I work at the intersection of cyber defense, AI safety, and emerging risk, where the threats are converging and the playbooks are still being written.

My career has taken me from the Marine Corps to NSA, U.S. Cyber Command, the U.S. House of Representatives, Mandiant, and Netflix. Across every role, one throughline: understanding adversaries, building high-trust teams, and translating complex problems into strategies leaders can act on.

Today, I advise organizations, governments, and research institutions on AI governance, agentic threat preparedness, and unifying safety and security into a single discipline. I contribute to global standards efforts including the EU AI Act (via OWASP AI) and lead executive education on cybersecurity and AI strategy at SANS.

If you’re navigating the future of AI risk or security strategy, let’s connect.

Chris Cochran

This room was electric.

Just wrapped my Agentic Identity talk / BoF at [un]prompted, and honestly, having some of the best minds in AI security in one room was a highlight of the conference. We didn’t keep it high-level, we went deep into the architecture of the future.

Several of the folks in the room did research that started my own journey, or are actively tackling this same challenge:
Ken Adler, John Yeoh, Toby Kohlenberg He/Him, Charles Nwatu, Rob T. Lee, and Olivia Gallucci, just to name a few.

The conversation pushed into some big questions:

• The Agent Era: What does identity look like when the “user” isn’t human but can sometimesact like one?
• Authorization: How do we solve who can do what in a generative world?
• The Infrastructure Question: Centralized platforms, blockchain experiments, or an inevitable hybrid?

The questions from the room were next-level.

Huge thanks to Gadi Evron, Sounil Yu, and the entire [un]prompted team for creating space for these conversations.

I’ll share a deeper recap (and a few emerging answers) soon.

Field CISO & VP, AI Security @ SANS | Bridging Cyber Defense and Frontier AI Risk | Ex-NSA, Netflix, Mandiant | US Marine Veteran

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Programs like this can change a career forever.

Honored to be a small part of this amazing program.

https://lnkd.in/ghuY7wiG

Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) SANS Institute Foster Nethercott Mari DeGrazia Maxwell Shuftan Tyler Corcoran Kajal Shelat

Open article: Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) Launches AI Security Accelerator Program for Maryland Members by finance.yahoo.com

Women in CyberSecurity (WiCyS) Launches AI Security Accelerator Program for Maryland Members

Excited to be in San Francisco for the first-ever [un]prompted Conference.

It’s encouraging to see a room full of practitioners leaning into the evolving discipline of AI security, particularly around agentic systems, identity, and workforce readiness. Not long ago, this wasn’t even a defined field. That’s wild.

If you’re here and interested in thoughtful conversations about securing what’s next, including what we’re seeing globally and how the SANS Institute is supporting the community, I’d welcome the exchange.

Strong work by Gadi Evron, Sounil Yu, and the team bringing this together.

A few years ago, I was done with security. Burned out. Two decades of the same circuit, same panels, same predictions. The people closest to me knew it.

Then AI pulled me back from the dead.

I just spent a week at [un]prompted in San Francisco, and I walked away changed. Not inspired in the vague, conference-high, shallow influencer, kind of way- changed in the "I was wrong about seven things and I'm all in" kind of way.

Wrong about the sidelines. Wrong about the hype. Wrong about whether anyone else saw what was coming.

In my latest article, I break down all seven, plus standout work from folks like Nicholas Carlini at Anthropic, Heather Adkins and John "Four" Flynn at Google, Olivia Gallucci at Datadog, and Scott Behrens and Justice Cassel from Netflix security team, all building the future of AI security in real time.

I even had a bit of a surprise guest spot.

This is our Industrial Revolution, folks. And the rules are still being written.

Check out the seven things I was wrong about below.

Gadi Evron Sounil Yu Ida Vass

I'm a student of history, business, and technology. Always have been. For years, I looked back at the Industrial Revolution, at the dawn of the intern

Open article: 7 Things I Was Proven Wrong About AI Security at the [un]prompted Conference by Chris Cochran • 7 min read

7 Things I Was Proven Wrong About AI Security at the [un]prompted Conference

I’m honored to join Pentera’s AI Security Exposure Survey 2026 Webinar alongside Ryan Dorey, Director of Technical Advisors at Pentera, where we’ll unpack the real deal from the benchmark data revealing how organizations are navigating the security challenges of rapid AI adoption. 

What we’re seeing in the data is pretty straightforward, but some insights will surprise you:

Legacy controls are being stretched to cover AI-driven workflows.
Teams are being asked to secure systems they didn’t design and may not fully understand.
And in many cases, organizations don’t have a clear way to validate AI risk before an attacker does it for them.

In this session, we’re going to have a very practical conversation about that.

We’ll cover:

• How the benchmark was built and what 300 CISOs are actually saying
• Real examples of how AI security gaps become exploitable exposure
• Where adversarial testing fits in, across data, identity, and infrastructure

It’s about closing the gap between AI adoption and real-world security validation.

Join us by registering with the link in the comments.

No industry faces the complexity of AI adoption quite like healthcare. Getting it wrong is measured in revenue but more importantly, it’s measured in outcomes, in trust, and in lives.

That’s what makes the conversations happening right now so critical.

What gave me genuine optimism was seeing security teams and IT leaders speaking with one voice, not just asking “How do we protect the organization from AI threats?” but going further. 

Acknowledging that AI carries extraordinary promise and meaningful risk, and that moving forward demands intentionality above all else.
The next 12–18 months will be defining. 

Organizations that build governance frameworks, align stakeholders, and treat security as a design principle will earn lasting trust. Those that move recklessly won’t get a second chance.

I’m encouraged by an industry leaning in with both urgency and discipline. That balance is rare. It’s also exactly what this moment requires.
Thank you to SANS Institute, HIMSS, and the healthcare community for creating a space where these conversations can happen with the seriousness they deserve.

The work continues.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

It was great to see the masterful Chris Wilkes work his magic in another Crisis Exercise. Amanda Burdey, GISF, GSTRT and I got to do a bit of acting in support. 

It was also a pleasant surprise to see Maria Graham. I still am and will always be jealous of your friend group. So cool to see.

#HIMSS26

Want to see how AI can automate absolutely everything in the SOC?

Then this is not the talk for you.

On March 18th, I’m joining my dear friend Nathan Burke from 7AI for a SANS Institute webcast “Don’t Trust AI – Verify It: A Practical Discussion About AI in the SOC”  and we’re not here to sugarcoat anything.

We’ll be getting into:
• Why agentic AI systems are introducing risks most orgs aren’t ready for
• What “verify, don’t trust” actually looks like in practice inside the SOC

If you’re leading security strategy in an AI-first world, this conversation is one to check out. 

No fluff, no vendor pitches just two crazy tech guys with slightly too much energy, who care deeply about getting this right. 

Get your spot in the comments below.

If you know Kate Marshall, you know she is someone who legitimately wants to give value to everyone in her atmosphere. 

This book is pure value for those looking to bring AI into their personal or professional lives.

I’m proud of Kate, not only for this masterclass of a book, but for stepping into to the arena and arriving like a force to be reckoned with.

Grab your copy here: https://a.co/d/02rpuPWV

Great to be back with our special operations community this week at SOFWERX for C2DS. We focused on the intersection of agentic security and prompt engineering, specifically how these technologies can be weaponized as tactical force multipliers for the mission.

As the threat evolves, ensuring our elite operators have a competitive edge is paramount. It was a privilege to contribute to the mission and spend time with the professionals dedicated to keeping this country safe.

Thanks for making this week awesome Kerry Rock, Luke Leviner, and Foster Nethercott. 

Semper Fi.

Last week I sat down with 300 CISOs worth of data and one question kept echoing in my head: How is it possible that 100% of enterprises have adopted AI, and zero percent have full visibility into it?

I hosted a live session last week with Ryan Dorey from Pentera, digging into their AI Security & Exposure Benchmark 2026. What came out of it was one of the most honest, unfiltered conversations I've had about where enterprise AI security actually stands right now.

A few things that stopped me cold:

→ Only 11% have purpose-built AI security tooling, the rest are stretching legacy controls to cover attack surfaces they were never designed for
→ 50% of CISOs cite lack of internal expertise as their # 1 barrier, not budget
→ Shadow AI isn't some edge case. It's the default condition in most enterprises right now

And the one that always keeps me up at night: we are in the calm before the storm.

Autonomous agents that don't sleep. Attack paths that are 80-90% automated. An 11-year-old with access to a sophisticated offensive agent isn't science fiction, my friends.

I wrote up a bit from the session, the data, the real-world attack scenario we walked through, and what I'd tell every security leader to focus on today.

Link to the full article. 👇

What's the biggest AI security challenge you're navigating right now? I'd genuinely love to hear it.

Last week I had the privilege of joining Ryan Dorey from Pentera to dig into their freshly released AI Security & Exposure Benchmark 2026 - a survey o

Open article: The 100/0 Problem: Every Enterprise Has AI. None Have Full Visibility Into It. by Chris Cochran • 6 min read

The 100/0 Problem: Every Enterprise Has AI. None Have Full Visibility Into It.

I was fortunate enough to contribute to this CSO Online piece on how CISOs are rethinking data protection in the AI era.

The core challenge I keep coming back to: AI-driven data exposure doesn't look or feel like exfiltration. Employees paste source code and customer data into consumer models, thinking they're being productive,  not realizing the risk. Add expanding data sovereignty rules, AI-specific regulatory guidance, and post-quantum encryption on the horizon, and you understand why this has become a board-level conversation.

Shoutout to the other security leaders and practitioners featured in the article by Mary K. Pratt, lots of practical thinking in here worth your time.

Link in the comments.

It was an honor to hang out with my buddy Christopher Luft to chat all things AI in security.

Thanks LimaCharlie and SANS Institute for facilitating the conversation.

AI skill gaps are a real conversation right now, and Chris Cochran, Field CISO and VP of AI Security at SANS Institute, breaks it down into three practical buckets for defenders who want to stay ahead.

Start by figuring out what you can offload to AI: summarization, enrichment, repetitive tasks. Save the deterministic decisions for humans.

Then learn how to secure AI itself:

> Agent-to-agent communications
> MCP server security
> OWASP Top 10 for agents

Finally, understand governance. Not just the technical side, but what your company is actually trying to do with AI. Security practitioners who can enable the business, not just protect it, become irreplaceable.

Listen to the full episode: https://lc.pub/4s7iL4V

#cybersecurity #ai #podcast

I’m incredibly proud of the work we’ve put into the latest OWASP AIVSS Project update. Still pinching myself about being involved with some of the most respected leaders in our industry.

OWASP AIVSS Project 
OWASP AI Exchange 
SANS Institute

The AI Exchange is proud to co-publish this magnificent OWASP AIVSS Project update. Credits to all experts and for the OWASP AI Exchange: Behnaz Karimi, Chris Cochran, Miracle Owolabi, with supporting: Alex Leung and Srajan Gupta.

#ai #aisecurity

Huntress

VP Brand + Creative

SolarWinds

SolarWinds (NYSE: SWI) is a publicly held, worldwide leader in IT management software, providing IT solutions to more than 300,000 customers in 190 countries, including 498 of the Fortune 500®. Surpassed $800 million in annual revenue during this time period.

• Rebranded the global organization in 2016 and 2019, which included the redesign of responsive websites, microsites, landing pages and portals, mobile-first email, social, internal and external marketing campaigns, events and all print collateral. Delivered 24% increase in website conversion, increase of +24% clicks +32% revenue in email redesign, 300% increase in social and referral traffic and 20% increase in qualified leads from revised event strategy, on average YOY. The 2019 redesign won 2 Communicator Awards: Award of Distinction for Branded Content – Branding for Online Video and the Award of Excellence for Online Advertising & Marketing – Campaign B-to-B.
•  Identified efficiencies to improve cross-functional strategy, executing seamless marketing campaigns across web, social, email, paid search and public relations, leading the creative team as an effective change agent in marketing strategy. Delivered 20%+ YOY growth in marketing qualified leads on 28% less spend with these improvements.
• Spearheaded the creative direction and execution of the business IPO, going public on the New York Stock Exchange for the second time. Directed all confidential initiatives to animate multiple digital displays up to seven stories tall on each of 5 buildings in New York City’s Times Square, all digital marketing at the NYSE offices and trading floor, as well as ads and billboards throughout New York City.
• Grew the creative team by 60%, developing a team of 28 that included visual designers, UX designers, video producers and editors, programming, copywriters, operations, and brand and events specialists. Maintained a 95% retention rate YOY, one of the highest rates in the organization.

Senior Brand & Creative Director

RetailMeNot, Inc.

RetailMeNot, Inc. (Formerly NASDAQ: SALE) is the world’s largest marketplace for digital offers. With over 730 million visits to its websites within a year and an average of 18.4 million mobile unique visitors per month, RetailMeNot surpassed $260 million in annual revenue during this time period. 

• Responsible for the identification and management of the brand for B2B and B2C strategies, impacting the growth of multi-billion dollar brands across the RetailMeNot portfolio. 
• Launched new corporate logo, unifying the appearance and usage of brand assets across geographies. Increased mobile readability of brand by 65%.
• Redesigned email templates for personalization and improved the user experience, increasing engagement by +47% clicks +64% revenue in the first month.
• Managed user interface design standards across mobile and desktop, increasing consistency across formats and decreasing engineering production times by 20%.
• Led development and career paths of 15 visual designers, UX designers and copywriters.

Vice President, Creative

ULTA

ULTA Beauty (NASDAQ: ULTA) is the largest beauty retailer in the United States offering more than 20,000 products from over 500 well-established and emerging beauty brands, generating $4 billion in annual sales during this time period. 

• Spearheaded digital brand architecture and re-design across desktop, mobile, tablet and marketing. Aligned cross-functional teams of designers, merchants, marketers, agencies, legal and production teams.
• Redesigned the mobile app, producing nearly 400,000 installations within 12 months. Forbes magazine recognized the app as ‘redefining shopping’ and was ranked #1 for performance and usability on Android devices.
• Conceived and launched responsive website redesign resulting in nearly 75% increase in shipped sales.
• Innovated mobile-first, dynamic email design strategy showing increases of +40% clicks +65% orders +75% revenue.
• Increased banner and paid search initiatives, exceeding revenue growth by 104%, maintaining 7x return.
• Directed digital holiday design strategy, increasing revenue year over year by 150%; Cyber Monday by more than 250%. 
• Developed and executed integrated marketing and digital campaigns that drove brand and sales growth across a range of interactive media, including organic, paid and social channels.
• Designed new technologies for the in-store experience, increasing customer satisfaction.
• Promoted after increasing sales and productivity numbers year over year, growing a team of designers and photographers from 2 to 11 people in 24 months and cultivating their career growth, forming design consistency and creating systems and processes within departments.

Creative Director

Mudlark

Mudlark was a private, luxury gift brand specializing in personal care, fragrance, home decor and stationery products. 

• Increased company sales by 40% in one year through new brand strategy, product design and innovation.
• Created new cross-category brand, developing 25 SKU’s in 6 weeks. Gained $1M in incremental revenue over 12 months by pitching and winning large retail clients such as TJ Maxx, Sears and Costco.
• Facilitated communication with global manufacturers, managing product development process from concept to completion.
• Led trend, pattern design, marketing materials, website development, product development, copywriting, pricing, ROI and packaging. 
• Represented design in presentations and engagement growth with retail buyers, increasing sales opportunities. 
• Presented to NBC Universal and won company’s first licensed product partnership. Led cross-functional teams of designers, merchants, marketers, legal and production teams.
• Communicated opportunities with buyers from Anthropologie, TJ Maxx, Smithsonian and Sears, increasing sales opportunities by 20%.
• Spearheaded relationships with trend forecasters, fragrance experts and textile art houses, which improved offerings and created new opportunities in the market.
• Developed and directed design team and freelance talent.

Senior Creative Director

Optimizing global companies of all types and sizes, I collaborate with leaders and customers to design and grow influential, world-class legacy brands. I advise leaders and influence businesses to generate extreme growth and positive change in people, processes, and on magical days — the world. 

I've led extraordinary results revitalizing the B2B consumer goods market with on-point trend analysis, and revolutionary product design. I have successfully cultivated strategic global partnerships to earn trust and respect for our brands in the industry. 

I've also achieved extraordinary results in B2C retail, leading the digital rebranding of Ulta Beauty; the largest beauty retailer in the United States. Forbes proclaimed the redesign as "redefining shopping." 

In the tech space, I was fortunate enough to lead the brand journey of the world's largest network monitoring company, SolarWinds. This award-winning rebrand helped surge the tech bastion forward to IPO for the second time, and was instrumental in doubling the company's fortune in less than 5 years.

As an intuitive business and creative leader, I create authentic connections, inspire teams, mentor and advise leaders, and present at speaking engagements. I would love to connect and see what inspiration can follow!

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