Hash it Out

Ep38 | The Lean CISO in the Age of Agentic AI

June 16, 2026

Virtru CMO Matt Howard and Andesite.ai CISO Dave Brown break down how to turn cybersecurity into a true business advantage — covering data sovereignty, AI governance, compliance, and why the "office of no" era is over.

Virtru CMO Matt Howard sits down with Dave Brown, CISO and CIO at Andesite.ai, to explore what it really means to build a cybersecurity program that drives business value, not just risk mitigation.

Too many security teams are still being treated like the "office of no." Dave Brown has spent his career flipping that script, and in this episode, he breaks down exactly how.

From his early days leading incident response for a 40,000-user military network to writing Bootstrapping Cybersecurity in a Startup, Dave has learned the hard way what separates a security program that enables growth from one that just gets in the way. Now, as CISO and CIO at Andesite.ai, he's putting those lessons to work in real time.

In this conversation, Dave and Matt dig into:

• Why your first 90 days as a CISO define everything and how to show up as a business partner from day one
• The real difference between compliance theater and continuous trust (hint: auditing once a quarter doesn't cut it)
• How to share sensitive data without losing control of it, and why data sovereignty matters more than ever
• What AI actually demands from your security program and why the CISO/CIO partnership with the business has never been more critical
• The human-in-the-loop philosophy that keeps SOC analysts effective, sane, and out of burnout

Whether you're a security leader, a startup founder, or just someone trying to understand why data security is no longer just IT's problem, this episode is worth your full attention.

 

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