In conversation with Phil Venables on the future of cybersecurity
At Ballistic, we’ve long admired the sharp, strategic mind of Phil Venables. After years of collaboration as a trusted CISO advisor, we recently announced Phil joined us as a Venture Partner.
So, what’s Phil focused on now? What trends are capturing his attention? And where does he see the biggest opportunities for innovation in cybersecurity? Phil sat down with ISMG’s Tom Field to talk about this and more. Here’s a recap of the conversation.
The expanding role of the CISO
A key theme Phil highlighted coming out of the 2025 RSA Conference is the rapidly evolving role of the CISO. Increasingly, CISOs are stepping out of the technical silo and into the boardroom, influencing business strategy and overseeing broader risk domains, including AI, trust, and safety.
With the rise of AI in particular, Phil noted that “CEOs and boards are turning to the CISO to essentially become the Chief Digital Risk Officer.” In many organizations, that role is expanding even further, with CISOs taking on infrastructure responsibilities that traditionally belonged to the CTO.
This shift represents a meaningful evolution from the traditional CISO role, which was often confined to engineering and IT functions with limited influence on business strategy. “It’s a sign of the maturing of the security profession,” Phil said. “They’re taking on more and more leadership and more scope and responsibility to defend their enterprise. It’s really great to see.”
As CISOs take a more central role in business modernization, Phil’s advice is clear: “Partner closely with the CIO, the business units, and the executive leadership to reimagine what the company looks like.” He added a truth that most CISOs already know: “No matter how it evolves, the CISO role has a lot of pressure on it.”
AI: A generational disruption
You can’t talk about the future of cybersecurity without talking about AI. Phil describes the current wave as the most significant disruption of his career, greater than the internet, cloud, or mobile revolutions.
“There’s a lot going on with AI,” he said, noting major gains in automating security operations, from generating secure configurations to uncovering software vulnerabilities. But some of the most transformative value, he emphasized, comes from compounding incremental improvements. “We often underestimate the stacked benefits of many little workflow improvements,” he said. At Google, for example, AI is being used to automate everything from threat modeling and event analysis to documentation, yielding “a 10x boost in team productivity.”
Importantly, Phil is optimistic about the advantage AI gives defenders. “AI gives defenders a structured advantage over attackers,” he said. While adversaries will inevitably weaponize AI, “the use for defenders, if they do it in the right way, can outpace attackers, and that’s certainly an exciting possibility for most security teams.”
Investing in the next generation
At Ballistic, Phil is channeling this momentum into supporting the next generation of cybersecurity startups. “I’m interested in looking at what AI can do, not just to automate certain segments – whether it’s penetration testing, vulnerability discovery, operations, or software security – but actually how we can use AI to reimagine the way things are done.”
One area he’s particularly excited about is agentic AI, that is, systems that can self-orchestrate tools and tasks. “You can use AI to automate a job role, but often the best way of doing it is to use AI to automate the tools and to let AI configure itself and an appropriate usage to achieve an outcome. Often when it does that, it imagines a job function that’s very different from the way humans are doing it.”
With innovations like this on the horizon, Phil believes cybersecurity is entering a new era. “Just when you think disruption is done, there’s another wave of technology and another wave of opportunity.”
What’s ahead for Phil?
Phil is keeping his sights firmly on what’s next. He’s especially focused on how security teams can support their businesses through this ongoing wave of transformation – ensuring AI is adopted safely, managing risk across the software lifecycle and data pipelines, and addressing the operational complexities that come with deployment at scale.
He’s also thinking critically about how security leaders can partner more closely with the business. What new tools and capabilities will they need? How do they move from rapid prototyping to reliable, secure production deployments? And perhaps most intriguingly, “what comes after what comes next?” He’s already exploring the second-order effects, which are the new innovations and threats that will follow the first wave of AI adoption.
One thing’s for sure: Phil’s not slowing down. We’re lucky to have him with us at Ballistic, where his deep expertise and forward-looking perspective will be instrumental as we back the next generation of cybersecurity innovators.
Watch the full video interview here.