In Episode 10 of The Balancing Act Podcast, Ryan O'Halloran (VP of Security Strategy at In Balance), Michael Caplan (Chief Technology Officer at In Balance), and Abhishek Pathak (Founding Partner at Lucidity) explore the role of FinOps in optimizing cloud storage costs. The conversation centers on the often-overlooked challenge of overprovisioned and underutilized block storage in the cloud. Abhishek shares how Lucidity’s automated solution helps organizations address these inefficiencies by right-sizing and tiering storage to reduce spend and boost performance. The episode also highlights the limitations of native cloud tools in managing storage and underscores the need for cross-functional collaboration and actionable insights to drive effective FinOps practices.

In Episode 9 of The Balancing Act Podcast, Ryan O'Halloran (VP of Security Strategy at In Balance), Michael Caplan (Chief Technology Officer at In Balance), and Jason Cook (Field CTO at Rubrik) discuss the shift from focusing solely on preventing attacks to emphasizing robust recovery capabilities. They highlight the importance of secure backups, data analytics for threat detection within backups, and rapid service resumption. The experts emphasize the evolving threat landscape, where breaches are inevitable, making quick and effective recovery essential for business resilience.

In Episode 8 of The Balancing Act Podcast, Ryan O'Halloran (VP of Security Strategy at In Balance) and Jeremy Smolik (Director, Solution Architecture, Americas at Crowdstrike) discuss the crucial role of combining human expertise with AI to tackle sophisticated cyber threats. CrowdStrike utilizes AI to streamline tasks for analysts and enhance decision-making, but the human element is still essential for data classification and fine-tuning AI models. A key focus is reducing "breakout time" — the speed at which attackers can move through a system post-compromise — by concentrating on identity security and cloud-native defenses. Defenders are encouraged to accelerate data analysis and automate responses to swiftly address potential risks, emphasizing a proactive approach to cybersecurity. Ultimately, a unified platform is necessary to integrate data and deploy automated tools that effectively counter and neutralize threats.