In this episode of Code and Country, Ian L. Paterson speaks with Matt Holland, founder and CEO of Field Effect, about protecting small to medium businesses from cyber threats at scale. Matt shares his journey from Canada's Communication Security Establishment to founding Field Effect, and challenges the biggest misconception: that small businesses aren't targets. He explains how AI enables attackers to scale customized phishing and reconnaissance campaigns, while Field Effect's federated architecture achieves 11-minute mean time to detect (versus 30+ minutes industry average) by running real-time analytics at the edge rather than in the cloud. The discussion covers data sovereignty, why cloud-first architectures create latency penalties, and Matt's key advice: outsource cybersecurity like you would physical security. This episode gives business leaders and security decision-makers a roadmap for protecting organizations in an AI-driven threat environment.

In our inaugural episode of Season 2, Ian L. Paterson sits down with Carey Frey, Chief Security Officer at TELUS, who leads security for one of Canada's largest telecommunications providers. Drawing on nearly two decades at the Communications Security Establishment—including roles as Director General of Cyber Defense and Director General of Cybersecurity Partnerships—Frey brings a rare dual perspective on critical infrastructure protection from both sides of the public-private divide.

He unpacks why collective cyber defense remains largely aspirational, how legal and fiduciary obligations pit corporate interests against national security, and why safe harbor provisions are essential to meaningful threat intelligence sharing. The conversation also tackles Canada's exposure to nation-state pre-positioning campaigns like Volt Typhoon and Salt Typhoon, and what it would take to apply hard-won emergency management lessons from natural disasters to a national-scale cyber event.

Essential listening for CISOs, infrastructure operators, and security policymakers navigating the realities of defending critical systems in an era of great-power competition.

In this episode of Code and Country, Ian L. Paterson speaks with Craig Newmark, Craigslist founder and philanthropist, about his $200 million commitment to U.S. cybersecurity. Craig outlines his vision for "cyber civil defense"—a World War II-style mobilization where every American helps protect against nation-state threats like China's Salt Typhoon and Volt Typhoon campaigns targeting critical infrastructure. The discussion covers urgent vulnerabilities in small water systems, the Cyber Resilience Corps, and initiatives like PauseTakeNine.org. This episode offers security leaders and policymakers a roadmap for collective defense against today's cyber threats.