
Defense in Depth
David Spark, Steve Zalewski, Geoff Belknap · David Spark
Show overview
Defense in Depth has been publishing since 2019, and across the 7 years since has built a catalogue of 358 episodes. That works out to roughly 170 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a weekly cadence.
Episodes typically run twenty to thirty-five minutes — most land between 27 min and 31 min — and the run-time is fairly consistent across the catalogue. None of the episodes are flagged explicit by the publisher. It is catalogued as a EN-language Technology show.
The show is actively publishing — the most recent episode landed yesterday, with 19 episodes already out so far this year. Published by David Spark.
From the publisher
Defense in Depth promises clear talk on cybersecurity's most controversial and confusing debates. Once a week we choose one controversial and popular cybersecurity debate and use the InfoSec community's insights to lead our discussion.
Latest Episodes
View all 358 episodesWhy Cyber Startups Need CISO Advisors
Breaking the Reactive Cycle of Cybersecurity
How Do You Know If Your Backups Will Survive a Ransomware Attack?
What Makes a Successful Security Vendor Demo?
Should You Use Native or 3rd Party Cloud Management Tools?
How Should We Measure the Performance of a CISO?
How to Be Less Busy and More Effective in Cyber
All links and images can be found on CISO Series. Check out this post for the discussion that is the basis of our conversation on this week's episode co-hosted by David Spark, the producer of CISO Series, and Ross Young, co-host, CISO Tradecraft. Joining them is Dan Walsh, CISO, Datavant. Be sure to check out Ross's book Cybersecurity's Dirty Secret: Why Most Budgets Go to Waste. In this episode: Patterns hiding in plain sight Activity vs. advancement The human cost Frameworks about frameworks A huge thanks to our sponsor, Fenix24 Fenix24 is the world's leading breach recovery firm, providing rapid ransomware restoration, full asset visibility, and threat informed hardening. Alongside expert recovery services, Fenix24 delivers ongoing managed protection that secures backups, infrastructure, and critical controls, helping organizations stay resilient, recoverable, and prepared for modern cyber threats. Learn more at fenix24.com.
How to Engage With a CISO When They Express Interest
All links and images can be found on CISO Series. Check out this post for the discussion that is the basis of our conversation on this week's episode, co-hosted by David Spark, the producer of CISO Series, and Steve Zalewski. Joining them is Adam Palmer, CISO, First Hawaiian Bank. Be sure to check out David's book, Three Feet from Seven Figures: One-on-One Engagement Techniques to Qualify More Leads at Trade Shows. In this episode: Lead with insight, not persuasion Recognize the opportunity when it arrives Strategy over features Keep it efficient A huge thanks to our sponsor, Endor Labs Discover how AI coding agents are reshaping software supply chain risk in the State of Dependency Management. Original research from Endor Labs shows 49% of dependency versions have known vulnerabilities (and that 34% don't actually exist). Get the report to see how "shadow AI" is reshaping attack surfaces. Learn more at endorlabs.com.

Who is Responsible for the Conflict Between Security and Developers?
All links and images can be found on CISO Series. Check out this post for the discussion that is the basis of our conversation on this week's episode, co-hosted by David Spark, the producer of CISO Series, and Steve Zalewski. Joining is their sponsored guest, Matt Brown, solutions architect, Endor Labs. In this episode: The development disconnect Functionality first, security second The incentive problem Speed as the common ground A huge thanks to our sponsor, Endor Labs Discover how AI coding agents are reshaping software supply chain risk in the State of Dependency Management. Original research from Endor Labs shows 49% of dependency versions have known vulnerabilities (and that 34% don't actually exist). Get the report to see how "shadow AI" is reshaping attack surfaces. Learn more at www.endorlabs.com.

Are Your Security Tools Creating More Work for Your Team?
All links and images can be found on CISO Series. Check out this post by Caleb Sima for the discussion that is the basis of our conversation on this week's episode co-hosted by me, David Spark, the producer of CISO Series, and Edward Contreras, senior evp and CISO, Frost Bank. Joining us is Evan McHenry, CISO, Robinhood. In this episode: The information paradox Setting realistic expectations Prioritization over noise The cart before the horse Huge thanks to our sponsor, Endor Labs Discover how AI coding agents are reshaping software supply chain risk in the State of Dependency Management. Original research from Endor Labs shows 49% of dependency versions have known vulnerabilities (and that 34% don't actually exist). Get the report to see how "shadow AI" is reshaping attack surfaces.

Why Overpromising is a Dangerous Sales Tactic
All links and images can be found on CISO Series. Check out this post, CISO, Upwind Security, for the discussion that is the basis of our conversation on this week's episode co-hosted by me, David Spark, the producer of CISO Series, and Geoff Belknap, CISO, LinkedIn. Joining us is Octavia Howell, vp and CISO, Equifax Canada. In this episode: Beyond the quota The hard truth beats the polished bluff Paying for someone else's mistakes Reducing friction, increasing trust Huge thanks to our sponsor, ThreatLocker ThreatLocker takes a deny-by-default approach to endpoint security — controlling what applications can run, what can access data, and what can elevate privileges. Used by organizations that want to reduce attack surface without relying on detection alone. Learn more at threatlocker.com/ciso.

Should You Phish Your Employees or Not?
All links and images can be found on CISO Series. This week's episode is co-hosted by me, David Spark, the producer of CISO Series, and Edward Contreras, senior evp and CISO, Frost Bank. Joining us is Mark Eggleston, CISO, CSC. In this episode: Breaking trust to test it Technical controls over testing The measurement imperative Fire drills, not gotchas Huge thanks to our sponsor, Scanner All your security logs end up in cloud storage like AWS S3. Scanner makes them searchable in seconds and runs real-time detections directly on that data. No pipelines, no re-ingestion. 100x faster than traditional data lakes, 10x cheaper than SIEMs. Loved by analysts. Built for AI agents. Learn more at scanner.dev.

How Much Autonomy Should You Give AI Agents in Your SOC?
All links and images can be found on CISO Series. This week's episode is co-hosted by me, David Spark, the producer of CISO Series, and Steve Zalewski. Joining us is our sponsored guest, Cliff Crosland, co-founder and CEO, Scanner.dev. In this episode: Earning autonomy gradually The blast radius question The reality check Today's value, tomorrow's evolution Huge thanks to our sponsor, Scanner All your security logs end up in cloud storage like AWS S3. Scanner makes them searchable in seconds and runs real-time detections directly on that data. No pipelines, no re-ingestion. 100x faster than traditional data lakes, 10x cheaper than SIEMs. Loved by analysts. Built for AI agents. Learn more at scanner.dev.

Cybersecurity's Broken Hiring Process
All links and images can be found on CISO Series. Check out this post by Dr. Chase Cunningham, CSO at Demo-Force, for the discussion that is the basis of our conversation on this week's episode co-hosted by me, David Spark, the producer of CISO Series, and Geoff Belknap. Joining us is Brett Conlon, CISO, American Century Investments. In this episode: The experience paradox Who benefits from the narrative Kitchen sink job postings The aggregation problem Huge thanks to our sponsor, Scanner All your security logs end up in cloud storage like AWS S3. Scanner makes them searchable in seconds and runs real-time detections directly on that data. No pipelines, no re-ingestion. 100x faster than traditional data lakes, 10x cheaper than SIEMs. Loved by analysts. Built for AI agents. Learn more at scanner.dev

Simple Security Solutions That Deliver a Big Impact
All links and images can be found on CISO Series. Check out this post for the discussion that is the basis of our conversation on this week's episode, co-hosted by David Spark, the producer of CISO Series, and Edward Contreras, senior evp and CISO, Frost Bank. Joining them is their sponsored guest, Rob Allen, chief product officer, ThreatLocker. In this episode: Getting permissions right The fundamentals that still fail Know what you have Simple controls, outsized impact Huge thanks to our sponsor, ThreatLocker Want real Zero Trust training? Zero Trust World 2026 delivers hands-on labs and workshops that show CISOs exactly how to implement and maintain Zero Trust in real environments. Join us March 4–6 in Orlando, plus a live CISO Series episode on March 6. Get $200 off with ZTWCISO26 at ztw.com.

When Cybersecurity Marketing Fails to Reach the Buyer
All links and images can be found on CISO Series. Check out this post by Patrick Garrity of VulnCheck for the discussion that is the basis of our conversation on this week's episode, co-hosted by David Spark, the producer of CISO Series, and Steve Zalewski. Joining them is Tom Doughty, CISO, Generate:Biomedicines. In this episode: The 3Ms of product clarity Buzzwords work because buyers aren't experts Investor pressures distort messaging Threading the needle Huge thanks to our sponsor, Alteryx Alteryx is a leading AI and data analytics company that powers actionable insights that help organizations drive smarter, faster decisions. Alteryx One helps security, risk, and operations leaders cut hours of manual work to minutes, generate trusted insights at scale, and turn raw data into action faster than ever. Learn more at www.alteryx.com.

How Best to Prepare Your Data for Your Tools
All links and images can be found on CISO Series. Check out this post for the discussion that is the basis of our conversation on this week's episode, co-hosted by David Spark, the producer of CISO Series, and Geoff Belknap. Joining them is sponsored guest Matt Goodrich, director of information security, Alteryx. In this episode: The integrity challenge Zero trust for AI outputs Guardrails over garbage It looks good... Huge thanks to our sponsor, Alteryx Alteryx is a leading AI and data analytics company that powers actionable insights that help organizations drive smarter, faster decisions. Alteryx One helps security, risk, and operations leaders cut hours of manual work to minutes, generate trusted insights at scale, and turn raw data into action faster than ever. Learn more at www.alteryx.com.

Don't Try to Win with Technical Expertise. Win by Partnering.
All links and images can be found on CISO Series. Check out this post for the discussion that is the basis of our conversation on this week's episode, co-hosted by me, David Spark, the producer of CISO Series, and Jerich Beason, CISO, WM. Their guest is Pam Lindemoen, CSO and vp of strategy, RH-ISAC. In this episode: From loudest to most trusted Letting go of the win Listening over proving Beyond right and wrong Huge thanks to our sponsor, Alteryx Alteryx is a leading AI and data analytics company that powers actionable insights that help organizations drive smarter, faster decisions. Alteryx One helps security, risk, and operations leaders cut hours of manual work to minutes, generate trusted insights at scale, and turn raw data into action faster than ever. Learn more at www.alteryx.com.
What Makes a Successful CISO?
All links and images can be found on CISO Series. Check out this post for the discussion that is the basis of our conversation on this week's episode co-hosted by me, David Spark, the producer of CISO Series, and Edward Contreras, senior evp and CISO, Frost Bank. Joining us is Ejona Preci, group CISO, LINDAL Group. In this episode: Consequence, not controls The credibility gap Defining the undefined Expanding the mandate A huge thanks to our sponsor, ThreatLocker ThreatLocker makes Zero Trust practical. With Default Deny, Ringfencing, and Elevation Control, CISOs get real control that's easy to manage and built to scale. Stop threats before they execute and reduce operational noise without adding complexity. See how simple prevention can be at ThreatLocker.com/CISO.

How Should CISOs Talk to the Business
All links and images can be found on CISO Series. Check out this post by Binoy Koonammavu of Secusy AI for the discussion that is the basis of our conversation on this week's episode co-hosted by David Spark, the producer of CISO Series, and Edward Contreras, senior evp and CISO, Frost Bank. Joining them is best-selling cybersecurity author Peter Gregory. His upcoming study guide on AI governance can be pre-ordered here. In this episode: Speaking the language of leadership Beyond translation: the trust factor Making risk tangible When translation isn't enough Huge thanks to our sponsor, ThreatLocker ThreatLocker makes Zero Trust practical. With Default Deny, Ringfencing, and Elevation Control, CISOs get real control that's easy to manage and built to scale. Stop threats before they execute and reduce operational noise without adding complexity. See how simple prevention can be at ThreatLocker.com/CISO.