Cybersecurity Upside Down With Benny Czarny, founder and CEO of OPSWAT
Tech Talks Daily · 2026-05-20 · 39 min
Episode notes
What if the cybersecurity industry has spent decades fighting the wrong battle? In this episode of Tech Talks Daily, I sat down with Benny Czarny, founder and CEO of OPSWAT, to discuss why he believes the traditional "detect and respond" model is no longer enough in a world where AI is accelerating cyber threats faster than security teams can react. Benny joined me to discuss his new book, Cybersecurity Upside Down, which combines personal stories from building OPSWAT with a bold argument for rethinking how organizations approach cyber defense altogether. His central belief is simple but provocative: detection-based security has trapped the industry in a losing cycle in which attackers need to succeed only once, while defenders are forced into a constant state of reaction. During our conversation, Benny explained how his thinking evolved after realizing that even layering dozens of antivirus engines and sandboxing technologies still failed to stop malicious files reliably. That realization ultimately pushed him toward a prevention-first philosophy built around Deep Content Disarm and Reconstruction, or CDR.
More from Tech Talks Daily
All episodes →- How zeb Rebuilt Consulting Around AI With Substrate45 / 100
- How Precisely Is Closing the AI Data Integrity Gap47 / 100
- The API Security Crisis Exposed By Akamai's State Of The Internet Report44 / 100
- How Sinch Sees AI Triggering The Biggest Communication Shift Since SMS
- How GlobalFoundries Keeps Semiconductor Production Running 24/7