The Great Corporate Escape: How one Cybersecurity Professional made the decision to build what matters | EP 101

Welcome to the inaugural episode of Musings from the Cyber Trench, a podcast that goes beyond surface-level talk to reveal real challenges and breakthroughs in public sector cybersecurity. Hosted by Vishal Masih (with producer Nick), this series brings fearless leaders and visionary experts from large organizations to share honest perspectives, practical insights, and actionable strategies to build stronger, smarter, and more resilient security programs. If you care about enterprise security, cyber hygiene, trusted AI, and effective risk management in complex environments, you’re in the right trench.

What you’ll hear in this episode:

An introduction to Musings from the Cyber Trench: purpose, approach, and who the show is for

Why cybersecurity matters to everyone with an online presence, not just government or banks

Core benefits for listeners: honest opinions, diverse problem-solving approaches, and insight into future trends

The guest mix: CISOs, CTOs, CEOs, presidents, and security leaders from large organizations

Defining “large organization” in this show (e.g., teams 500+ people)

Hands-on topics vs. high-level policy: practical, real-world security improvements

Concrete topics you’ll encounter: password management, secure access, and cyber hygiene best practices

The two main focus areas for episodes: (1) trust, verification, and a holistic view of security (user, device, data, application), and (2) the evolving role of AI in defense and its dual-use risks (deepfakes, AI-enabled attacks)

Real-world challenges in AI-assisted security: data handling, AI agents, and safeguarding confidential information

Why the host started the podcast: personal conversations to share knowledge, help others, and raise the bar for safety in day-to-day life

Chapters

00:00 – 00:24: Introduction to the show and purpose

00:24 – 00:39: Meet the host and producer

00:39 – 01:08: What this podcast is about

01:08 – 01:38: The podcast name and mission

01:38 – 02:01: Cyber is everyone’s concern

02:01 – 02:27: Cyber hygiene for individuals and businesses

02:27 – 03:21: Who will be the guests (CISOs, CTOs, CEOs, leaders)

03:21 – 04:50: What teams define “large organization”

04:50 – 05:04: Listener benefits

05:04 – 06:34: Episode format: honest stories and practical insights

06:34 – 07:32: Potential topics: threats, espionage, current events

07:32 – 08:04: Everyday topics like password management

08:04 – 08:42: Hands-on vs policy discussions

08:42 – 09:15: Favorite topics: “trust, verify” and holistic security

09:15 – 10:16: The AI angle in security

10:16 – 11:04: AI threats and defenses

11:04 – 11:32: Why the podcast exists

11:32 – 12:00: Closing remarks

Key Takeaways:

Public sector cybersecurity is not just for government entities; it impacts anyone connected to the internet.

A strong security program blends practical, hands-on measures with high-level policy guidance.

Trust and verification across people, devices, data, and applications are foundational to modern security.

AI accelerates defense capabilities but also expands attack surfaces; proactive risk management and governance are essential.

Subscribe to Musings from the Cyber Trench for future episodes featuring frontline security leaders. Leave a comment with topics you’d like to see covered (e.g., password hygiene, zero trust, AI security). Share this episode with colleagues who are responsible for security in large teams or public sector organizations.

Responsible for ICAM, Zero Trust, or identity security in a federal agency, prime, or large regulated enterprise?

If you’re trying to move from strategy to execution, start with Zephon’s Zero Trust Readiness Assessment: zephon.tech/zt

Questions or guest ideas? Email defend@zephon.tech

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:37

Hi everyone. Welcome to my very first episode of New Things from the Cyber Trench. I'm here with my producer Nick Yurosen, and he's going to ask me a few questions on my podcast. Nick, off to you.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Alright, thank you, Michelle. I'm always happy to be here. So tell us about your podcast. I'm curious because uh you've been thinking about this for a while, and then we connected, and then you said, okay, I want to get this going. So uh tell us what is it called again and what it's about, most important.

SPEAKER_03 1:15

The podcast is called Musings from the Cyber Trench. And the reason behind the podcast was to be able to just talk freely on the frustrations that we feel as part of being in the cyber security field. There are a lot of things which are done wrong, which are a lot of things which are done right. So it is to celebrate the wins, share ideas, share our knowledge, and also try to fix things which are broken.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Yeah. So when you say cyber, this is not necessarily like anybody who hears cyber, they're always thinking like real, well, it's nothing to do with me, it's the government or the banks, or but that really is not the case, is it? Cyber really means the minute that you are connected to the internet, that's it, you are in the cyber world, and therefore you have to be aware of the things that can happen to you that that you really need to be aware of. So tell us a little bit about from just a regular person's point of view or a regular small business owner's point of view. What are some things that people should be aware of in the cyber world?

SPEAKER_03 2:35

Is making sure you don't download or click on the wrong things. Simple cyber hygiene, everyone has their own personal cyber world, so just be aware of who you are bringing inside your cyber home. That's the first thing I would say.

SPEAKER_01 2:54

And also, when something does go wrong, uh, what are some things that people can do? And I mean, obviously, these are all subject matters that will be part of your podcast. So uh I was just trying to get an understanding of your approach to the podcast. So tell us about the kind of guests that you intend to have on the show.

SPEAKER_03 3:19

We'll have people from all walks of life who mainly who are working with or working at large organizations, leading teams, and who have to balance the challenges of giving their clients or their end users a good customer experience while making sure that it is secure, so it can be CSOs, CTOs, CEO, residents, or even team leads and other cybersecurity experts.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

And these guests are obviously I I just heard you mention large organizations. What is a large organization to you? Are you going by the kind of number of people they have, team sizes? Uh how do you define large?

SPEAKER_03 4:10

I would say anyone with 500 people or above.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

Okay. So now what you are really targeting is really share the stories of those who are responsible for many in an organization in terms of their cyber operations and how they are set up and how they protect themselves. And as far as the whole purpose of the show, so tell us a little bit about let's say that I am I come across musings from the cyber trenches, and I say, Oh, I it it sounds interesting. Let me tune into this. So when I tune into your podcast, what are the benefits to me for being a listener or being a viewer? What am I gonna get out of being part of your receiving part of your content?

SPEAKER_03 5:00

I would summarize three benefits. First thing, it would be a place where you can get honest opinions on the various challenges we all are facing right now in the cyber world. The second would be getting ideas or different points of views on how to solve those those challenges, and third would be the future trends which are shaping our cyber world, where we are going, and how should we be better prepared for what's coming?

SPEAKER_01 5:38

Yeah, okay, so these are authentic stories about people who are every day doing their work, and they will be able to tell their story about how they were able to defend against a certain attack, or not necessarily anything threatening like that, but an operation that they were setting up for, how they configured it, and also you know how the they leveraged to make their work much easier and uh and at the same time secure, and also a source of inspiration that's extremely valuable because somebody listening to somebody doing something then suddenly will get ideas about something they may be thinking about, so that's important. I see. Okay, so clearly that will keep the listener uh up to date with anything real going on as well as towards the future. Uh, give us some examples about subjects that you intend to discuss.

SPEAKER_03 6:44

Subjects can be pretty varied. We would discuss wins, how our guests overcome various challenges, how certain cybersecurity which has happened, like going into deep dive, how the best people in the industry are making sure that we are all protected. It can be current events and threats uh in terms of espionage from China or nation state actors like Russia. No topic is off the table.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Yeah. So, for example, one of the most common things that come up when I work with different clients is password management. So that's a very it's a it's everyday, and especially today, with you really cannot prove who you are without having a smartphone, right? So it's always the case, and at the same time, you are sometimes you want to share some of your access codes. So when you work in an organization, you have access codes associated with the company. This is always, I see today, still to this day, I work with companies and I say, What is your policy for sharing passwords? They say, Oh, you know, we just have an Excel file and then we share. So things like that. So, this, for example, is a real hands-on topic. So, what I'm getting a sense of is you are really gonna be discussing things that are hands-on as well as high-level policy kind of stuff, right?

SPEAKER_02 8:28

Correct, correct.

SPEAKER_01 8:30

And uh, give us some more examples of some specifics that you would like to get into. What is, for example, your favorite subject when it comes to the cyber operations?

SPEAKER_03 8:42

Right now, we are looking a lot into two main things. One is zero trust cyber security. Like, how do you view cybersecurity from a much bigger picture? Like, how do you interact with various components like the user, device, data application, and so on, and get one complete picture to to protect to better protect? Never trust, and you always verify. So that is one of the main focus. Like, how do you verify with the with the right amount of data to make the right uh decision? Yeah, that's one our one of our one of the main topics that we would like to discuss. Second thing is the role that AI is playing right now. AI has sped up the process of us being able to protect from sabotag, but it it has also made it much easier for the hackers to be able to uh do deepfakes or run tools, and a lot of tools themselves they have a lot of security concerns. You know, you have like people sharing their companies confidential information on chat GPT, uh people installing AI agents which can access anything on your network. So there are a lot of changes that come with AI.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

Yeah. Okay, well, I mean, when you as soon as you mention AI, then that's it. You know, the doors open. There is all kinds of threat threats coming in. Okay. Uh, my next question to you is I ask every everyone who has a podcast, is why are you doing this? Why have a podcast?

SPEAKER_03 10:39

Podcast is a nice way to just talk to people and have a personal conversation. You know, we are always so busy, at least in my field, putting our fires. It's just good to take a break and talk to people and just see where they are and how we can help each other lead a much more safer life and help our family and friends also in the process.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

Yeah, you know, this this is true because especially in technology, you work remotely, right? Remote work means that you don't have to leave your home, but that means that you are behind the desk all day, every day, you don't go anywhere, no fresh, no nothing. In fact, because it's convenient, you end up working even longer hours, so it becomes a fairly isolating uh way to work, and uh unfortunately that's where the world is today, and podcasts, of course, will help make connections, and then also at the same time by sharing those best practices, sharing stories, uh, you're helping other people, right? Yeah, it's a good way to do it. So let's also learn a little bit about you. Tell us about yourself. So tell us, and I always like to know the person behind the face, so to speak. So tell us where you grew up and what you were like growing up as a kid, and and tell us your experiences as a kid in terms of what you were interested in.

SPEAKER_03 12:27

I was born and brought up in India. As a kid, I was loud, I was naughty. I would often get into trouble at school and also with my parents. But one thing I my parents observed in me, and they had shared that with me as a kid, is that I always liked to end what I started. I always had that in me. I was uh always into data, I like science was one uh was my favorite subject. In school, I did really good in physics and also in biology. Chemistry to me was always a challenge because I couldn't really uh remember all the formulas. So I am good at concepts, but I cannot memorize formulas. So yeah, so like growing up, uh we grew up in a small town in the countryside of India, so it was a pretty small town uh where I grew up, and I still like the outdoor.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

Did you have any brothers or sisters?

SPEAKER_03 13:35

Yes, so we we are I have two sisters and one younger brother, uh and younger brother, and sisters are older or younger? One elder, one younger.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

Okay, so were they like you in terms of being interested in numbers and science and or anything like that?

SPEAKER_03 13:55

I would say I was the nerd in the group. So my younger brother, he went into animation. My elder sister, she is doing computers, but she's more into QA and doing assessments and so on. Uh, she's really good with memorizing things. I'm not.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:15

My younger sister, she did her doctorate, her PhD in psychology, so it's totally different from what all I am doing.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

Yeah. So what was it like uh in terms of your parents' approach to your interest in the science and things like that?

SPEAKER_03 14:34

So uh my father actually insisted that I try computer science because at I finished my school in 1997. At that time, computers in uh at least in in India as a field was just coming up. So I didn't know much about it. My plan was to be an aeronautics engineer. My father said, Okay, why don't you just try going into computer science also? So I gave an entrance an entrance exam at LA University. I happened to pass it to my surprise, and that just changed my whole life's life trajectory.

SPEAKER_01 15:23

So if your father hadn't pushed you, w what do you see? What would have been that other direction that you would have gone?

SPEAKER_03 15:31

I may have been working on planes as an engineer, yeah, or fighter jets, yeah. I like fighter jets a lot.

SPEAKER_01 15:38

Still technology, yes, yes. So looking back at that moment, obviously, that there is a moment that I'm sure that you can pinpoint where your father says to you, okay, Michelle, I want you to do computer science, and then in your mind you're thinking you're gonna work on planes, right? So was there a moment like that, or how how did that kind of develop?

SPEAKER_03 16:03

I was open to it. Uh, I just wanted to get my main focus was to get in a field where I can love what I'm doing and also get a decent pay.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 16:17

So that was uh my whole mindset.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

Okay, so really for you it was not you were not that much committed to getting into IC, okay. So it was any easier. So for me, like I remember when I was a kid, I uh I grew up in a in a town which was next to a military airframe, so the air force was there, and my parents were friends with some of the pilots, and these pilots were wild, and they were flying planes and having parties, and of course, all drinkers. So I always wanted to be a pilot, and in fact, I never forget there was a there it was a I think it was a weekend, and one of their friends took us right next to the planes, and he said to my father, You want to sit in the plane? So he opened the the whole thing. It's just a we're talking about a fighter jet. Yeah, so uh he gets into it and he says, Okay, push that button, push that button. So my father pushes the button and the whole thing closed up. So my father is inside, so he says, Now, okay, now push that button to open. Of course, you know, it's hard to hear, and my father is thinking, okay, if I push the wrong button, the plane is gonna take off. So seeing all these things and seeing so close up, I wanted to be a pilot, but uh very quickly uh in uh my uh second grade. Uh my I started to I needed glasses, couldn't see the distance, and that's when that dream went out the window. So I could not be a because you were expected to have good eyesight. Yes. So to this day, I always think about it. You know, I wanted to be a pilot, and people say to me, they ask kids what do you want to be, and they say, I want to be a fireman, so it's because those fire engines are all flashing. So for me, it was like that. So I still think about it, you know. Uh I would have been a pilot if it was left to me. Uh, but I ended up in this space and that I enjoy and passionate about. So there's always something you know that I'm thinking. So that's what I was trying to get at. So, do you ever think about oh, what if my father hadn't told me this, then I would have done this, but you're not thinking that it was just a matter of picking something for you.

SPEAKER_03 18:49

Yeah, like I personally wanted to be uh uh fighter pilot too. Yeah, I actually my eyesight got bad when I was in seventh or eighth grade, so I could not pursue that, so I knew that was out the window, yeah. So, but I wanted to be do something close to planes, so that I thought, okay, I'll just be uh be an engineer. Yeah, the computer science field was something I picked in the end because I knew there were more jobs in the field at that time, aeronautics. So there are not as many jobs uh there. I'm not sure if things have changed now, but at that time there were a lot more computer jobs than aeronautics.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

Yeah, yeah, and especially those days, 1997, you know, that's that's when the computer revolution, it's actually Windows 95 had just come out, personal computers, of course. Yep, so that was the boom time. Um, so really at the end of the day, the space you are in and what you've done is it's to a certain extent, really, it's your father's advice, right?

SPEAKER_02 19:59

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

I mean it's uh so you obviously you have a good relationship with your father if you listen to him. Most kids don't listen to their parents, right?

SPEAKER_03 20:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

How about your your brother and your sisters? Did they follow the again your parents' advice or went in a different direction?

SPEAKER_03 20:21

My elder sister and my younger sister, they did to some extent, you know. I would say they shared what their goals were, and my parents also re-affirmed them that they are on the right track, you know. But my they did seek consultation and advice from my parents. My younger brother is more of a rebel, uh, he is pretty much still like that, so he didn't really follow my father's advice uh much, but he is doing what he likes in life, so I am happy for him for that.

SPEAKER_01 21:00

Yeah, yeah. I mean, look, you know, you at the end of the day you have to stand on your own feet, right? So exactly, yeah. So the other aspect of what you've done is it's one thing to get into computer science and then learn and then specialize in cyber security and anything to do with the internet, but it's another to be an entrepreneur, to be a business owner. So that's a whole different ballgame. So it's uh it's a life, constant ups and downs and struggles, and as yet, you know, we all do it. So how did that come about? What was that entrepreneurial? You could have easily been working in a company, you know, practicing what you know, uh, but you did not do that. You start decided to start a business. So what uh influenced you to start a business?

SPEAKER_03 21:53

Well, it was two things. The first thing uh was I was being asked to travel from Dallas. to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania every week, Monday to Friday in January. So I didn't want to do that. And at that time with my youngest was I think ten months old and sh she was very close to me. So I didn't really like traveling but I had to because of the job. So I quit that job and found a job locally here where I could just go to the office and come back home. The problem there was I saw the company I was working for. They were it's a pretty big company. They were lying to the client you know that we have these things, we have those things and they would say yes to everything that the client said. And the internal team didn't really take care of their own their own employees that well. So that really bothered me you know like I don't want to first I don't want to deal with any kind of uh travel if I can avoid it. And then I want to work at a place where I can be honest with the client you know and also take care of my team. So those two reasons led me to start my own company.

SPEAKER_01 23:25

I see. So it's uh I see this quite a bit you know people working in a company they love their work but they just don't like the way the company operates and then they lose so that's great. So and how long ago was that this was in 2018. 2018 so it seven years. Yes so and of course uh one once you start it then you can see that as an entrepreneur you're having to deal with all kinds of things right so do do you have other entrepreneurs in the family or were you the first one?

SPEAKER_03 24:04

I'm the first one.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

You're the first one so you really are brand new to being an entrepreneur because there's a difference between being an entrepreneur and running a business so you really had no prior experience in any of these you did not study any of these things so this is all new to you right yes so you know it's the same for me because my entire family were all doctors all doctors okay nobody and those who the few that did not become a doctor in the family their kids became doctors. So I was the only one who got into business so now I see people who grew up in entrepreneurial families and I envy them because growing up you hear things and that becomes a tremendous knowledge base. Yes so when you start so you never had the luxury of having anything like that so you're having to go through so that's very gutsy how does your father feel about you running your own business uh he is pretty happy and proud right now so when I started my company I just I was I was just so tired of the job that I was on so I just quit it and I didn't have uh any new work for almost two months and I I didn't have any kind of uh income coming in for a total of I think three to four months so when I share that with my father he was a bit worried you know because we had kids I had to pay the mortgage he had a family to to support also but things have shaped our pretty well and now he's pretty happy yeah with uh what I have been able to accomplish so far. Yeah yeah so what I wanna know is have you ever told your father it was his advice that gave you the life you have today? I did you did and what was his reaction he was happy yeah they don't really they don't realize do they I mean they do these things say these things but they don't really realize the impact and when they hear it I guess it's a very different thing.

SPEAKER_03 26:22

Yeah he he actually owes it all to God like he is very strong in his faith so he said that he had prayed to God and God had asked him to push me in that particular direction.

SPEAKER_01 26:38

Really it's very profound and did you know that he told me later I didn't know uh at that time yeah I mean I'm glad you got to tell him that and because a lot of people a lot of people so I asked this regularly and most of the people say oh he knew that's not what I'm asking did you tell him that's a big difference and and then they realize you know and sometimes some of in some of the cases the p the person passed so they say you know what I never got to tell him but he knew well you knew is one thing people like to hear it right so I'm glad that you got to tell him that that's great. Look you know you are uh on a journey of as an entrepreneur and you are in a very high value space and it's a space that's growing so this is great and now that you are adding your podcast to share people to help people share their stories in this space it's a it's a noble thing to do. So it's great. So tell us how can people reach you and give us a uh your company and your company website so that people have a way of learning more about you.

SPEAKER_03 28:02

Sure. Uh you can find me on LinkedIn and uh Twitter with my name I am pretty active on LinkedIn where I usually post uh anything new going on in our field. On YouTube you can find us with our podcast name musings from the the cyber trench I will be posting this podcast on other podcast platforms too so anywhere where you can find podcasts just search for musings from the cyber trench and my company's name is uh Zefon Z E P H O N and you can find us on our website via zephon.tech so ze p h o n dot T E C H.

SPEAKER_01 28:54

Yeah I'm sure people will reach out and uh try to pick your brains and make the connection thank you uh Michelle it's uh great to learn I'm always I mean we are in business I'm interested in the business subject but I'm always interested in the person because business is just a translation of who we are and what we do and uh what the person is the driver so I'm always interested in that so it's great to find out about you and uh thank you for the opportunity to ask many questions it's been a pleasure Nick thank you so much thank you and uh we're gonna wrap up this conversation here but uh you will see Michelle on many episodes to come and uh hopefully uh you will be one of those guests and we'll see you soon from the fiber trend today's episode we got to do it