbing through endless footage, users can now type queries like “white Tesla at 3 PM last Tuesday” and instantly retrieve relevant clips. Behind the scenes, AI drives not just convenience but optimization — from intelligent storage and detection to scalable processing on the edge and in the cloud.

Koren explains that AI at Verkada isn’t limited to descriptive analytics. It’s increasingly proactive — building toward agentic AI that can detect risks, initiate alerts, and even automate responses without human input. Yet with power comes responsibility. Koren emphasizes the company’s firm stance on privacy, moderation, and accountability, ensuring that innovation doesn’t cross into mass surveillance or misuse.

The episode also explores Verkada’s internal evolution — how the company’s software-first culture drives its AI development and sales models, leveraging data, automation, and software playbooks more common in Silicon Valley than in traditional security manufacturing.

As the discussion turns to the future, Koren touches on Verkada’s path toward an eventual IPO, the company’s rapid product expansion, and the lessons learned from scaling responsibly in an era where technology outpaces regulation.

At its core, this conversation captures a defining question for modern security: how do we harness AI’s power for safety and efficiency without compromising trust?