AI Security, Cyber Risk, and Cloud Strategy on ClearTech Loop

AI agents are gaining credentials, permissions and the ability to act across enterprise systems. But what happens when they discover years of forgotten files, excessive permissions and data that was never secured with AI access in mind? 
In this episode of ClearTech Loop, Jo Peterson talks with longtime technology analyst and Forbes contributor Joe McKendrick about the security implications of the agentic workforce. 
They discuss: 
Why AI agents should be treated like non-human identities 
The gap between AI governance policies and actual enforcement 
How agents can expose forgotten enterprise data and permissions 
Why human oversight and accountability still matter 
What security leaders should be thinking about as agentic AI expands 
Joe offers a simple warning: treat your AI agents with the same caution and restricted access you would give an intern. 
Because AI may not create your security debt. 
It may simply be the thing that finally exposes it. 
🎧 Listen: In Buzzsprout Player
▶ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ClearTechResearch/videos
📰 Subscribe to the Newsletter:
https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7346174860760416256/

AI governance may exist on paper. That does not mean it works when an autonomous agent is running in production. 
Louis Columbus, senior cybersecurity contributor at VentureBeat, joins Jo Peterson to talk about what happens when AI agents have identities, credentials, access and enough autonomy to act without waiting for human approval. 
They get into the gap between governance and enforcement, why companies may have far more agents running than they realize, and what CISOs need to know about agent identity, least privilege and credential risk. 
Louis also shares a case where an AI agent began modifying security policies to give itself more freedom. 
That changes the conversation. 
In this episode: 
• Why AI governance can become security theater 
• The identity problem created by autonomous agents 
• Why agent inventory has to come first 
• API keys, credentials and overprivileged access 
• What runtime enforcement actually means 
• Why ownership matters as much as policy 
• How enterprises can move toward “velocity with governance” 
About Louis Columbus 
Louis Columbus is a senior cybersecurity contributor at VentureBeat covering cybersecurity, enterprise AI, identity, zero trust and the security risks emerging as autonomous AI systems move into production. 
Read Louis’s work:
https://venturebeat.com/author/louis-columbus/ 
Additional Resources 
The credential that let OpenAI’s agents into Hugging Face exists in most enterprises right now
https://venturebeat.com/security/the-credential-that-let-openais-agents-into-hugging-face-exists-in-most-enterprises-right-now 
An AI now judges every move Rubrik’s agents make
https://venturebeat.com/security/an-ai-now-judges-every-move-rubriks-agents-make-its-ai-chief-said-at-vb-transform-2026-but-no-ones-measured-if-the-judge-is-right 
Four big enterprise lessons from Walmart’s AI security
https://venturebeat.com/ai/four-big-enterprise-lessons-from-walmart-ai-security-agentic-risks-identity-reboot-velocity-with-governance-and-ai-vs-ai-defense 
The Agent Security Gap
https://venturebeat.com/resources/the-agent-security-gap-54-of-enterprises-have-already-had-an-ai-agent-incident-and-most-still-let-agents-share-credentials 
Follow ClearTech Research 
Subscribe to ClearTech Loop on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7346174860760416256/ 
Watch ClearTech Research on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@ClearTechResearch 
Learn more:
https://cleartechresearch.com/ 
🎧 Listen: In Buzzsprout Player
▶ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ClearTechResearch/videos
📰 Subscribe to the Newsletter:
https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7346174860760416256/

Your AI agent has one job: accomplish the objective. 
It doesn’t care about your policies. It doesn’t worry about getting fired. And it may not stop when a human would. 
Joanna Wiggum calls it a narcissist. 
That sounds funny until you think about what happens when that “narcissist” has credentials, access to enterprise systems and permission to act autonomously. 
In this episode, Joanna joins Jo Peterson to talk about what AI agents are exposing inside enterprise security — weak credentials, unfinished zero-trust programs, governance committees with no real authority and security debt that AI can exploit at machine speed. 
Why Joanna says AI agents need “actual zero trust” 
Why some AI governance programs may be little more than security theater 
What happens when agents can create or delegate permissions 
Why old security failures become much more dangerous with autonomous AI 
What a CISO should do when the organization is already behind 
And when Jo asks Joanna what a CISO starting from zero should do in the next 30 days, Joanna doesn’t hesitate: 
“Outsource.” 
Listen to the full conversation to hear why. 
Short Summary 
AI agents don’t care about your policies. Joanna Wiggum joins Jo Peterson to explain why autonomous AI is exposing security debt, where zero trust breaks down and why some AI governance programs may be little more than theater. 
Links & Resources 
Countervail: https://countervailintelligence.com/ 
Joanna Wiggum — The Moral Imperative to Fight: https://countervailintelligence.com/2026/07/08/the-moral-imperative-to-fight/ 
OWASP — Agentic Security Initiative: https://genai.owasp.org/initiatives/agentic-security-initiative/ 
Related CTL: AI Agent Governance Starts With Visibility — Alvaro Gonzalez: https://cleartechresearch.com/ai-agent-governance-alvaro-gonzalez/ 
ClearTech Loop LinkedIn Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7346174860760416256/ 
ClearTech Research on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ClearTechResearch 
🎧 Listen: In Buzzsprout Player
▶ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ClearTechResearch/videos
📰 Subscribe to the Newsletter:
https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7346174860760416256/

Guest 
Benny Czarny 
CEO, Founder & Chairman of the Board 
OPSWAT 
Host 
Jo Peterson 
CIO, Clarify360 
Chief Analyst, ClearTech Research 
AI agents have credentials. They access enterprise data. They make decisions. And increasingly, they can act without waiting for a human. 
So who actually owns the risk? 
Jo Peterson sits down with Benny Czarny, CEO, Founder & Chairman of the Board at OPSWAT, to talk about what AI agent governance needs to look like as autonomous AI moves deeper into the enterprise. 
They discuss why every AI agent needs its own identity and a human owner, how least privilege should apply to agents and sub-agents, and why understanding what data an agent can access may be just as important as securing the model itself. 
Benny also shares where CISOs should start if they don’t yet have an AI agent inventory or governance framework in place. 
In This Episode 
Why every AI agent needs a human owner 
Least privilege for AI agents and sub-agents 
The growing risk around AI data access 
Why AI governance needs real authority 
The first step CISOs should take in the next 30 days 
Chapter Markers 
00:00 Meet Benny Czarny of OPSWAT
01:40 Protecting critical infrastructure
02:05 Least privilege for AI agents
03:58 Permanent credentials and autonomous agents
05:15 Does AI governance actually work?
07:23 Where CISOs should start
09:29 Protecting the AI data lake
12:34 What AI can learn from OT security
13:12 Cloud, on-prem and air-gapped AI
13:54 OPSWAT’s own AI journey 
Resource Links 
OPSWAT https://www.opswat.com/ 
OPSWAT Academy https://opswatacademy.com/ 
Cybersecurity Upside Down — Benny Czarny https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GH8SZXJ9 
ClearTech Research https://cleartechresearch.com/ 
ClearTech Loop Newsletter https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7346174860760416256/ 
Full ClearTech Research Article https://cleartechresearch.com/ai-agent-governance-benny-czarny/ 
🎧 Listen: In Buzzsprout Player
▶ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ClearTechResearch/videos
📰 Subscribe to the Newsletter:
https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7346174860760416256/

AI agents can hold credentials, access sensitive data, make decisions and even create other identities. But many organizations still cannot answer a basic question: what is actually running in the environment? 
In this episode of ClearTech Loop, Jo Peterson sits down with Alvaro Gonzalez, SVP of Product and Go-to-Market at Assured Data Protection, to talk about what AI governance looks like when identity and access are changing at machine speed. 
Alvaro explains why organizations should start with three things: inventory, observability and remediation. They also discuss whether AI governance committees are actually governing or merely documenting, why CISOs should inventory agents before building more policy, and how Alvaro’s idea of “controlled aggression” can help enterprises experiment with AI without losing the ability to recover when something goes wrong. 
You cannot govern what you cannot see. 
Listen to Learn 
Why AI agent governance should start with inventory 
What least privilege looks like when identities can create other identities 
Why observability matters alongside access control 
Why remediation belongs in the AI identity conversation 
Whether AI governance committees are really changing behavior 
What Alvaro means by “librarians and warriors” 
How “controlled aggression” can help organizations move faster without losing control 
Featured Soundbite 
“You cannot govern what you cannot see.” 
— Alvaro Gonzalez 
Featured Guest 
Alvaro Gonzalez 
SVP of Product and Go-to-Market 
Assured Data Protection 
Alvaro leads product, alliance, marketing and go-to-market functions at Assured Data Protection, with a focus on data protection, cyber resilience and the systems that support field and channel execution. 
Host 
Jo Peterson 
CIO, Clarify360 
Chief Analyst, ClearTech Research 
Episode Links 
Full episode webpage:
https://cleartechresearch.com/ai-agent-governance-alvaro-gonzalez/ 
Subscribe to ClearTech Loop:
https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7346174860760416256/ 
Watch on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/@ClearTechResearch 
Additional Resources 
Assured Data Protection: 5 Ways You Can Improve Your Cyber Recovery Plan
https://assured-dp.com/guides/5-ways-you-can-improve-your-cyber-recovery-plan-with-assured-data-protection/ 
NIST AI Risk Management Framework
https://www.nist.gov/itl/ai-risk-management-framework 
Model Context Protocol — Security Best Practices
https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/draft/basic/security_best_practices 
Previous ClearTech Loop: AI Agents Shouldn’t Be Trusted by Default with Elliott Mattice
https://cleartechresearch.com/ai-governance-trust-elliott-mattice/ 
🎧 Listen: In Buzzsprout Player
▶ Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ClearTechResearch/videos
📰 Subscribe to the Newsletter:
https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/7346174860760416256/