Chris Eng on lessons learned from the NSA, @Stake, Veracode, and 20 years in cybersecurity

October 7th, 2025  |  44 mins 54 secs

cybersecurity, entrepreneurship, pen-test, secure by design, supply chain

This week on Security Conversations, Ryan sits down with Chris Eng, former Chief Research Officer at Veracode, to talk about life after nearly two decades at one company and the lessons learned along the way. They dig into a career start at the NSA, the early days of @Stake and the Symantec acquisition, and the birth and ambitions of Veracode.

Plus, thoughts on how helping startups shape product strategy, what it takes to translate technical expertise into business impact, and how security culture has evolved since the early “hacker-to-enterprise” days. The conversation touches on defining your career beyond titles, how the perception of “cybersecurity” has changed over the years, and why the industry still has plenty of room for curiosity, reinvention, and good storytelling.

Jason Chan on Microsoft's security problems, layoffs and startups

August 7th, 2023  |  27 mins 7 secs

ciso, entrepreneurship, generative ai, layoffs, microsoft, open source software, transparency, vc funding

Episode sponsors:

• Binarly (https://binarly.io)
• FwHunt (https://fwhunt.run)

Bessemer Venture Partner's Jason Chan returns to the show for a frank discussion on the state of cyber, including thoughts on Microsoft's prominent security failures, the meaning of layoffs hitting security teams, the excitement around AI, and the long road ahead. The former Netflix security chief also talks about merging of the IT and security functions and the importance of cybersecurity proving its value to the business.

Chainguard's Dan Lorenc gets real on software supply chain problems

October 13th, 2022  |  47 mins 7 secs

entrepreneurship, open source software, supply chain security

• Episode sponsors: Binarly and FwHunt - Protecting devices from emerging firmware and hardware threats using modern artificial intelligence.

Dan Lorenc and team or ex-Googlers raised $55 million in early-stage funding to build technology to secure software supply chains. On this episode of the show, Dan joins Ryan to talk about the different faces of the supply chain problem, the security gaps that will never go away, the decision to raise an unusually large early-stage funding round, and how the U.S. government's efforts will speed up technology innovation.

Tony Pepper, co-founder and CEO, Egress

February 22nd, 2022  |  19 mins 37 secs

email security, entrepreneurship, messaging

Chief executive officer at Egress Tony Pepper joins the show to talk about entrepreneurship in the fast-paced age of modern computing, the state of e-mail security, and his company's bet on securing the future of messaging in the enterprise.

Matt Suiche, Comae Technologies

April 17th, 2020  |  42 mins 36 secs

community building, entrepreneurship, memory forensics

Hacker-turned-entrepreneur Matt Suiche reminisces about the hacking scene in France, his introduction to memory forensics, building a selling a company, and his passion for spreading security research in developing countries.