Zero Trust Readiness and Two RSAC 2026 Interviews from Fenix24 and Absolute Security - John Bruggeman, Christy Wyatt, John Anthony Smith - BSW #442

Apr 8, 2026

Guest

Christy Wyatt

Guest

John Anthony Smith

Guest

John Bruggeman

Christy Wyatt, CEO focused on cyber resilience and downtime reduction. John Anthony Smith, founder specializing in rapid post‑breach recovery and orchestration. John Bruggeman, veteran Consulting CISO advising on zero trust and agentic AI risks. They discuss agentic AI expanding nonhuman attack surfaces, data inventory and sandboxing for safety, just‑in‑time privileges and rapid recovery orchestration to minimize costly downtime.

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ADVICE

Inventory And Classify Data Before Agents

Before deploying any AI agent, inventory and classify your sensitive data so you know where to place protections.
John Bruggeman warned organizations often lack data classification and gave examples like universities delaying AI projects six months to isolate permitted data.

ADVICE

Use AI Tools To Classify Unstructured Data

Use AI/ML tools to accelerate data discovery and classification, focusing on unstructured files where automation excels.
Bruggeman pointed to vendors like Varonis or Microsoft-classification tools and pilots that scanned SharePoint and OneDrive.

ADVICE

Enforce Least Privilege For Agents

Apply zero trust principles to agents: grant only the minimum access needed and remove it when not required.
Bruggeman recounted agents posting sensitive HR data to chat when overprovisioned, demonstrating the damage of excess rights.

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Autonomous AI agents are creating a new attack surface for enterprise security teams, particularly as organizations deploy agents for operational tasks such as customer support automation, data analysis, and incident response. How can we align our Zero Trust initiatives to also address the emerging Agentic AI risks?

John Bruggeman, Consulting CISO at CBTS, joins Business Security Weekly to discuss how your Zero Trust readiness can also prepare you for Agentic AI deployments. Organizations are granting agents access to sensitive systems without the security controls typically required for other Zero Trust initiatives. John will help educate CISOs on what they should be doing now to get ahead of the risk, including:

Agent inventory
Data security controls, including data model poisoning
Agent identity controls, including authorization and access levels
Infrastructure security controls, including MCP servers

Why More Technology Hasn't Made Us More Secure Despite massive investment in cybersecurity tools, organizations remain vulnerable because their existing technologies are often misconfigured, poorly integrated, and disconnected from real operational risk. This keynote argues that complexity, human decision‑making, and gaps in execution—not a lack of products—are what truly empower attackers, especially as modern environments like cloud and SaaS expand the attack surface. Real security comes from simplifying, aligning, and expertly orchestrating what organizations already own, shifting the focus from buying tools to achieving disciplined, resilient outcomes grounded in breach reality.

This segment is sponsored by Fenix24. Visit https://securityweekly.com/fenix24rsac to learn more about them!

Downtime: The New Economic Threat Downtime is costing global enterprises hundreds of billions of dollars in losses annually. Caused by cyber incidents and software failures, enterprise CISOs are searching for strategies and solutions that will accelerate recovery and restoration of business operations after cyber disruptions render systems inoperable.

This segment is sponsored by Absolute Security. Visit https://securityweekly.com/absolutersac to join The Resilient CISO Inner Circle!

Visit https://www.securityweekly.com/bsw for all the latest episodes!

Show Notes: https://securityweekly.com/bsw-442