Threat Vector by Unit 42

Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 and N2K Networks

  • 41 minutes 13 seconds
    39 Seconds to Breach

    Can your organization survive a breach in 39 seconds? That's how fast attackers are moving now, and if your defenses are still running at human speed, you're already behind.

    ⁠Wendi Whitmore⁠, Chief Security Intelligence Officer at Palo Alto Networks, returns to Threat Vector for a candid conversation with ⁠David Moulton⁠ about what it actually takes to build resilience in an era where AI is accelerating both the threat and the defense. Wendi brings more than two decades of experience leading incident response and threat intelligence at organizations including Mandiant, CrowdStrike, IBM X-Force, and Unit 42. She's an inaugural member of the DHS Cyber Safety Review Board and serves on cybersecurity advisory boards at Duke University and the University of San Diego.

    You'll learn:

    • Why fighting AI with AI is the only viable response to today's attack speeds, including exfiltration happening in under a minute

    • How Volt Typhoon and Salt Typhoon represent two fundamentally different threat objectives, and what that means for your defense posture

    • What "cybersecurity for AI" means versus "AI for cybersecurity," and why organizations need both

    • How the best incident response leaders translate between deep technical analysis and boardroom communication under pressure

    • Why curiosity, not certifications, is the trait that separates great security practitioners from the rest

    Wendi is one of the most respected voices in national cybersecurity strategy, with a track record that spans major breaches, critical infrastructure defense, and the Paris Olympics. Her perspective on building teams, aligning talent to mission, and defending against nation-state actors at scale is grounded in real-world investigation, not theory.

    This episode is essential listening if you're: a security leader trying to align your AI strategy with your risk posture, a practitioner wondering how to make the case for faster detection and response investment, or someone building or managing a threat intelligence or incident response team.

    Related Episodes:

    #CyberResilience #AIinCybersecurity



    About Threat Vector

    Threat Vector by Palo Alto Networks is your premier podcast for security thought leadership. Join us as we explore pressing cybersecurity threats, robust protection strategies, and the latest industry trends.

    The podcast features in-depth discussions with industry leaders, Palo Alto Networks experts, and customers, providing crucial insights for security decision-makers.

    Whether you're looking to stay ahead of the curve with innovative solutions or understand the evolving cybersecurity landscape, Threat Vector equips you with the knowledge needed to safeguard your organization.


    Palo Alto Networks

    Palo Alto Networks enables your team to prevent successful cyberattacks with an automated approach that delivers consistent security across the cloud, network, and mobile.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠http://paloaltonetworks.com.⁠⁠

    2 April 2026, 6:00 am
  • 36 minutes 58 seconds
    The Four Horsemen of Agentic Risk

    Your AI agent just wiped an entire email inbox and said sorry. That's not a hypothetical. It already happened.

    Sailesh Mishra, Product Marketing at Palo Alto Networks and founder of SydeLabs (acquired by Protect AI), has spent years at the frontier of AI security, from scaling autonomous vehicle programs at Uber's Advanced Technologies Group to building and selling an AI red-teaming startup. He has a clear-eyed view of what autonomous agents can do, what they can be made to do, and what organizations are dangerously unprepared for.


    You'll learn:

    - Why the "lethal trifecta" of AI risk gains a fourth, more dangerous dimension when agents have persistent memory

    - How attackers can plant a logic bomb inside an agent's memory using entirely benign inputs, then trigger it later

    - What "identity" means for a piece of software, and why scoping agent behavior is the single most impactful security control

    - Why indirect prompt injection is already happening in the wild, not just in research papers

    - The two questions every CISO must answer before authorizing an autonomous agent deployment

    This episode is essential listening if you're a CISO evaluating your first autonomous agent deployment, a developer building agentic systems today, or a security practitioner trying to get ahead of a threat landscape that is moving faster than anyone expected.


    Related Reading:

    - OpenClaw (formerly Moltbot, Clawdbot) May Signal the Next AI Security Crisis

    - ​​The Moltbook Case and How We Need to Think about Agent Security


    Related Episodes:

    - Securing the Future of AI Agents

    - Inside AI Runtime Defense

    - Securing AI in the Enterprise

    #AIAgents #AISecurity


    About Threat Vector

    Threat Vector by Palo Alto Networks is your premier podcast for security thought leadership. Join us as we explore pressing cybersecurity threats, robust protection strategies, and the latest industry trends.

    The podcast features in-depth discussions with industry leaders, Palo Alto Networks experts, and customers, providing crucial insights for security decision-makers.

    Whether you're looking to stay ahead of the curve with innovative solutions or understand the evolving cybersecurity landscape, Threat Vector equips you with the knowledge needed to safeguard your organization.


    Palo Alto Networks

    Palo Alto Networks enables your team to prevent successful cyberattacks with an automated approach that delivers consistent security across the cloud, network, and mobile.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠http://paloaltonetworks.com.

    26 March 2026, 6:00 am
  • 30 minutes 16 seconds
    Inside Ransomware Negotiations: Trust Criminals or Walk Away?

    What happens when you're face-to-face with a ransomware gang demanding millions—and every decision could determine whether your company survives?

    Jeremy D. Brown, Consulting Director at Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 with nearly seven years negotiating with cyber criminals, reveals the hidden world of ransomware negotiations. With hundreds of negotiations under his belt, Jeremy knows which groups honor their promises, which ones to never pay, and exactly what mistakes can cost you everything.


    You'll learn:

    - Why contacting a threat actor doesn't mean you have to pay (the #1 misconception that paralyzes victims)

    - How to extract critical forensic intelligence from attackers during initial contact

    - The fatal mistakes organizations make that destroy their negotiation leverage

    - Which ransomware groups are sanctioned entities that will land you in legal trouble if you pay

    - Why being polite to criminals actually gets you better outcomes than hostility

    Jeremy has negotiated with everyone from aggressive groups who email your executives to methodical operators following strict playbooks. He's seen organizations with backups walk away and others pay millions for decryption keys. Managing over 100 incidents, Jeremy has tracked how double extortion evolved from rare to standard practice, and now watches single extortion (data theft without encryption) surge again.

    This episode is essential for CISOs who need a negotiation plan before the crisis hits, incident responders building their skillset, and executives who must understand that ransomware response is about far more than just paying or not paying. #IncidentResponse #Ransomware


    Related Episodes:

    - Mastering the Basics: Cyber Hygiene and Risk Management

    - Crisis in the Kitchen


    About Threat Vector

    Threat Vector by Palo Alto Networks is your premier podcast for security thought leadership. Join us as we explore pressing cybersecurity threats, robust protection strategies, and the latest industry trends.

    The podcast features in-depth discussions with industry leaders, Palo Alto Networks experts, and customers, providing crucial insights for security decision-makers.

    Whether you're looking to stay ahead of the curve with innovative solutions or understand the evolving cybersecurity landscape, Threat Vector equips you with the knowledge needed to safeguard your organization.


    Palo Alto Networks

    Palo Alto Networks enables your team to prevent successful cyberattacks with an automated approach that delivers consistent security across the cloud, network, and mobile.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠http://paloaltonetworks.com.

    19 March 2026, 6:00 am
  • 39 minutes 41 seconds
    Who Holds Power When AI Compresses Decision Time?

    What if the choices we make about AI security today determine who holds power tomorrow?

    Erica L. Shoemate brings over a decade of experience from the FBI and U.S. Intelligence Community, followed by senior leadership roles at Twitter, Amazon, and Meta shaping AI policy, cyber strategy, and regulatory readiness. As founder of The EN Strategy Group, she operates at the intersection where national security, emerging technology, and human-centered design collide.

    In this episode, David Moulton and Erica explore how AI is fundamentally reshaping the security landscape, from compressed decision-making timelines and asymmetric threat capabilities to the erosion of trust that creates strategic vulnerabilities.

    You'll learn:

    - Why AI governance can't be an afterthought—and how building policy alongside innovation creates competitive advantage, not friction

    - How the "new security order" is lowering disruption costs while amplifying ambiguity, enabling smaller actors to generate outsized impact

    - Why human-centered design isn't about empathy as a value—it's about operational clarity that prevents cognitive overload from becoming a security risk

    - The framework for balancing innovation and restraint: treating policy as guardrails, not brakes, while red-teaming AI systems before deployment

    - How trust functions as a national security asset—and why overconfidence is the fastest way to lose it

    Erica brings rare perspective from both classified intelligence operations and private sector AI deployment at scale. She challenges the assumption that speed and security are trade-offs, arguing instead that ethical AI systems are more durable, more resilient, and ultimately more profitable than those built without accountability.

    With AI compressing the timeline from detection to decision to response, the margin for error has never been smaller. This conversation reveals why the choices security leaders make right now—about governance, diversity, transparency, and human oversight—will define who is protected, who is exposed, and who maintains strategic advantage in an AI-driven future.

    This episode is essential listening if you're:

    - A CISO or security leader deploying AI-enabled systems who needs to balance innovation velocity with governance rigor

    - A policy professional struggling to keep pace with AI deployment timelines and seeking frameworks that enable rather than block

    - Anyone responsible for building trust in AI systems—whether with users, regulators, or boards—who recognizes transparency as competitive advantage

    Related Episodes:

    - Securing AI in the Enterprise with Tanya Shastri - Deep dive into AI governance frameworks and platformization strategies

    - How to Scale Responsible AI in the Enterprise with Noelle Russell - Building AI systems with fairness, accuracy, and security as foundational design choices

    - From Policy to Cyber Interference with Tom Bossert - Bridging national security policy and operational cybersecurity

    #AISecurity #CyberGovernance


    About Threat Vector

    Threat Vector by Palo Alto Networks is your premier podcast for security thought leadership. Join us as we explore pressing cybersecurity threats, robust protection strategies, and the latest industry trends.

    The podcast features in-depth discussions with industry leaders, Palo Alto Networks experts, and customers, providing crucial insights for security decision-makers.

    Whether you're looking to stay ahead of the curve with innovative solutions or understand the evolving cybersecurity landscape, Threat Vector equips you with the knowledge needed to safeguard your organization.


    Palo Alto Networks

    Palo Alto Networks enables your team to prevent successful cyberattacks with an automated approach that delivers consistent security across the cloud, network, and mobile.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠http://paloaltonetworks.com.

    12 March 2026, 6:00 am
  • 29 minutes 39 seconds
    Zero Trust Without the Hype

    In this episode of Threat Vector, host David Moulton speaks with LeeAnne Pelzer, Senior Consulting Director, and Brandon Hogle, Consulting Director, both with Palo Alto Networks Unit 42. Together, they explore how organizations can move from Zero Trust theory to practice.Zero Trust is the foundation of modern cybersecurity, but turning principles into measurable outcomes remains a challenge for many enterprises. Pelzer and Hogle share how Unit 42’s Zero Trust Advisory helps organizations assess their cybersecurity maturity, identify visibility gaps, and create tailored roadmaps that connect security architecture with business outcomes.The conversation dives into the common pitfalls that derail Zero Trust, including visibility gaps, operational complexity, and misalignment, and explores how to overcome them with clarity, collaboration, and continuous verification. For security leaders driving transformation, this episode offers a pragmatic look at how to cut through complexity and make Zero Trust achievable.

    About Threat Vector

    Threat Vector by Palo Alto Networks is your premier podcast for security thought leadership. Join us as we explore pressing cybersecurity threats, robust protection strategies, and the latest industry trends.

    The podcast features in-depth discussions with industry leaders, Palo Alto Networks experts, and customers, providing crucial insights for security decision-makers.

    Whether you're looking to stay ahead of the curve with innovative solutions or understand the evolving cybersecurity landscape, Threat Vector equips you with the knowledge needed to safeguard your organization.

    Palo Alto Networks

    Palo Alto Networks enables your team to prevent successful cyberattacks with an automated approach that delivers consistent security across the cloud, network, and mobile.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠http://paloaltonetworks.com.

    5 March 2026, 7:00 am
  • 33 minutes 54 seconds
    Unit 42's Iran Threat Brief: What We're Seeing

    Unit 42 is tracking more than 60 active hacktivist groups and Iran-linked threat actors right now. What are they actually doing, what should you believe, and what should you do about it?

    In this episode of Threat Vector, David Moulton sits down with Justin Moore, Senior Manager of Threat Intelligence Research at Unit 42, and Andy Piazza, Senior Director of Threat Intelligence at Unit 42, to walk through the Unit 42 Iran Threat Brief and what the observed activity means for defenders.

    You'll learn:

    - What Unit 42 is actually observing from groups like Handala Hack, FAD Team, and Dark Storm, and what claims remain unverified

    - Why Iran's reduced internet connectivity changes the threat picture in ways that aren't obvious

    - What dispersed operators and proxy groups mean for organizations far outside the Middle East

    - Which defensive actions matter most against the TTPs and IOCs Unit 42 has documented

    - How to handle hacktivist claims that may be exaggerated or false


    Justin Moore brings nine years of intelligence officer experience plus senior threat intel roles at Mandiant, Google, and TikTok before joining Unit 42. Andy Piazza has more than 20 years in security operations and threat intelligence, including leading IBM X-Force's global threat intel team.


    Read the threat brief from Unit 42: 

    - Escalation of Cyber Risk Related to Iran (March 2026)

    - Escalation of Cyber Risk Related to Iran (June 2025)


    This episode is essential listening if you're: a CISO assessing current exposure, a threat analyst tracking Iran-linked groups, or a security leader who needs to explain the actual observed risk to your board.


    Related Episodes:

    - Inside the Mind of State-Sponsored Cyberattackers

    - Frenemies With Benefits

    - From Policy to Cyber Interference


    #Cybersecurity #ThreatIntelligence


    About Threat Vector

    Threat Vector by Palo Alto Networks is your premier podcast for security thought leadership. Join us as we explore pressing cybersecurity threats, robust protection strategies, and the latest industry trends.

    The podcast features in-depth discussions with industry leaders, Palo Alto Networks experts, and customers, providing crucial insights for security decision-makers.

    Whether you're looking to stay ahead of the curve with innovative solutions or understand the evolving cybersecurity landscape, Threat Vector equips you with the knowledge needed to safeguard your organization.


    Palo Alto Networks

    Palo Alto Networks enables your team to prevent successful cyberattacks with an automated approach that delivers consistent security across the cloud, network, and mobile.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠http://paloaltonetworks.com.

    4 March 2026, 9:10 pm
  • 38 minutes 27 seconds
    The Billion Dollar Hiring Scam Funding North Korea

    North Korea has turned your hiring pipeline into a revenue machine. And most organizations have no idea.

    Evan Gordenker, Director of AI Security and DPRK Operations at Unit 42, has led more than 160 investigations into sophisticated threat actors, including the North Korean IT worker networks quietly embedded inside global companies. He joins David Moulton to unpack how this operation actually works, why common assumptions about remote work leave organizations exposed, and what security and HR teams can do to detect and disrupt it.

    You'll learn:

    - How DPRK operatives use deepfakes, fabricated identities, and real accomplice networks to pass interviews and land jobs at global companies

    - Why "we don't hire remote" is a dangerous assumption that no longer holds

    - What signals HR and SOC teams should look for, before and after someone is hired

    - How the threat has evolved from quiet wage theft to active extortion of former employers

    - What government collaboration and cross-border intelligence sharing can realistically accomplish

    Evan contributed to the UN Sanctions Monitoring Team report on North Korean operations and brings a rare combination of technical depth and geopolitical fluency to this problem. Having lived and worked across the US, EU, and Japan, he brings cultural context that matters when investigating a threat with global reach. His investigations have produced some of the most detailed profiles of DPRK operators in the security community.

    This episode is essential listening if you're: a security leader building out your insider threat program, an HR or talent acquisition leader who hasn't yet connected with your security team, or a threat intelligence analyst tracking how nation-state programs fund themselves.

    Related Episodes:

    - From Code to Compromise — Covers North Korean threat actors using fake job interviews to target developers via malicious IDE extensions. A strong companion to this episode's look at the broader IT worker scheme.

    -Inside the Mind of State-Sponsored Cyberattackers — A deeper look at how nation-state operations are structured and why they're so hard to disrupt.

    #NationStateThreat #InsiderRisk


    About Threat Vector

    Threat Vector by Palo Alto Networks is your premier podcast for security thought leadership. Join us as we explore pressing cybersecurity threats, robust protection strategies, and the latest industry trends.

    The podcast features in-depth discussions with industry leaders, Palo Alto Networks experts, and customers, providing crucial insights for security decision-makers.

    Whether you're looking to stay ahead of the curve with innovative solutions or understand the evolving cybersecurity landscape, Threat Vector equips you with the knowledge needed to safeguard your organization.

    Palo Alto Networks

    Palo Alto Networks enables your team to prevent successful cyberattacks with an automated approach that delivers consistent security across the cloud, network, and mobile.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠http://paloaltonetworks.com.

    26 February 2026, 7:00 am
  • 42 minutes 27 seconds
    Inside 750 Breaches with Unit 42

    Your security budget is funding the wrong defenses.

    Steve Elovitz leads Unit 42's North America consulting and incident response practice, where his team helps prevent, and ultimately answers the call when organizations face their worst day. After analyzing 750+ major breaches in a single year, he's seen exactly which security investments save companies and which ones fail when attackers strike. The data is uncomfortable: 90% of breaches succeed not because attackers are sophisticated, but because of misconfigurations or gaps in security coverage.

    You'll discover:

    - Why your detection window just shrunk to 1.2 hours (and what autonomous containment actually means when every minute counts)

    - The single identity control that separated organizations recovering in days from those shut down for weeks—with the same attacker, same techniques, different outcome

    - How to stop wasting money on tools that can't see the SaaS integrations and OAuth tokens attackers are already exploiting in your environment

    - Which gaps in your security posture are preventable right now, before they become next quarter's incident response bill

    - The defensive investment that delivers ROI in real breach scenarios, not just compliance checkboxes

    With 15+ years leading incident response teams at Mandiant, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and Booz Allen Hamilton, Steve has helped security teams make critical decisions under pressure when ransomware is encrypting, data is walking out the door, and the board is demanding answers. He knows which controls actually stop sophisticated threat actors and which ones just look good in budget presentations.

    This episode is essential listening if you:

    - Need to defend your security roadmap with evidence from actual breach investigations, not vendor promises

    - Want to understand why identity keeps appearing in every postmortem and what to do about it before you're the case study

    - Are tired of "best practices" that don't map to how attackers actually succeed against real organizations

    Related Episodes:

    - Muddled Libra: From Spraying to Preying in 2025 - Learn which conditional access policies actually stopped the threat actor Unit 42 calls their toughest fight

    - Transform Your SOC and Get Ahead of the Threats - Discover how organizations build SOCs that partner effectively with IR teams instead of slowing down containment

    - Inside Jingle Thief: Cloud Fraud Unwrapped - Understand why your MFA deployment isn't protecting you from identity compromise the way you think it is #IncidentResponse

    If you think you may have been compromised or have an urgent matter, please contact Unit 42 Incident Response team or call North America Toll-Free: 866.486.4842 (866.4.UNIT42), EMEA: +31.20.299.3130, UK: +44.20.3743.3660, APAC: +65.6983.8730, or Japan: +81.50.1790.0200.

    About Threat Vector

    Threat Vector by Palo Alto Networks is your premier podcast for security thought leadership. Join us as we explore pressing cybersecurity threats, robust protection strategies, and the latest industry trends.

    The podcast features in-depth discussions with industry leaders, Palo Alto Networks experts, and customers, providing crucial insights for security decision-makers.

    Whether you're looking to stay ahead of the curve with innovative solutions or understand the evolving cybersecurity landscape, Threat Vector equips you with the knowledge needed to safeguard your organization.

    Palo Alto Networks

    Palo Alto Networks enables your team to prevent successful cyberattacks with an automated approach that delivers consistent security across the cloud, network, and mobile.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠http://paloaltonetworks.com.

    19 February 2026, 7:00 am
  • 33 minutes 57 seconds
    When Security Friction Becomes the Backdoor

    Security that slows people down is security that gets bypassed.

    Birat Niraula leads security for Google Enterprise Network, where he oversees protection across on-premise, network infrastructure, enterprise, and cloud environments. In this episode of Threat Vector, host David Moulton explores a critical truth that most security leaders miss: the difference between friction that protects and friction that creates risk.

    You'll learn:

    - Why bad security UX isn't just annoying—it's a vulnerability that creates backdoors

    - How to identify friction that protects (like MFA and jump hosts) versus friction that makes teams bypass controls

    - Why DevOps teams inject backdoors into production when security slows them down too much

    - How AI is becoming the new cloud rush—teams deploying models without understanding security risks

    - The Chrome browser principle: best security is seamless security that users don't have to think about

    - Why embedding security teams in design processes beats the "sledgehammer approach" of blanket policies

    - How to use AI agents as security sidekicks to scale beyond what your team can manually review


    Birat shares hard-won lessons from securing enterprises at massive scale—from building 24/7 SOCs to leading multi-cloud architecture at Goldman Sachs to now protecting Google's infrastructure. But this conversation isn't about his resume. It's about the fundamental tradeoffs security leaders face: velocity versus protection, automation versus human judgment, and when to embrace friction versus when friction becomes the enemy.

    This episode is essential listening if you're: leading enterprise security programs, struggling with teams that route around your controls, managing DevOps or cloud security, implementing security that doesn't block business velocity, or trying to understand where AI security is heading.

    Related Episodes:

    - Securing the Modern Workforce

    - Why Security Platformization Is the Future of Cyber Resilience

    - Shifting Security Left


    #Cloud #SecurityUX #DevSecOps

    12 February 2026, 7:00 am
  • 31 minutes 59 seconds
    Security Success Stories You Haven't Heard

    What separates organizations that truly excel at cybersecurity from those that just spend money on it?

    In this episode of Threat Vector, host David Moulton sits down with Isaias Telhado, Senior Cybersecurity Customer Success Engineer at Palo Alto Networks, to explore what cybersecurity success actually looks like. With over 25 years in IT and security leadership across Nestlé, Zscaler, and now Palo Alto Networks, Isaiah has seen firsthand what transforms organizations from vulnerable and reactive to confident and resilient.

    You'll learn:

    - Why the "castle and moat" security model creates massive blind spots that leave you vulnerable from the inside

    - The museum analogy that finally makes Zero Trust architecture click

    - How AI is shifting security teams from reactive firefighting to strategic threat forecasting

    - What "crypto agility" means and why quantum readiness matters today, not tomorrow

    - The cultural shifts that separate mature security programs from expensive tool collections

    Isaias shares a powerful case study of a major financial institution that transformed from a devastating data breach caused by misconfiguration to a proactive, cloud-native security posture. The outcome? Incidents dropped dramatically, and the security team's confidence soared—proving security can be a business driver, not a blocker.

    Beyond technology, Isaiah reveals why collaboration across IT, legal, operations, and business leadership is essential—and why the best security awareness programs are bidirectional, not just pushing policies onto users. With insights on breaking down silos, measuring what matters, and avoiding common pitfalls that slow security maturity even in well-funded organizations, this conversation delivers practical wisdom for security leaders at any stage of their journey.

    This episode is essential listening if you're: implementing Zero Trust architecture, managing cloud migration while maintaining security, breaking down organizational silos between security and business units, struggling to prove ROI on security investments, or preparing your organization for AI-powered threats and quantum computing risks.

    Related Episodes:

    - Why Security Platformization Is the Future of Cyber Resilience

    - Securing the Modern Workforce

    - Unlocking Cybersecurity ROI with Platformization

    #ZeroTrust #CloudSecurity


    About Threat Vector

    Threat Vector by Palo Alto Networks is your premier podcast for security thought leadership. Join us as we explore pressing cybersecurity threats, robust protection strategies, and the latest industry trends.

    The podcast features in-depth discussions with industry leaders, Palo Alto Networks experts, and customers, providing crucial insights for security decision-makers.

    Whether you're looking to stay ahead of the curve with innovative solutions or understand the evolving cybersecurity landscape, Threat Vector equips you with the knowledge needed to safeguard your organization.

    Palo Alto Networks

    Palo Alto Networks enables your team to prevent successful cyberattacks with an automated approach that delivers consistent security across the cloud, network, and mobile.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠http://paloaltonetworks.com.

    5 February 2026, 7:00 am
  • 38 minutes 47 seconds
    Is Your AI Well-Engineered Enough to Be Trusted?

    Can you trust your AI systems with your business, or are they just another attack surface waiting to be exploited?

    Aaron Isaksen leads AI Research and Engineering at Palo Alto Networks, where he advances state-of-the-art AI in cybersecurity. In this episode of Threat Vector, host ⁠David Moulton⁠ sits down with ⁠Dr. Aaron Isaksen⁠ to explore why engineering excellence must precede ethical AI debates, how adversarial AI is reshaping cybersecurity, and what it actually takes to build AI systems resilient enough to operate in hostile environments.

    You'll learn:

    • Why well-engineered AI must be the prerequisite before discussing AI ethics
    • How prompt injection attacks are becoming the "SQL injection of the AI era," and why they may never be fully solved
    • What defending the Black Hat USA NOC with AI-powered security taught about real-world AI resilience
    • How machine learning transforms attack surface management from manual inventory chaos to automated risk reduction
    • Why game development experience creates better cybersecurity AI researchers (and what curiosity has to do with it)

    Before Palo Alto Networks, Aaron spent 15+ years building products across wildly different domains. From co-founding mobile gaming companies and funding independent game developers through Indie Fund, to leading ML engineering at ASAPP where his teams prototyped state-of-the-art neural networks for NLP. With a PhD from NYU (automated software design), a Master's from MIT (light field rendering), and a BS from UC Berkeley, Aaron brings a unique perspective: AI security isn't about philosophical debates. It's about rigorous engineering, continuous red teaming, and building systems that can withstand determined adversaries.

    This episode is essential listening if you're: deploying AI in production systems, building security programs around generative AI tools, leading attack surface management initiatives, trying to separate AI security theater from actual resilience, or wondering whether your AI agents can operate safely on the open web. #AI

    Related Episodes:

    About Threat Vector

    Threat Vector by Palo Alto Networks is your premier podcast for security thought leadership. Join us as we explore pressing cybersecurity threats, robust protection strategies, and the latest industry trends.

    The podcast features in-depth discussions with industry leaders, Palo Alto Networks experts, and customers, providing crucial insights for security decision-makers.

    Whether you're looking to stay ahead of the curve with innovative solutions or understand the evolving cybersecurity landscape, Threat Vector equips you with the knowledge needed to safeguard your organization.

    Palo Alto Networks

    Palo Alto Networks enables your team to prevent successful cyberattacks with an automated approach that delivers consistent security across the cloud, network, and mobile.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠http://paloaltonetworks.com.

    29 January 2026, 7:00 am
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