Rob Fry
Engineer. Builder. Mentor. Security storyteller shaping the next generation of tech and talent.
Austin, Texas, United States
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Rob Fry is a security engineering leader, entrepreneur, and advisor with more than 25 years in the field. He has built teams and products at Netflix, Yahoo, Mezmo, Armorblox, Sumo Logic, and other companies and startups, and has helped guide multiple companies through acquisitions and IPOs. His work has spanned everything from Netflix’s early cloud security initiatives to AI-driven identity defense. Today, Rob focuses on mentoring the next generation of security talent and shaping how humans and machines will work together in the AI era. A frequent speaker and writer, he is known for blending humor, history, and hard-won lessons to cut through hype and get to what’s real.
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The Next Generation of Security Talent: Humans + Machines
AI isn’t replacing security talent… it’s redefining it. The challenge for leaders and practitioners alike is separating hype from reality and figuring out where humans and machines truly complement each other. In this session, we’ll look back at four decades of disruption, from mainframes to cloud to SaaS, to see the recurring pattern: disruption, turbulence, adaptation.
We’ll then dive into today’s noisy landscape, where 30% of security pros already use AI, 42% are evaluating it, vendors are flooding the market with AI-washing, and some claim “entry-level jobs are dead.” Using real data and frameworks, we’ll unpack which roles are changing, which new ones are emerging, and how junior talent can actually be accelerated by AI instead of eliminated.
Finally, we’ll focus on the human edge: the skills that machines can’t replace… context, judgment, resilience, creativity… and the leadership imperative to invest in people, not just tools. Expect research, sardonic metaphors, and a candid roadmap for how the next generation of security talent can thrive alongside machines.
Key message: AI won’t make us obsolete… it will make us more valuable, if we choose to adapt.
Detection: what should our expectation be?
Detection is a critical part of security operations. We expect detection from our security vendors with the expectation they will help prevent attacks. What's the truth? What technologies/methodologies underly detection and what value do they provide, and do they meet our expectations or disappoint?
In this talk, I'll review the history of detection, how it has changed over time, and question our expectations on applying technology to detection and if we are missing a way to do it better.
Rob Fry
Engineer. Builder. Mentor. Security storyteller shaping the next generation of tech and talent.
Austin, Texas, United States
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