The interview podcast for cyber security professionals and for those who aspire to become one. We interview industry experts to get to know the latest trends, real life war stories and everything you need to know about this exciting industry.
Can Europe Compete in Cybersecurity? Hadrian’s AI-Driven Ambition with Rogier Fischer | Hadrian
Can Europe build global cybersecurity leaders of its own? And what happens when AI becomes better at finding vulnerabilities than humans can keep up with?
Recorded live at the ONE Conference in The Hague, we welcome back Rogier Fischer, Co-Founder and CEO of Amsterdam-based Hadrian, to discuss building a global cybersecurity company in Europe, the rise of autonomous AI and the challenges facing the industry.
Since Rogier’s last appearance on our podcast four years ago, Hadrian has grown from an ambitious startup into a rapidly scaling cybersecurity company. With a new €40 million funding round, expanding international operations and continued investment in AI research, the company is pursuing its ambition to become a global leader in offensive cybersecurity.
Rogier explains how Hadrian uses autonomous AI to discover vulnerabilities, validate what attackers can exploit and automate penetration testing. He shares why businesses need to prepare for a new wave of AI-driven cyber threats, how agentic systems could introduce entirely new attack surfaces and why basic security hygiene remains critical.
The conversation also explores Hadrian’s expansion into the US, its ambition to build a broader offensive security platform and what Europe needs to do to produce more successful technology companies. For Rogier, the challenge goes beyond individual businesses: Europe needs more ambitious founders, greater investment and more companies capable of competing on the global stage.
In this episode:
- Hadrian’s journey from Amsterdam startup to international cybersecurity scale-up
- The €40 million funding round and what it means for the company’s next stage of growth
- Why enterprise customers need a broader, consolidated offensive security platform
- How autonomous AI is transforming penetration testing and vulnerability discovery
- Could AI-driven attacks and autonomous agents trigger a cyberpandemic?
- Why basic security hygiene matters as AI makes vulnerabilities easier to discover
- How agentic AI introduces new attack surfaces through deception and inadequate guardrails
- Why the US is an important growth market for Hadrian
- Europe’s technological sovereignty and the need for more global cybersecurity champions
- Why the industry needs to talk openly about AI risks and prepare for what comes next
Timestamps
● 00:00 Introduction: Live from the ONE Conference
● 01:39 Hadrian’s €40 million funding round and international ambitions
● 02:57 Investing in AI research, hiring, and expansion
● 03:34 From startup to global cybersecurity platform
● 04:53 Why AI should be used to hack your own systems
● 08:00 Could autonomous AI agents trigger a cyberpandemic?
● 09:50 Is Hadrian a cybersecurity company or an AI company?
● 10:57 Building a global cybersecurity company from Europe
● 11:48 Why US expansion matters
● 12:34 The strategic value of international investors
● 13:40 Building a global company rather than chasing unicorn status
● 14:59 Hadrian’s vision for the next four years
● 16:59 How AI will reshape the cybersecurity threat landscape
● 17:50 From technical exploitation to deception-based attacks
● 18:41 The new attack surface created by agentic AI
● 20:25 Europe’s technological sovereignty
● 20:35 Why Europe needs more cybersecurity champions
● 23:19 What should the cybersecurity industry do differently tomorrow?
● 25:15 Closing remarks
Connect with Hadrian:
Rogier Fischer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rogierfischer/
Hadrian: https://hadrian.io/
Follow Cyber Security District:
Jeroen Prinse on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jprinse/
Laurens Jagt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurensjagt/
Website: https://www.cybersecuritydistrict.com/
All channels & newsletter: https://beacons.ai/cybersecuritydistrict
13 Oct 2026
The Rise of CTEM with Anuj Kumar | Gambit Cyber
Your organisation has 143 security tools and still doesn’t know what to fix first. Sound familiar?
In this episode, host Jeroen Prinse sits down with Anuj Kumar, co-founder and CEO of Gambit Cyber. Anuj spent over 12 years in threat intelligence at iSight, FireEye, Mandiant, and Intel 471, and kept running into the same problem: the intelligence was good, but nobody could operationalize it. That gap is what Gambit Cyber was built to close.
They dig into Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM), why it’s a program and not a tool, what AI-native really means in security and the uncomfortable question of who is accountable when an autonomous system gets it wrong.
In this episode:
Why 12 years in threat intel led Anuj to found Gambit Cyber
What intelligence actually means and why most teams can’t act on it
CTEM as a program vs. a product: why the distinction matters
How Gambit Cyber maps business risk to attack paths and prioritizes what to fix
Difference between bolting AI onto existing workflows vs. building AI-native from day one
Why Gambit Cyber lets customers choose their own LLM
Who is accountable when an autonomous security system gets it wrong?
Timestamps:
00:00 Opening hook: intelligence without action
00:43 Welcome and introduction to Anuj Kumar and Gambit Cyber
00:55 12 years in threat intel: what the industry kept getting wrong
02:54 What intelligence actually means
05:14 CTEM: program vs. product
07:36 Why tool sprawl created the CTEM category
10:45 How Gambit Cyber runs a gap analysis and builds a security program
13:54 Mapping business context to attack paths
16:36 Infrastructure intelligence and prioritization at scale
17:19 Business email compromise as a live example
18:37 Can CTEM actually prove it reduces breaches? (Gartner’s 3x claim)
20:15 What evidence should a CISO demand?
21:40 How validation works inside the platform
24:09 What AI can do that conventional automation cannot
26:58 Directed graph vs. goal-oriented AI agents
30:35 How to tell if a platform is truly AI-native
33:00 Why Gambit Cyber doesn’t bet on one LLM
35:43 When do we start delegating security judgment to AI?
38:00 Who is accountable when autonomous security gets it wrong?
41:14 Final question: what should listeners do differently tomorrow?
43:25 Signal message to all CISOs
44:07 Book recommendation: The AI-Driven Leader
Connect with the guest:
Anuj Kumar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anuj-kumar-77b7909/
Website: https://gambitcyber.org/
Follow Cyber Security District:
Laurens Jagt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurensjagt/
Jeroen Prinse on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jprinse/
Website: https://www.cybersecuritydistrict.com/
All channels & newsletter: https://beacons.ai/cybersecuritydistrict
29 Sept 2026
The Rise of Identity-Based Attacks with Olivier Eyries | Saporo
The Rise of Identity-Based Attacks with Olivier Eyries | Saporo
What if you could see your entire attack surface the way a hacker does and fix it before they strike?
In this episode, hosts Laurens Jagt sit down with Olivier Eyries, co-founder and CEO of Saporo, one of Switzerland's fastest-growing cybersecurity startups. Saporo helps organisations stop hackers by identifying and eliminating identity risks before attackers can exploit them.
Olivier is a serial entrepreneur with two previous ventures under his belt, including one sold to Proofpoint in 2021. He and his co-founders built what he calls a "Google Maps for cybersecurity": a graph-based platform that maps every attack path, every permission, and every identity risk across an organisation's environment. In this conversation, he breaks down why identity-based attacks have exploded, what AI agents mean for the attack surface, and why fixing one permission can block millions of potential attack paths.
In this episode:
Olivier's journey: from dropping out at 21 to two exits and founding Saporo
Why identity-based attacks have exploded and AI is accelerating the trend
The graph-based approach: visualising attack paths the way hackers do
Non-human identities: why AI agents are the next major attack surface
How cutting one permission can block millions of attack paths
Saporo's 98% renewal rate and €7M funding round
The European funding gap and why Olivier is expanding into the US
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
01:03 Olivier's entrepreneurial journey: from dropout to two exits
04:12 The founding of Saporo: right tech, right team, right time
05:33 The Google Maps for cybersecurity concept
09:09 €7M raised and building through three stages of startup growth
11:02 Graph-based approach to identity risk and attack paths
16:14 How Saporo prioritises which attack paths to cut first
22:32 AI's impact on cybersecurity and Saporo's product roadmap
23:43 Non-human identities: the next major attack surface
29:19 What CISOs need to do right now about AI agents
34:17 Saporo's next milestones: US expansion and customer success
37:26 The European funding gap and why it matters for founders
43:49 Signal message to CISOs: give European founders a shot
44:42 Final thoughts: stay humble, ask the question, build now
Connect with the guests:
Olivier Eyries: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olivier-eyries/
Website: https://www.saporo.io/
Follow Cyber Security District:
Laurens Jagt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurensjagt/
Jeroen Prinse on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jprinse/
Website: https://www.cybersecuritydistrict.com/
All channels & newsletter: https://beacons.ai/cybersecuritydistrict
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