The Defender's Journal

Welcome to another special crossover episode of The Defender’s and Disruptors’ Journal.
Today’s guest is Damon Kachur, CEO of SecureG - a leader who has spent over two decades building the invisible infrastructure that digital trust depends on, from issuing billions of device identities to securing the networks behind telecom, IoT and critical systems.
In this episode, we explore what it really means to build trust at scale - from the early days of PKI and stopping large-scale fraud, to the future of quantum-resistant cryptography and machine identity. Damon also shares his mindset as a leader under pressure, why trust infrastructure is still misunderstood at board level, and how the next wave of AI and connected systems will redefine identity entirely...
+ Want to be part of the journey? Connect with host Cameron Wenham or explore both shows via our website!

Welcome to Episode 34 of The Defender’s Journal!
This week, George Totev joins us - a CISO who has spent over 20 years operating at the intersection of regulation, product and real-world risk, building and scaling security and compliance functions across organisations like Goldman Sachs, Visa and Atlassian...
In this episode, we explore how security leaders should think about trade-offs at scale - from balancing prevention vs reaction, to understanding diminishing returns in security investment, and why incident management is ultimately the last line of defence. George also touches on how to communicate risk effectively to boards - not through theory, but through cost, consequence and real-world impact.
+ Interested in joining us on the show? Connect with Cameron Wenham on LinkedIn or via our website.

Welcome to another crossover episode of The Defender’s Journal.
Today’s guest is Abhi Sharma, co-founder and CEO of Relyance AI - a company rethinking how organisations secure data in the age of AI. Rather than treating data as something static, his team is building an AI-native approach to privacy, governance and security that focuses on the movement of data itself.
In this episode, we explore how Abhi’s early experiences shaped his leadership philosophy, why “unreasonable hospitality” has become a defining cultural pillar at Relyance AI, and what many organisations still misunderstand about building trust in AI-driven systems…
+ Want to be part of the journey? Connect with host Cameron Wenham or explore both shows via our website!

Welcome to Episode 33 of The Defender’s Journal.
This week, Sandeep Poonen joins us. From establishing VMware’s cloud security and enterprise cyber risk functions from the ground up to leading global compliance, fraud risk platforms and board-level cyber strategy, his career spans scale, regulation and high-stakes accountability...
In this episode, we explore what was forged early in his journey - moving countries at 17 and building under pressure - and how that shaped his philosophy on integrity, resilience and leadership. We unpack what it really means to “bowl the last over,” why preparation matters more than bravado, and how trust is built not through perfection, but through accountability.
+ Interested in joining us on the show? Connect with Cameron Wenham on LinkedIn or via our website.

Welcome to Episode 32 of The Defender’s Journal.
Jacob DePriest returns to the show - previously Deputy CISO at GitHub, and now holding a rare dual mandate as CISO and CIO at 1Password, operating at the fault line between security, infrastructure, and business strategy.
In this conversation, Jacob unpacks what truly changes when you move from a deputy role into full ownership, why “customer zero” shifts the identity of a security leader, and the advice he gives to anyone early in their career: don’t default to the way things have always been done - push, test, and challenge the assumptions that everyone else has learnt to live with.
+ Interested in joining us on the show? Connect with either Jeff Harrod or Cameron Wenham on LinkedIn or via our website.