Videos

MY TAKE: Beyond agentic AI mediocrity — the real disruption is empowering the disenfranchised

By Byron V. Acohido

Is agentic AI accelerating mediocrity? Plenty of folks on LinkedIn seem to think so.

A growing chorus of academics, tech workers, and digital culture watchers are pointing out the obvious: the more we prompt, the more we flatten. Across marketing, B2B, and even journalism, GenAI is churning out clean, inoffensive, structurally sound content that says almost nothing. It’s the regression to the mean, algorithmically engineered.

But that’s only half the story. The other half is unfolding more quietly—and it’s far more disruptive.

While much of the world defaults to prompt-fed sameness, something more radical is happening beneath the surface. Agentic AI is lowering the barrier to entry for serious research. It’s helping small voices craft big ideas. It’s giving the under-resourced tools to compete with the over-credentialed.

This isn’t just about sparking creativity—it’s about enabling agency. Across classrooms, basements, retirement homes, and refugee camps, people who were never invited to the table are beginning to build their own.

RSAC Strategic Reel: Cyber experts on the front lines unpack ‘Shadow AI,’ ‘Ground Truth’

By Byron V. Acohido

The response to our first LastWatchdog Strategic Reel has been energizing — and telling.

Related: What is a cyber kill chain?

The appetite for crisp, credible insight is alive and well. As the LinkedIn algo picked up steam and auto-captioning kicked in, it became clear that this short-form format resonates. Not just because it’s fast — but because it respects the intelligence of the audience.

This second-day snapshot continues where we left off: amplifying frontline voices from RSAC 2025. What’s most striking is the consistency of message across these interviews. Whether from Fortinet or ESET, Corelight or Anomali, the theme is clear: GenAI is no longer theoretical. It’s here — and it’s already influencing how SOC teams operate, triage, and respond.

Each voice captured in this reel isn’t reading from a script. These are compressed bursts of clarity from senior technologists who live this reality every day.

The goal with Strategic Reels is simple: create a format that works at the speed of LinkedIn but doesn’t sacrifice substance. The result? A tool that helps thought leaders cut through the noise — and stay top of mind.

If this approach resonates with your team or client, reach out. There’s room in this series for more real voices, more credible takes — and more relevance, exactly when it’s needed.

INTRODUCING: LastWatchdog strategic LinkedIN reels – insights from the ground floor at RSAC 2025

By Byron V. Acohido

Every year at RSAC, the cybersecurity conversation swells with new terms, emerging threats, and fresh takes on familiar problems.

What exactly is ‘agentic AI?’

At RSAC 2025, the volume knob turned to AI — its potential, its peril, and its increasingly complex role in enterprise defense.

But behind the keynote gloss, what often resonates most are the quiet, clear insights from those closest to the work. That’s what this first LastWatchdog Strategic LinkedIn Reel captures: a cross-section of voices offering sharp, candid reflections from the RSAC show floor.

In just under a minute, experts from ESET, Fortinet, Anomali, A10 Networks, and Corelight each bring a focused observation — about the real stakes of AI integration, the persistence of exposure gaps, or the critical importance of seeing the full attack chain.

MY TAKE: Rising geopolitical tensions suggest a dire need for tighter cybersecurity in 2024

By Byron V. Acohido

Russia’s asymmetrical cyber-attacks have been a well-documented, rising global concern for most of the 2000s.

I recently visited with Mihoko Matsubara, Chief Cybersecurity Strategist at NTT to discuss why this worry has climbed steadily over the past few years – and is likely to intensify in 2024.

The wider context is all too easy to overlook. Infamous cyber opsattributed to Russia-backed hackers fall into a pattern that’s worth noting:

•Cyber attacks on Estonia (2007) Websites of Estonian banks, media outlets and government bodies get knocked down in a dispute over a Soviet-era war memorial.

•Cyber attacks on Georgia (2008, 2019) Georgian government websites get defaced; thousands of

DEEP TECH NEWS: How ‘attribute-based encryption’ preserves privacy at a fined-grained level

By Byron V. Acohido

The ubiquity of smart surveillance systems has contributed greatly to public safety.

Related: Monetizing data lakes

Image capture devices embedded far and wide in public spaces help deter crime as well as aid first responders — but they also stir rising concerns about an individual’s right to privacy.

Enter attribute-based encryption (ABE) an advanced type of cryptography that’s now ready for prime time. I’ve had several discussions with scientists who’ve led the development of ABE over the past two decades.

Most recently, I had the chance to visit with Takashi Goto, Vice President, Strategy, and Fang Wu, Consultant, at NTT Research. We discussed how ABE is ready to help resolve some rather sticky privacy issues stemming from widespread digital surveillance – and also do much more.

For a full drill down on this leading-edge form of agile cryptography, please view the accompanying videocast. Here are my takeaways.

STEPS FORWARD: Regulators are on the move to set much needed IoT security rules of the road

By Byron V. Acohido

New government rules coupled with industry standards meant to give formal shape to the Internet of Things (IoT) are rapidly quickening around the globe.

Preserving privacy for a greater good

This is to be expected. After all, government mandates combined with industry standards are the twin towers of public safety. Without them the integrity of our food supplies, the efficacy of our transportation systems and reliability of our utilities would not be what they are.

When it comes to IoT, we must arrive at specific rules of the road if we are to tap into the full potential of smart cities, autonomous transportation and advanced healthcare.

In the absence of robust, universally implemented rules of the road, cybercriminals will continue to have the upper hand and wreak even more havoc than they now do. Threat actors all-too-readily compromise, disrupt and maliciously manipulate the comparatively simple IoT systems we havein operation today.

I had an eye-opening conversation about all of this with Steve Hanna, distinguished engineer at Infineon Technologies, a global semiconductor manufacturer based in Neubiberg, Germany. We went over how governments around the world are stepping up their efforts to impose IoT security legislation and regulations designed to keep users safe.

This is happening at the same time as tech industry consortiums are

RSAC Videocast: As network perimeters shift and ecosystems blend, the role of MSSPs solidifies

By Byron V. Acohido

Deepening interoperability of AI-infused systems – in our buildings, transportation grids, communications systems and medical equipment — portend amazing breakthroughs for humankind.

But first businesses must come to grips with the quickening convergence of their internal and external computing resources. And that’s no small task.

I had the chance to discuss this with Shinichi Yokohama, NTT Global CISO and John Petrie, Counselor to the NTT Global CISO, at RSA Conference 2023. It was a rare opportunity to get the perspective of senior executives responsible for protecting a Fortune 100 global enterprise.

We discussed how the boundaries between in-company and out-of-company IT infrastructure have become increasingly blurred making network security more challenging than ever. For a full drill, please view the accompanying videocast. Here are a few takeaways:

A converged ecosystem

Cloud migration and rapid software development were both on a rising curve when Covid 19 hit and the global economy suddenly shut down in 2020. As companies adjusted in the post pandemic operating environment, Internet-centric services rose to the fore.

This accelerated the convergence of on-premises and cloud-hosted IT infrastructure. Today, data storage and processing power are prominently

Older Articles »

The Last Watchdog

Videos

MY TAKE: Beyond agentic AI mediocrity — the real disruption is empowering the disenfranchised

By Byron V. Acohido

RSAC Strategic Reel: Cyber experts on the front lines unpack ‘Shadow AI,’ ‘Ground Truth’

By Byron V. Acohido

INTRODUCING: LastWatchdog strategic LinkedIN reels – insights from the ground floor at RSAC 2025

By Byron V. Acohido

MY TAKE: Rising geopolitical tensions suggest a dire need for tighter cybersecurity in 2024

By Byron V. Acohido

DEEP TECH NEWS: How ‘attribute-based encryption’ preserves privacy at a fined-grained level

By Byron V. Acohido

STEPS FORWARD: Regulators are on the move to set much needed IoT security rules of the road

By Byron V. Acohido

RSAC Videocast: As network perimeters shift and ecosystems blend, the role of MSSPs solidifies

By Byron V. Acohido