Why Security Loses Influence in High-Growth Companies (And What to Do About It) with Kavia Venkatesh

Today, I'm joined by Kavia Venkatesh, Director of Product Security at a large healthcare organization. She didn't take the traditional path into cybersecurity — she came from biotech. But that outsider lens turned out to be her edge. With over 10 years of experience leading cybersecurity strategy for hyper-scale ecosystems, she's built many security programs from the ground up, navigating 9 acquisitions in 18 months at a large tech org, and along the way developed a rare ability to translate risk into language that executives actually act on. Kavia is also a frequent speaker at premier global conferences, including DEF CON, BSides San Francisco, and Nullcon. In this episode, we talked about what most security teams get completely wrong during integrations, what she'd change about how security teams show up in organizations and the "breachability mindset" that changes how you approach risk. And much more!Get ready, Kavia doesn't hold back her opinions. Let's dive right in!This podcast is brought to you by Escape: https://escape.tech — Offensive security for the teams that are 100x outnumbered, combining Attack Surface Management, business-logic-aware DAST and AI pentesting solutions.Connect with Kavia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaviavenkatesh/