Podcast Summary: Securing the AI Era—Joshua Scott on Automation, Risk, and the Future of Cyber Defense

The Digital Executive – Ep 1159
Date: November 30, 2025
Host: Coruzant Technologies
Guest: Joshua Scott, VP of Security at Hydraulics

Episode Overview

In this episode, host Coruzant Technologies welcomes Joshua Scott, a seasoned cybersecurity leader and current VP of Security at Hydraulics. The conversation explores how security teams can thrive amid the rising complexity of data, automation, AI, multi-cloud environments, and rapidly evolving cyber threats. Scott offers his perspective on the critical capabilities, mindsets, and strategies security leaders need to turn risks into business value—and to keep pace in the AI era.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Translating Security Risks for Business Leaders

Timestamp: 01:21 – 02:20

• Speak the Business Language:
  Joshua Scott emphasizes the need for CISOs and security leaders to communicate in terms executives and boards understand.

  “Make sure that you’re speaking the business language… remove all the jargon, remove all the technical items and translate it to a business item. So downtime of an asset, loss of money, etc., that’s really the best way to get across the security risks to the business because they’ll understand it that way.” (Joshua Scott, 01:46)

• Relate Risks to Pain Points:
  Scott stresses understanding what keeps business leaders up at night and ensuring security messaging is tailored to those pain points.

2. Challenges of Securing Large-Scale Data

Timestamp: 03:03 – 03:52

• Volume Isn’t Value Without Context:
  Scott explains that protecting data at massive scale still hinges on the fundamentals:
  • Knowing why the data is needed and how it’s used.
  • Ensuring only valuable data is collected and retained.
  • Prioritizing protections for sensitive, business-critical assets.

  “Make sure that we’re actually generating data that’s… useful for us too. Even though we generate lots and lots of data, let’s make sure that the data is also useful and helpful for the business.” (Joshua Scott, 03:43)

3. Automation as the Key to Security at Scale

Timestamp: 04:31 – 05:57

• Necessity of Automation:
  Scott highlights that the growing volume and complexity of tech stacks (multi-cloud, AI, SaaS) demand automated security controls and monitoring.

  “With the amount of work that we have within security… the only way to effectively manage multi cloud AI driven workflows… is finding ways to automate the security controls… monitoring, detection and response, basically as many aspects as you can.” (Joshua Scott, 04:31)

• Prioritization through Automation:

  “There’s a hundred things to do in security and we’re generally staffed to do about ten. That’s just the reality… if you can remove, take that number of 100 down to like 90 because you put in some automation, that’s a win.” (Joshua Scott, 04:56)

4. AI: Both a Tool and a Threat

Timestamp: 05:57 – 07:15

• Leverage AI for Efficiency:
  Scott encourages security teams to use AI not just within security workflows, but to design automations and accelerate script generation.

  “AI is a great enabler, but it doesn’t mean that we need to be using actually AI in the workflow. We just need to be using AI to help us create some of those automations… identifying an email address, those kind of things. It can create scripts for you really easily.” (Joshua Scott, 05:57–06:20)

• AI’s Dual Role:
  AI empowers both defenders and attackers, demanding continuous adaptation by security teams.

5. The Future: AI-Driven Threats & Security Program Evolution

Timestamp: 06:27 – 08:21

• AI-Generated Attacks Will Accelerate the Threat Landscape:

  “It’s still going to be the same type of threats. It’s just they’re going to be moving significantly faster, they’re going to have a lot more capability.” (Joshua Scott, 06:57)

  • Phishing becomes more convincing and harder to detect due to AI’s ability to perfect language and mimic legitimate communications.
  • Supply chain compromise risks increase as AI can manipulate code at scale or exploit vulnerabilities in vendors or open-source projects.

• AI as an Enabler for Attackers:

  “AI is an enabler for not only the defenders, but also for the attackers. So I definitely see that increasing quite a bit over the next three to five years.” (Joshua Scott, 07:34)

• Critical Security Focus:
  Keeping pace with AI-driven threats by investing in automation, continuous monitoring, and adaptability in security programs.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You’ve got to find those pain points that they understand as well. Find out what keeps them up at night… and make sure you’re addressing things in that language.” (Joshua Scott, 01:54)
• “The reality is, there’s a hundred things to do in security and we’re generally staffed to do about 10… so if you can automate and remove some of that burden, it’s a win.” (Joshua Scott, 04:56)
• “With AI, [attackers] have the ability to write really good phishing messages… these days with tools like AI, they can actually make things look as legitimate as anybody else creating it.” (Joshua Scott, 07:10)
• “AI is an enabler for not only the defenders, but also for the attackers.” (Joshua Scott, 07:34)

Important Segment Timestamps

• 01:21 – Communicating security risks to business leaders
• 03:03 – Security challenges with massive data scale
• 04:31 – Automation to handle complexity
• 05:57 – Leveraging AI for security operations
• 06:47 – AI’s impact on attack techniques and the future threat landscape

Tone & Takeaways

The episode is practical and forward-thinking, with Joshua Scott’s straight-shooting advice echoing real-world leadership challenges:

• Speak simply and business-first about security.
• Automate relentlessly to stay ahead of threat and workload growth.
• Acknowledge that AI will empower both defenders and attackers—adapt accordingly.
• Prioritize data that matters and always link security to business value.

Listeners come away with actionable strategies for thriving in the era of AI-driven cyber threats and large-scale data environments.