On the 30th episode of Enterprise AI Defenders, hosts Mike Britton and Evan Reiser talk with Martin Strasburger, Senior Vice President and Chief Security Officer at Duke Energy. Martin shares how Duke, serving over 11 million customers across the Southeast, protects vital physical and digital infrastructure in a time of accelerating energy demand and technological change. He emphasizes the critical role of intelligence‑driven defense in both cyber and physical spheres. From ballistic attacks on substations to AI-driven grid resilience and deepfake threats, Martin offers a nuanced perspective on how modern security challenges require both technological expertise and human intelligence.

Quick Hits from Martin

On his protective mission at Duke: "Being able to protect… our people, our data, our systems, keep that power on… that's a satisfying feeling when you're successful."

On AI’s impact across the industry: “We’re piloting technology that can look across multiple facilities… and try to identify a group that is surveilling our facilities, doing pre-operational surveillance for a future attack, and intervene, interdict, and prevent an attack.”

On deepfake and phone‑based threats: "The use of AI in social engineering is my biggest concern. So much of that is outside of my control as the security leader… When you’ve got a bad actor doing a call to somebody's mobile device, my only line of defense in that case is that person. Have we trained them? Are they aware that they shouldn’t fall for that phishing call?"

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Enterprise AI Defenders is a show where security, privacy, and safety leaders share how they’re protecting the world from AI‑powered threats. Find more great insights from technology leaders and enterprise software experts at https://www.enterprisesoftware.blog/

Enterprise AI Defenders is produced by Josh Meer.

On the 29th episode of Enterprise AI Defenders, host Mike Britton, Chief Information Security Officer at Abnormal AI, talks with Vaughn Hazen, Chief Information Security Officer at ​​the Canadian National Railway Company. CN is Canada’s largest rail operator and the only one that spans the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts, running over 20,000 miles across North America. In this conversation, Vaughn shares what it takes to defend one of North America’s largest freight railroads in an era of deepfakes, automated phishing, and machine-speed threats. He discusses why secure processes (not just smart tools) are critical to cyber resilience, how AI is changing the threat landscape and workforce dynamics, and why treating email as a notification system is a foundational shift. Vaughn’s approach blends military discipline, telecom roots, and a strong belief in long-term readiness over reactive fixes.

Quick hits from Vaughn:

On the fragility of process in an AI-driven threat landscape: “Email should be a notification, not necessarily the process... there's just gotta be a robust process that makes it very, very difficult where you're gonna have to be able to compromise a slew of people in order to really breach that”.

On the slow burn of real security preparation: “You can’t plant the seeds and expect to harvest in the same day… a lot of the stuff that we do to prepare for a potential event is stuff that we've got to be doing in advance”.

On AI’s false promise of autonomy: “It’s not something that just works on its own... You've got to have people that are knowledgeable... to say, first of all, does this make sense? Are we seeing a hallucination?”.

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Like what you hear? Leave us a review and subscribe to the show on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Enterprise AI Defenders is a show where top security executives share how moves to the cloud have created an evolved threat landscape that requires new tools to protect against cybercrime. Find more great lessons from tech leaders and enterprise software experts at https://www.enterprisesoftware.blog.

Enterprise Software Defenders is produced by Josh Meer

On the 28th episode of Enterprise AI Defenders, hosts Evan Reiser and Mike Britton, both executives at Abnormal AI, talk with Rob Nolan, Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer at Expeditors. Expeditors is a Fortune 500 freight and logistics company, powering over 25% of all U.S. customs clearance. They enable global trade and supply chain resilience for many of the world's most recognizable brands. In this conversation, Rob shares how AI is changing the attack surface and the defensive playbook, why behavior and identity have become the new cybersecurity perimeter, and how AI helps enterprise defenders flip the script and regain their advantage.

Quick hits from Rob:

On the role of AI in defense: "The reality is that if I think about a solution that helps us defend against AI attacks, it's more AI."

On defenders flipping the script with AI: "The next frontier is knowing what 'normal' looks like for our business—and letting AI call out what's not."

On culture, training, and enablement: "We're much better off having an AI-intelligent workforce than one we've sheltered away from AI."

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Like what you hear? Leave us a review and subscribe to the show on Apple, Google, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Enterprise AI Defenders is a show where top security executives share how moves to the cloud have created an evolved threat landscape that requires new tools to protect against cybercrime. Find more great lessons from tech leaders and enterprise software experts at https://www.enterprisesoftware.blog/.

Enterprise AI Defenders is produced by Josh Meer.