SANS Cyber Leaders Podcast Season 4: Thinking Globally, and Acting at Machine Speed

The fourth season of the SANS Cyber Leaders Podcast is here, and the timing is not incidental. Cyber conflict and kinetic conflict are converging. AI is finding bugs at machine speed while also creating new attack surfaces. The CISO role is expanding faster than most organizations have planned for.

Hosts James Lyne, SANS Chief Executive Officer and instructor, and Professor Ciaran Martin, Director of the SANS Cyber Leaders Network and founding CEO of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, engage with the CISOs, CEOs, and leading practitioners working through these challenges at the highest levels, whose insights and experience-grounded thinking help security leaders cut through the noise and lead with confidence.

Episode 28: Defending Critical Infrastructure in a Hot War, with Tim Conway

James and Ciaran launch season four with a special interview on the cyber dimension of the war in Iran, hearing from SANS ICS Curriculum Lead Tim Conway on what the risks and challenges are now, and what the implications of this conflict might mean for the future. Working as an industrial defender in an era when cyber is embedded in all military and geopolitical conflict, Tim discusses the targeting of infrastructure, the systemic factors that make modern organizations vulnerable, and the longer-term perspective of cyber conflict.

Listen to the full episode here.

Episode 29: Weathering the AI Vulnerability Storm with Gadi Evron, Rob Lee and Ed Skoudis

The announcement of Anthropic’s Mythos spun up a storm of speculation about AI-assisted vulnerability discovery, so our hosts recorded another special episode to ground the discussion for leaders today. James and Ciaran discuss a paper on Mythos (co-authored by SANS, the Cloud Security Alliance, [un]prompted, and OWASP) and hear from Gadi Evron, founder and CEO of Knostic and CISO in residence for the Cloud Security Alliance, Rob T. Lee, Chief AI Officer and Chief of Research at SANS, and Ed Skoudis, the founder of the SANS Penetration Testing Curriculum and Counter Hack and President at SANS Technology Institute, pinning down what matters and what mindset the industry must adopt.

Listen to the full episode here.

Episode 30: How Zalando Deployed GenAI Without Handing Attackers the Keys, with Florence Mottay

Florence Mottay, VP and CISO at Zalando and Dutch CISO of the Year 2025, brings James and Ciaran up to speed on the state of cybersecurity in business, addressing the calculated risks of entrepreneurship, the evolution of AI threats, and the evergreen need to reinforce cyber foundations. Florence built Zalando's GenAI security framework in 2022, before most organizations had begun thinking about it, and she discusses what it actually looks like to bring GenAI online at scale without creating new attack surface. She speaks from over 20 years of experience in cybersecurity and ethical hacking, including serving as Senior Vice President of Information Security and Global CISO at Ahold Delhaize, one of the world's largest food retail groups.

Listen to the full episode here.

Episode 31: Stories from an Expert Threat Hunter, with Taz Wake

Hackers used to be able to dwell in a system for 18 months on average before being detected, but in just over a decade that time has shrunk to more like 15 days, nearly all due to threat hunting. Taz Wake, SANS instructor and expert in Digital Forensics and Incident Response (DFIR), draws on his background in military intelligence and real-world experience as a defender to discuss the myths and realities of protecting organizations today. James and Ciaran learn from Taz about the unique and crucial role incident responders play, the hierarchy of skills they need to succeed, and the ways that threat hunting is not as self-explanatory as it might sound.

Listen to the full episode here.

Season 4 is Just Getting Started

More is on the way throughout the season, so be sure to subscribe and keep an eye on your preferred podcast platform as new episodes drop with the most current insights to inform your work. CISOs, executives, and leading practitioners who keep the Cyber Leaders Podcast in their listening rotation have invaluable SANS expertise in their toolbox.

In the meantime, explore the full episode lineup, and if you're a security leader looking for a peer community, find out more about the SANS Cyber Leaders Network.