Hacker Valley Studio

Building AI Governance Before the Incidents Hit with Guru Sethupathy

AI adoption is outpacing governance at every level, and the cost of waiting is getting higher by the day. Guru Sethupathy, General Manager of AI Governance at Optro and former Founder of FairNow, breaks down what it really takes to build trust in AI systems before things go sideways. 

Guru lays out a simple but powerful 3 P’s Framework: policies, process, and people, connecting it to what teams are actually dealing with right now, from shadow AI to security threats that don’t look like anything we’ve seen before.

If 2026 is the year AI moves from experiments to real operations, this conversation is your blueprint for keeping it under control.

Impactful Moments
00:00 - Introduction
02:25 - What does Optro do? Helping companies with the AI governance journey. 
03:10 - Why AI governance is really about trust, not control
05:15 - The moment AI went mainstream, and why that changed everything
05:50 - The three real business risks: performance, security, and transparency
07:30 - Human accountability in an AI-driven world 
08:48 - What’s actually happening with AI regulation, EU, US, and standards
10:28 - Where Optro fits, orchestration vs monitoring in AI governance
13:05 - The 3 Ps framework: policies, process, and people
14:47 - Governance 101, why AI inventory is the first move every team misses
16:12 - The reality check, AI adoption is outpacing governance everywhere
17:45 - Shadow AI explained, what your team is doing that you can’t see
19:45 - Optro’s top use cases: visibility, compliance, and operationalizing governance
20:43 - Who owns AI governance, and why it’s becoming a team sport
22:20 - Final advice, start now or play catch-up later

Links
Connect with our guest, Guru Sethupathy, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/guru-sethupathy/

Learn more about Optro: https://optro.ai/

 

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What Happens When Attackers Collaborate More Than Defenders? Ron Eddings Reporting Live from RSAC Conference

What happens when attackers collaborate better than defenders? 

Recorded live from RSAC 2026, this solo episode with Ron breaks down the biggest themes shaping cybersecurity right now, from organized threat groups and massive data breaches to the growing tension between productivity and control inside modern organizations.

This conversation highlights a hard truth. The threat landscape is evolving through collaboration. From phishing-as-a-service platforms like Tycoon 2FA to supply chain breaches impacting entire ecosystems, attackers are sharing tools and moving faster than ever.

But there’s another side to the story. As AI becomes embedded in how work gets done, security teams are being pushed to rethink their role. Blocking tools is no longer enough. The real challenge is enabling the business while managing risk, and that requires trust, alignment, and a stronger sense of community across the industry.

This episode is a call to rethink how we approach security. Not as isolated teams enforcing policy, but as a connected community working together to adapt, respond, and move forward.

Impactful Moments
00:00 - Introduction, live from RSAC 2026
02:50 - Tycoon2FA and the rise of phishing-as-a-service
04:45 - The TELUS breach and what a petabyte-scale attack looks like
06:21 - Why you need strict controls … everywhere
07:30 - Are AI agents the new Shadow IT? 
09:00 - The balance between productivity and security controls
09:27 - Boards’ demands for their teams to use AI 
11:53 - Why leading security teams is more like parenting than policing
12:42 - Community is the foundation for the future of cybersecurity

 

Links
Connect with Ron Eddings on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronaldeddings/

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RSAC 2026: Show Up or Fall Behind

What does it mean when your smart doorbell becomes an entry point for surveillance? What happens when a single hacker can jailbreak every major AI model within hours of its release? And why are the same tools being used by both nation-state attackers and the defenders trying to stop them?

In this solo episode, Ron Eddings breaks down the urgent case for practitioner unity in cybersecurity, from AI-powered jailbreaking and IoT surveillance creep to geopolitical cyber operations. With RSAC 2026 just around the corner, this episode is a rallying cry for the community to come together, share intelligence, and build the defenses that no single team can build alone. 

The episode also tackles one of the biggest misconceptions in the industry right now. AI already came for your job, but now it is changing how we define responsibility, decision-making, and trust. Add in rising pressure across the workforce, new legislation pushing for human oversight, and real-world examples of AI being used in global conflict, and the stakes become hard to ignore.

Impactful Moments
00:00 - Introduction
02:00 - Pliny the Elder, God Mode and AI Jailbreaks
03:30 - Cyber in US-Israeli Operations in Iran and Anthropic Tensions
06:00 - Cyber threats that are hitting normal people
07:30 - Is my Ring Doorbell a surveillance risk?
10:05 - Attackers are collaborating and sharing more than defenders today
11:30 - RSAC: the cyber Super Bowl
14:30 - AI has already replaced your job
14:30 - Why mental health is cybersecurity's hidden crisis
17:00 - Governance in AI and what Texas is doing about it
19:00 - Was Claude used in state-level ops?

Links
Connect with Ron Eddings on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronaldeddings/

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What’s Next After Building a $2.5B Cybersecurity Company with Dean Sysman

What does it look like when a cybersecurity founder who built a $2.5 billion company decides to level up, again? Dean Sysman, co-founder of Axonius, sits down with Ron Eddings to pull back the curtain on what it really took to go from zero to $100M ARR in four and a half years, and what came next.

Dean breaks down the founder mindset, the emotional weight of tying your identity to your company, and why he stepped into the Executive Chairman role while simultaneously pursuing a PhD in AI systems at Columbia University. He gets into how boxing taught him what solo performance reveals about leadership, why vulnerability is a non-negotiable skill at scale, and what it means to care about something bigger than yourself. This one hits differently if you're building, leading, or figuring out what your next chapter looks like.

Impactful Moments

• 00:00 – Introduction
• 05:00 – Boxing for charity: raising $55K
• 08:00 – Competitive by nature, born to build
• 10:00 – Solo performance sharpens team leadership
• 13:00 – Axonius: zero to $100M ARR in 4.5 years
• 15:00 – Founder identity tied to company success
• 21:00 – Purpose bigger than yourself fuels resilience
• 25:00 – Self-awareness as the #1 growth tool
• 28:00 – Executive Chairman + Columbia PhD pursuit
• 33:00 – Ron's personal reflection on founder identity

Links

• Connect with our guest, Dean Sysman, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deansysman/
• Check out our upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams
• Love Hacker Valley Studio? Pick up some swag: https://store.hackervalley.com
• Become a sponsor of the show to amplify your brand: https://hackervalley.com/work-with-us/

Can AI Do Your Cyber Job? Post Your Job Req and Find Out with Marcus J. Carey

Last episode, Ron and Marcus made predictions. This episode, they brought the receipts.

A journalist built an app with vibe coding and got hacked on live television. 

A social network built entirely by AI (not a single line of human code!) exposed 1.5 million authentication tokens and private messages between agents. 

And 88% of organizations have already had an AI security incident, while barely 14% of deployed agents ever saw a security review. 

The warnings from last episode aged fast. Marcus J. Carey is back to talk about what that actually means for the people building right now, not the people theorizing about it. Ron and Marcus are in the code themselves, and this conversation is what that experience actually looks like: OpenClaw running loose on your machine, agents racking up API bills, and why guidance, not prompts, not tools, is the real skill that separates builders who thrive from builders who ship disasters.

Impactful Moments
00:00 - Introduction
02:00 - Vibe coding hack on live TV
03:30 - Mo Book leaks 1.5M auth tokens
06:00 - Marcus' origin story: War Games, 1983
08:00 - OpenClaw escapes the lab
13:30 - AT&T cuts help desk spend 90%
17:00 - Context is king, guidance is everything
19:00 - Can AI do your job rec right now?
24:00 - The first cybersecurity jobs agents will replace
27:00 - Expertise + AI = 1000x yourself
30:00 - Focus on outcomes, not new tools

 

Links
Connect with our guest, Marcus J. Carey, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcuscarey/

 

Read the articles we referenced in this episode:
The vibe coding hack that aired on live TV, ICAEW breaks down exactly how it happened and what it means for anyone building with AI: https://www.icaew.com/insights/viewpoints-on-the-news/2026/feb-2026/cyber-dangers-of-agents-and-vibe-coding

88% of organizations have already had an AI security incident. See the full data from the Cisco State of AI Security 2026 report: https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/02/23/ai-agent-security-risks-enterprise/

 

Check out our upcoming events: https://www.hackervalley.com/livestreams

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