Join Sean Martin and Marco Ciappelli as they delve into the world of cybersecurity at the RSA Conference 2024, featuring thought-provoking discussions with industry experts such as Dave DeWalt
Guest: Dave DeWalt, Founder & CEO, NightDragon [@nightdragon]
On LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/ddewalt/
At RSAC | https://www.rsaconference.com/experts/dave-dewalt
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Hosts:
Sean Martin, Co-Founder at ITSPmagazine [@ITSPmagazine] and Host of Redefining CyberSecurity Podcast [@RedefiningCyber]
On ITSPmagazine | https://www.itspmagazine.com/sean-martin
Marco Ciappelli, Co-Founder at ITSPmagazine [@ITSPmagazine] and Host of Redefining Society Podcast
On ITSPmagazine | https://www.itspmagazine.com/itspmagazine-podcast-radio-hosts/marco-ciappelli
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Episode Notes
Navigating the Cybersecurity Horizon: Anticipating RSA Conference 2024
In a thoughtfully pre-event episode, seasoned cybersecurity expert Dave DeWalt share the microphone with Sean Martin and Marco Ciappelli to set the stage for an in-depth exploration of the dynamic cybersecurity landscape anticipating what will be RSA Conference 2024. Their engaging conversation with Dave DeWalt, a titan in the cybersecurity investment space, unveils an intricate web of challenges and pioneering solutions that are at the forefront of the battle against digital threats.
Venture Capital's Role in Shaping Cybersecurity's Future
DeWalt, with his profound experience and insights, brings into focus the critical role of venture capital in steering the future of cybersecurity. Highlighting the importance of strategic investments and partnerships, he underscores the necessity for a specialized approach—akin to that seen in fintech and biotech ventures—towards fostering security-oriented technological advancements. By casting a spotlight on venture capital, the discussion emphasizes its pivotal role in incubating innovations that promise to redefine cyber defense mechanisms.
The Confluence of Electronic Warfare and Cyber Strategies
A particularly compelling segment of their conversation veers into the impending intersection of electronic warfare and cyber strategies. As cyber threats evolve, DeWalt predicts a paradigm shift where hacking transcends conventional malware attacks, venturing into the realm of radio frequency (RF) based tactics. This speculative yet insightful projection hints at a future where cybersecurity and electronic warfare converge, illustrating the urgent need for adaptive and forward-thinking defensive measures.
Securing the Software Supply Chain
Another focal point of the discussion revolves around the vital necessity of securing the software supply chain—a challenge magnified by recent high-profile breaches. The conversation delves into the strategic importance of a secure-by-design philosophy, propelling a proactive approach to safeguarding the integrity of software infrastructures against insidious threats. This segment highlights the ongoing evolution of cybersecurity strategies to protect the digital backbone of global commerce and communication.
Strengthening Public-Private Partnerships and Global Cooperation
In addressing the complexities of cybersecurity, the dialogue sheds light on the essentiality of robust public-private partnerships and global cooperation. With cyber threats recognizing no borders, the collective action of governments, private entities, and tech conglomerates is underscored as a sine qua non for a comprehensive defense strategy. This united front, as envisioned by cybersecurity leaders, signifies a beacon of hope in the arduous journey towards securing cyberspace.
Conclusion: A Call to Arms
As the RSA Conference 2024 approaches, this pre-event episode serves as a clarion call to the global cybersecurity community. It beckons industry stalwarts, innovators, policymakers, and practitioners to converge, collaborate, and collectively navigate the tempestuous seas of digital threats. Through enlightening conversations and shared wisdom, the path to a more secure digital future becomes clearer, guiding the collective quest for resilience against the ever-evolving landscape of cyber threats.
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Resources
Ensuring Intelligence, National Security in a Rapidly Changing Technology World: https://www.rsaconference.com/USA/agenda/session/Ensuring%20Intelligence%20National%20Security%20in%20a%20Rapidly%20Changing%20Technology%20World
Learn more about RSA Conference USA 2024: https://itspm.ag/rsa-cordbw
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Unveiling the Future of Cybersecurity From A Venture Capital Investors as we approach the beginning of RSA Conference 2024 | An RSA Conference 2024 Conversation With Dave DeWalt | On Location Coverage with Sean Martin and Marco Ciappelli
Please note that this transcript was created using AI technology and may contain inaccuracies or deviations from the original audio file. The transcript is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a substitute for the original recording, as errors may exist. At this time, we provide it “as it is,” and we hope it can be helpful for our audience.
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[00:00:00] Sean Martin: Marco.
[00:00:02] Marco Ciappelli: Sean.
[00:00:03] Sean Martin: I'm no longer talking to you from space. I'm back on earth.
[00:00:07] Marco Ciappelli: Oh, okay. How long have you been up there?
[00:00:09] Sean Martin: A couple minutes, I think. Seemed like years though.
[00:00:14] Marco Ciappelli: You know, time is relative when you go that fast. Apparently you, come back and you may be younger. But that's a different conversation.
[00:00:23] Sean Martin: My watch wasn't synced to the, uh, pending new time zone. But,
[00:00:27] Marco Ciappelli: uh, I think we're here for something else. So
[00:00:33] Sean Martin: I made a, made a trip to, uh, outer space on my way to RSA conference. Part of our chats on the road. This is super fun. Uh, we're days away now and tons of content, lots of conversations. The theme of the event is the art of possible.
I think. I think it's a very powerful message and a lot of people we talk to kind of pull on those strings of innovation and collaboration and what's possible with people, what's possible with technology, what's possible when we bring them all together. And, uh, nothing speaks to that more than Innovation and, uh, investments in those things, right?
So where are we, where are we making the investments to make our world better and safer? Technology pulls us forward. Cybersecurity helps us do that safely. So I'm thrilled to have Dave DeWalt on. Dave, how's it going?
[00:01:29] Dave DeWalt: It's going great, Sean. Thank you for having me as excited as you are. Uh, this is my 20th.
RSA event I'll be attending. So, um, I'm really excited. Literally in 20 years ago, my company EMC acquired RSA and I was the president of EMC. We acquired it and I started like, what's this show? And it was very cool. So I've gone to 20 of them in a row this year. So it's kind of like an anniversary at the same time.
[00:01:58] Sean Martin: I love it. Well, I'm a, I'm a 20 year loyalty. Plus I don't think I've, Been to every one in the 20 years, but, uh, I'm, I'm nearly right there with you. So I've seen a lot as of you, as of you. And I think we're going to talk a little bit about that today. Um, so I'm, Confident most of the folks who listen to my show know who you are, but, uh, for the, for the newcomers into the industry, maybe a few words about some of the things you've been involved with, the MCRSA for one, and, uh, what you're up to now with Night Dragon.
[00:02:31] Dave DeWalt: Yeah, sure. Sure. Um, much like you, I've had a long tenure in the cyber market, you know, both a privilege and honor to, to be a part of this incredible community. But also, you know, had a front row seat to the threats and risks that are happening along the way. Um, I got my first entry into it. As I mentioned, EMC and RSA coming together.
And having a chance to really see cyber through the eyes of RSA's product line. And then ultimately became CEO of McAfee and ran McAfee for six, six, seven years, some number in there, uh, sold it to Intel corporation, grew it quite a bit, sub 1 billion to a 2. 6 billion and sold it for 7. 7 billion in cash to Intel corporation.
Uh, the largest all cash transaction really ever done in cyber, uh, to this day and, um, proud of that and, uh, help my shareholders make a lot of money. But then I became chairman of two cool companies, uh, one called FireEye and one called Mandiant. And, uh, I always say I love FireEye so much, became CEO, and I love Mandiant so much, I acquired it, merged those companies together, took it all public, did a 16 billion market cap during that, did five years in one day of that CEO role.
And along the way, I've sat on, I'm over 45 boards now, cyber boards. During my career, um, I chair safety and security for Delta Airlines, my 13th year, uh, in that role with Delta Airlines for administrations with the White House, uh, uh, three different presidents. Um, I do work with Homeland Security as you know, as well, and, uh, just an honor to be a part of this whole community.
I now have a platform called Night Dragon. And, uh, you got to have cool names of, uh, companies in the world of cyber, right? So, um, uh, Night Dragon it is, but it's named after a famous, uh, and seminal moment in cyber history. Uh, when I was CEO of McAfee, there was a couple of egregious, uh, Chinese IP theft attacks.
First one called Aurora, uh, that involved Google kind of famously, a second one called Night Dragon and a third called Shady Rat. For remote access tool. So later on, I was like Aurora, Shady Rat or Night Dragon. Shady Rat didn't sound so good, Sean. So I went with Night Dragon.
[00:04:53] Marco Ciappelli: So we're going to go for Shady Rat, actually.
Which is a good form of item. Has that mattered? You mentioned it.
[00:04:58] Dave DeWalt: Cool logos too. That good logo. Yeah.
[00:05:01] Sean Martin: I, I like your choice, Dave. There you go.
[00:05:04] Marco Ciappelli: Yeah. Stick with that.
[00:05:05] Dave DeWalt: So fast forward, I've raised a lot of capital and a couple of funds, and we've invested into some of the coolest areas of cyber, but also the adjacencies where cyber kind of meets physical or supply chain or electronic warfares or blockchain or something that's, you know, maybe not traditionally cloud mobile endpoint network security, but around the edges that we also see a lot of threats and risks.
So that's Night Dragon's mantra. You said it almost securing our world for tomorrow. That's my mission statement. So there you go.
[00:05:39] Marco Ciappelli: Well, let me squeeze in with a question. You said edges, and I feel like, are there really edges anymore? Like, you know, I feel like they're smoother and smoother and they go forever.
So,
[00:05:53] Dave DeWalt: yeah, Marco, uh, you know, I've been talking for five years pre pandemic on what I call future fusion. You can look back at my presentations and things, but I've always talked about this perfect storm of threats and risks and geopolitical tensions and growing and expanding technology and vulnerabilities and number of attacker groups, almost like a perfect storm for 20 years.
That we've actually just seen get bigger and bigger as a storm, right? I mean, the market bigger IPV4 to IPV6 trillions of, you know, devices connected to our internet. Now we have space, we got air, we got ocean. I mean, all the domains merging together. And this future fusion is kind of fused, right? So the edges that you described, Marco, are kind of here.
And so, you know, what are we seeing all the time? Supply chain hacks that, you know, affect cyber, or we're now having industrial attacks that have kinetic ramifications or physical manifestations from cyber. Uh, you know, it's, it's on the present now, cyber as a digital universe, cutting across almost every domain.
And it's created a 500 billion a year market, probably going to a trillion running four times faster than IT, probably one of our biggest existential threats in the world today. Uh, especially if you count information warfare that we're really starting to see present around the world. So the edge is, uh, the world's not flat anymore, right?
There's no more edge. Yep.
[00:07:22] Sean Martin: So I want, I want to use this opportunity to kind of tap into the, uh, the CISA Cybersecurity Advisory Committee. I know you're, you're part of that group. And, um, it's one of the things I wanted to talk to you about. Um, so we're connecting it to RSA Conference as well, because I think you have a session that, That kind of touches on, on some of this topic as well.
So can you give us an overview? What the, uh, the, uh,
[00:07:46] Dave DeWalt: CSAC is, uh, I know
[00:07:50] Sean Martin: I didn't, I'll let you, I'll let you say it, but, uh, now what, what, what's the objective there? Cause there's a lot of amazing members clearly tied to DHS looking at, uh. Obviously the safety of, of, uh, America and its allies and whatnot. So what, what's your role there?
What's the, what's the mission and vision of, of that? And give us a little update there.
[00:08:14] Dave DeWalt: Yeah, it's a great, great conversation. Um, I think everybody knows, uh, if you don't know, um, Department of Homeland Security or the United States government formed an agency a few years back called CISA, the Cyber Infrastructure Security Agency, particularly targeted as an agency at cyber.
And, uh, we've watched the maturation of that agency from relative infancy to a significant agency today with a multi billion dollar budget. With a focus of securing our world, literally the mantra, I think they stole it from me, Sean and Marco, but whatever, um, securing our world. But the idea there is really our domestic world, the United States homeland security brought digitally.
And that involves everything from election securities to protecting our citizens physically and cyber. And really moving the ball forward in protecting our homeland as a mission. And I can't tell you how proud I am to be a part of that, uh, whatever political affiliation you might have. Our administration under Jen Easterly, director Easterly has significantly moved the ball in terms of a number of programs.
Uh, her, uh, program called Shields Up, uh, which was pretty famous during the Russian Ukrainian attacks that we were seeing on United States infrastructure, both domestic and abroad. Uh, Volt Typhoon, which was a Chinese attack set against a lot of critical infrastructure, really brought a nomenclature and a readiness, almost like a DEF CON using Shields Up, Shields but also forming public private partnerships.
Uh, what's called the JCDC, a joint collaborative defense coalition that really brings companies together. And you both know this, Marco and Sean, this is a team sport in cyber, right? You, you can't do it as just a government. You can't do it as one vendor. It takes a village. And that village was united together in Homeland Security, uh, led by Jen Easterly, led by, uh, the civilians like myself and Ron Green, the chairman.
CSEC to really unite all of us together, threat sharing, threat management, you know, communications, uh, areas of importance. Like one of the areas is talent, uh, boardroom, uh, taking it seriously as a cyber risk. Uh, a committee that I led last year was really creating awareness in the boardroom. I mean, a fact there was 1.
4 percent of the Fortune 500 had anywhere near what could be considered a cyber expert in the boardroom. I mean, when I say anywhere near even technical acumen of cyber, and that's 1. 4%, I mean, more than 50 percent didn't even have somebody qualified technically on their board yet. The biggest threat we're seeing is cyber risk causing trillions of dollars of damage to shareholders.
So bringing about the world's problems through the eyes of Homeland Security as our mission. I think that a lot of that move forward. I hope it moves forward even more at RSA. You're going to hear a lot more. From Jen Easterly, from Ann Neuberger, from Senator Warner, uh, Harry Coker, the new ONCD, National Cyber Director, uh, the new head of the NSA Cyber Command, David Luber, who are all coming to our events, our Innovation Summit events.
But government taking leadership is really something I hate to say new, but something under this administration I've really. Take a note of and proud to be a part of. And, um, you know, it's a nonpaying job, but it's all about mission and really trying to protect our world. And, uh, it's been an honor
[00:12:05] Marco Ciappelli: , I'm gonna stick with the, with the lack of edges and borders, maybe, uh, in this case, and how it's not really, as you mentioned, just protecting the land on the land is about protecting the values.
Of democracy all over the world. And as the internet doesn't have borders, cybercrime doesn't have borders. I'm curious to know how the, you know, the U. S. intelligence has been adapting to cooperate, maybe with the European communities, with other entity around the world and how this orchestration is taking place nowadays without giving a secret that you can't.
Sure. Of course.
[00:12:47] Dave DeWalt: Well, you know, first of all, you know, all public information, but relevant to that conversation question, Marco is the strength of our five eye partners. For those who know what five eyes are, these are our closest allies. Um, not just with, um, cyber intelligence, but other types of intelligence, Great Britain, Australia, Canada, Australia, you know, New Zealand, you know, these countries have been, you know, very close partners to us.
Uh, over many, many years, but watching it expand to the NATO markets, the Asian markets. Our collaboration abroad has really stepped up. So public to public, as you think of government to government cooperation has increased pretty dramatically as well. Um, and that's really been under, uh, not just, uh, Jen Easterly and Director Easterly's roles, but all of this administration, most notable as our first cyber ambassador, Nate Fick.
Who is an incredible resource reaching out to every embassy, working with the state departments, driving collaboration to a hundred countries around the world, trying to break down those borders that, you know, aren't, aren't there necessarily in some cases where crime can be rampant, but we're, we're getting there.
I mean, it, it's a tough incremental by incremental. We don't have like a World Health Organization to stop off physical virus, right? We almost need one in the world of cyber. But watching our ambassador roles are tightening because everybody sees this with numbers like 6 trillion in losses a year. In the world of cyber and ransomware and operatives.
I mean, last year alone, you guys probably saw this. We, in my whole time running FireEye and Mandiant, we tracked about 800 groups, bad actor groups, that known permanent bad actor groups, which seems like a big number. Last year alone, we had 934 net new ones. One year, 934 net new groups. And the total's over 3000 now.
So when you see a 4X growth. In the number of attacker groups during COVID and remote working and collaboration. It's a pretty scary thing So collaboration amongst governments is becoming one of the most important things we have to do As a society to create peace In our cyber domain.
[00:15:14] Sean Martin: I love that, Dave.
And I'm going to bring it to an area where I think another area, there are no borders and that's the software and the software supply chain. And I know CIS is all also doing a lot of work. Alan Friedman, I've had on looking at software bill of materials, uh, Bob Lord, we were talking about, uh, uh, secure by design and, uh, I'm curious how, how you see, cause it's not just looking at the threats and the responses to those, but also building things and managing things in a secure way as well.
Um, so I know you're sitting down with, with, uh, Mark Warner, uh, U. S. Senate chairman and set, set, uh, the Senate state. Senate Select Committee of Intelligence. Sorry. Um, can you share a little bit about what you're talking about there? Cause I think the intelligence and the collaboration amongst states, uh, also helps us get ahead of the threat, not just respond to the threat.
What do you think?
[00:16:18] Dave DeWalt: Yeah, Sean, I mean, 32nd preamble to that is, you know, the world has seen 80 years of globalization kind of coming to an end that's as an unfortunate thing. Post World War II. You know, this world grew, got more connected, more connected, more connected. And what did we watch happen in, you know, March 8th, 2020?
As COVID really became rampant, wow, borders changed, nationalism changed, populism changed, power changed, you know, the three P's, so to speak, right? So you start to see global supply change, changing nationalism and behaviors because everybody's starved for a virus or an antivirus. And we started to see problems related that suddenly conflicts with the United States and China over Taiwan began to change things.
Russia, Ukraine began to change things. And we realize we might be living in a multipolar world versus maybe a globalized single polar world, creating a lot of pressure points. And one of the areas you just mentioned was supply chain and software. Wow. Is that interesting? We put out a report at the beginning of the Russian Ukrainian was one of my companies in Teros dot AI that showed every interdependence of software of Ukraine alone to the United States.
It was staggering. Just Ukraine's software development environment touching the United States. Let alone how it touches India or Israel or other countries around the world. And we realized, like, wow is the vulnerability there. And then everybody woke up one day and said, Oh, there's this little company called TSMC out there in Taiwan that produces all the chips.
Oops, what happens if China takes over Taiwan? What are we going to do? Is America going to be d a 50 billion chip act co
the vulnerabilities in our what do we do about it? I is a global cooperation, Almost like an underwriter labs, UL and everything, check mark air. These products are safe and secure. The reality is that ain't happening because the governments are realizing they can create weaponry from this around the world too.
So if I import drones or devices or Tik Tok or whatever it might be, I have a weapon and that weapon can be used. And so therefore the supply chain problem has become bigger and bigger and bigger. And we all woke up one day with solar winds. And for me tracking this for 20 years, we've been watching supply chain attacks in software products for a long time.
I have fire, I'd find zero day exploits a week. In the supply chain of software somewhere. And all of a sudden solar winds comes, it took an existential crisis. And we like now have S bombs and software bill of materials and regulation beginning to happen. I mean, it should have happened a decade ago in what really was transpiring.
So we have not fixed that. Log4J comes along, we all wake up and go, wow, here's another problem. Progress software comes along, we move it to another problem. And like one after another, after another, Avanti recently. And here we are going into the, you know, the art of the possible at RSA. And what's the biggest problem we have?
We have no idea what our software supply chain really looks like. And now with AI. And open source with prompt engineering and downloading of of code into your data models You want to take it to another level? And here we are with a 50 billion a year now investment engine in generative ai And less than 200 million dollar investment engine in securing ai Anybody think there's a problem with that one?
Right when you have that much investment on building and that little investment in securing This is our world going forward, unfortunately, but history repeats itself, every other segment, industrial networks, IOT networks, mobile devices, applications, et cetera. Here we are with generative AI, same problem coming, coming again.
[00:20:17] Sean Martin: Right. Break out the new, the deck from, uh, last decade and change the acronyms,
[00:20:24] Dave DeWalt: unfortunately. I mean, that's the reality because capitalism is so powerful that if you can make money off a product, why secure it, we'll worry about that problem later. And here we are, you know, you know, racing with CHAT GPT 5 and I mean, the number of LLM models and every vendor and the poisoning opportunities, the hallucination opportunities, the obfuscation opportunity.
It's, I mean, if you're an attacker, you're having, you're in heaven right now. And if you're a defender, it's, it's, it's the other place. So, you know, welcome, welcome to our new, our new world.
[00:20:59] Sean Martin: What's the other place?
[00:21:05] Dave DeWalt: HE double toothpicks. Right. You know what
[00:21:08] Marco Ciappelli: I'm guessing as a, as an investor, you, you kind of said it, you need to invest in cybersecurity.
I mean, we can't keep ignoring that.
[00:21:20] Dave DeWalt: Yeah. Agree, Marco. I mean, you know, this is a market that has. a growing and maturing investment world, um, but it's oftentimes generalists with a little bit of people who know a little bit about cyber investing, but you know, we don't really, and that's what I've tried to do with Night Dragon here is change that, you know, not just be a strategic investor, but be a strategic operating partner to those companies and highly specialized in the world of security technology.
And that's my vision is to reimagine venture capital with a high almost like fintech biotech I want to do secure tech and I want to do it Well, I want to operate companies invest well and scale them to solve these world problems that we're seeing And you mentioned earlier, you know, what are we worried about right now?
Like one of the biggest ones in electronic warfare, no doubt. The future of hacking and cyber isn't malware. There's no doubt about it. And hear me on record with this. You aren't going to hear CrowdStrike talk about this or Palo Alto because I don't want to hear it. But what I will tell you is the future of hacking is through radio frequencies.
The way i'm going to hack your phone, the way i'm going to hack your computer, the way i'm going to destroy your computer, disrupt your computer, is through RF. And that battle is coming. Cyber meets electronic warfare is happening. So hacking is the new way to RF and that is our future. So watch that problem emerge.
And then of course, made even greater through AI and our vulnerabilities on radio frequencies to avionics and ship frames, GPS poisoning, GPS spoofing. I mean, a lot of scary things can happen in that world. So cyber now expands in a whole new way. Going forward and we're not prepared for that. So what are we going to do to stop electronic warfare?
And if you haven't seen an electronic management, what they call electromagnetic pulsing and spectrum How do you shoot down a drone now? You don't shoot a missile at it You shoot a pulse at you destroy the drone with a pulse And so the art of this inertia It's going to be the future, but it's also going to be an opportunity for investing in the future as well.
And then the other one, sorry, I didn't mention them go on for a second is how do we stop deep fakes? I mean, what are we worried about out of the world? Economic form is. Number one thing that came out of Davos with was disinformation. Misinformation is like our biggest threat. So everything we're reading and looking at, is it true?
Is it false? Who created it? Like what happened? Like we don't even know. And the social media platforms, you know, I call it the 55 states of America. You know, you have five companies now with multi trillion dollar market caps. Bigger than any one state in America with bigger cash flows in any one state without regulation.
Doing whatever they want to do and therefore you have viral information on social media platforms that are really not governed for safety and security reasons that can create harm. And we watched this back in the 2016 elections. The Russian GRU, what did they do? Set up operations to affect the election.
And what are we seeing again? Same thing happened and we have no defenses against them. We have to fix content integrity on the internet, at least warn you what you're reading is fake. And we don't even do that today. So world of risk, world of opportunity.
[00:24:56] Sean Martin: Let me ask you this, Dave. Um, Where does the, I mean, cause I'm sure you could keep talking for another couple hours with equally impactful points on, on where we're exposed.
Um, and each one being equally challenging to solve. Where, where, where do we begin to solve these? Is it through a venture capital? Is it through private. Investments. Um, how does, uh, is it going to require government? I know CISA has an SVIP, which is investing in some technologies that Builds the public private partnership to onboard, yeah, bring, bring advanced capabilities to market and then onboard them to the government to help the government be safer more quickly.
That's just one small example of that. I don't know how much they're covering. I think they're very specific on the technologies they're looking at at the moment. How do we, how do we find that path forward where Some of these super challenging problems can start to be solved. Is it in firms like yourself or with government?
Where's it? Where's it coming from?
[00:26:11] Dave DeWalt: We need leadership. We need, we need to unite our leadership. And I mentioned like the JCDC or the public private partnerships. Again, it's a team sport. We have to unite the crowd. We have to unite. The ecosystem to work together because if Palo Alto doesn't share with CrowdStrike, what are we doing?
Right? You know, one learns about a threat and doesn't share it with the other threat. How do we begin to work together as a village to stop these problems? And that is governments working together, private companies working together, private companies working with governments together. It's the only way we're going to stop it before something bad, really bad happens.
And we're starting to see really bad things when you start measuring global, you know, damage from cyber in the trillions and trillions. This is bigger than the global climate problems we're seeing. Global corruption and drug problems. So cyber is becoming one of the biggest threats we're facing on this planet.
And so we've got to unite, leadership has to come together, reasonableness needs to occur, and we need, we need to create that union. I mean, I believe Meta wants to solve this. I believe Microsoft wants to solve this. I believe Google wants to solve this. But what we need is Google, Microsoft, and Meta working together to solve this.
And that union and that leadership has to happen. And I feel like left to his own devices. Capitalism gets too far out in front. So we need some regulation. You should not be able to release a product to consumers or businesses, unless it's proven safe, at least to a certain level. Remember the days I mentioned UL, you plug something into your house.
It doesn't burn down your house because you plugged in it. Well, if I plug something into my house, I want to know it doesn't get hacked. And so, or at least at a safer level. So secure by design has to happen and people have to be held accountable for secure by design. It's almost like wearing your seatbelt or an airbag for your car.
This isn't that hard. And so, you know, some of those preventative measures make those 3000 attackers have a much higher bar and maybe only 100 of them. It can be successful. But that really reduced damages. So there's a lot we can do to make this a safer world. We gotta do it That's my passion
[00:28:39] Marco Ciappelli: Well, I vote for you for president.
There you go Really motivating and then I mean that stuff should be on the agenda of of any program. I mean we're talking about International relationship. We're talking about the future. We're talking about jobs. We're talking about Democracy, so I mean, yeah, I could go on and on But, um, I don't know, Sean, I think we have a lot of time.
[00:29:03] Sean Martin: What I want to go on and on about is, uh, everything, but, uh, we're, we're gonna, we're gonna close here in a second, but Dave, um, you, you have a stage full of, of bright minds joining you. Um, Mark Hatfield from 1011, you know, Vlader Storv from, uh, YL, Chenxi Wang from Marine Capital and Gadav Zafrir from, uh, Team 8.
And you're going to be looking at, uh, obviously the world of Uh, venture capital in this space without giving away any secrets. Obviously you can't speak for them to give away their secrets, but what, what are you hoping to achieve with that conversation with, with those folks?
[00:29:47] Dave DeWalt: Yeah. First of all, I'm really humbled to be in that group.
Right. I mean, Nadav Sofriere, former IDF 8200 Brigadier General built team eight. Resulting in massive returns for his shareholders, multiple M& A exits. You know, we call them YL, Yoav is an amazing, you know, Mark Hatfield, Chen, I mean, these are really good operators, investors really in that early stage phase.
And that's really where the threat and risk is because they look at every day at that threat and risk, and they help build companies. Incubation, early stays, and these are the best minds in the world that can help the audience see tomorrow's threat and what's going on. So how do I help bring that out to what they're seeing and how we as a community can solve that problem?
Because these organizations that they represent are funding sources for tomorrow's threats. And so getting that out of that group, I think the world of all of them, they all come from different angles. That's why we have that That group there. I think you'll learn a lot by listening to that, uh, audience because there really are the best in the world.
You're seeing the best in Israel. You're seeing the best of America. You're seeing the best globally all in one group there So it's a pretty cool audience and um, I don't know if there's another panel That'll give you the insights to the emerging threat the emerging markets quite like that one
[00:31:15] Sean Martin: It's a it's a must see for sure.
I'll see for sure and i'm uh, i'm looking forward to dave and I have to I have to do this Because I'm sitting here looking at your background and there's a belt behind you. What's the story with the belt?
[00:31:31] Dave DeWalt: Uh, here's the belt. Um, you can see that back there.
[00:31:35] Sean Martin: Again, I want to know the story.
[00:31:37] Dave DeWalt: It's really silly.
Um, so I'm born in the year of the dragon. Not that I want to admit that too much because then you can figure out how old I am, but, um, name my company, a lot of, um, dragon related things in my world, but. Um, this year is my 60th birthday. It's a, it's Thursday and, uh, I've done, I'm doing a 30 day birthday extravaganza.
So take 30 seconds. I just came back from a 10 day wellness camp, fitness camp with my son. And, um, I hiked 86 miles, ate vegan, did all the things and, you know, get healthy for the next 20 days, which includes. A very honorable RSA week, which I'm really excited to do keynotes to and and hug all my professional friends and family for 20 plus years that we've been in the trenches with and have a chance to share that.
Then I'm going to have a rock and roll birthday party. And that rock and roll birthday party is, um, you gotta wear your favorite rock and roll t shirt and bring me an album. So I have a hundred plus people come to my house to have a rock and roll party. Then I'm going on a 12 day Winnebago trip across America with my friends, with three different groups of friends.
To golf and fish across America and, you know, go big or go home. That's my strategy of life, but, um, I'm doing a Winnebago trip and I'm playing some unbelievable golf courses and things and fishing with my friends and, uh, taking a moment to reflect on life and love and friendships and family. That are really important, both professionally and personally.
And, uh, the belt was brought to me by some of my friends and it basically, it says, you know, the rock and roll tour, which is the tour we're going to go on. So if you see me going down the highway of like New Mexico or Texas in a Winnebago with rock and roll music playing really loud with my friends in it, that's me.
[00:33:37] Sean Martin: There you go. There you go. It's funny. I saw that post and I thought that's, that's an inspirational post. And I had no idea. It was connected to the belt. So it was, it was meant to be to talk about that. I'm, I'm super, super excited for you, Dave. And, uh, thrilled, thrilled for, uh, what you're doing at RSA next week and looking forward to meeting you and, uh, and hopefully sharing a hug as well.
So thank you for joining us today. Really appreciate your insight. I mean, mine, very mind opening, a lot to think about here and, uh, we all have a role to play. So if you're listening, Pick the spot you want to participate in and jump in, help out. And please do stay tuned as we continue our chats on the road to RSA conference.
I just did a post this morning. I figured we have like another 10 conversations before next week. And, uh, probably twice that during the week, uh, all coming to you from ITSB magazine. So thanks, Marco. Good to see you. And, uh, I'm. I'm going to head back up to space on my way back to San Francisco.
[00:34:41] Dave DeWalt: Thank you for having me.
And by the way, keep up the great work on all the things you're doing. So it's an honor to see you. And I hope to give you a hug when I do see you.
[00:34:48] Sean Martin: Love it. So thanks, Dave. Appreciate that. Thanks everybody.