00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:22.000
Hello and welcome to Full Tech Ahead.
00:00:22.079 --> 00:00:33.039
I'm your host, Amanda Razzani, and I'm so excited to be here at Qualis's big annual event, Rock On 2026, with Kanal Modite Morasia.
00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:39.759
And he is the senior vice president, product management, go to market and growth at Qualis.
00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:41.359
So how are you doing today?
00:00:41.759 --> 00:00:43.679
Hey Amanda, I'm doing good.
00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:52.479
And then thank you for hosting me, reporting live from uh Qualysis uh Rocon, the Risk Operation Conference here in Austin.
00:00:52.799 --> 00:00:53.600
Nice weather.
00:00:53.679 --> 00:00:55.600
Uh, I see the Bay Area vibe here.
00:00:55.679 --> 00:00:58.159
That's where I live in a San Francisco Bay Area.
00:00:58.399 --> 00:01:06.719
So pretty same uh vibe here, and with uh uh hundreds of customers already checked in uh for the training today.
00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:14.319
A lot of energy, a lot of positivism, and a lot of hallway chats around AI and attacks and whatnot.
00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:15.599
So we'll we'll walk you through that.
00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:16.959
But yeah, no, super excited.
00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:17.920
Fantastic.
00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:24.319
Well, can you first, just for our audience who may not know, can you share what Qualis provides?
00:01:24.879 --> 00:01:25.760
Yeah, no, great.
00:01:25.840 --> 00:01:30.959
So QuALIS is a leading cybersecurity company uh founded in 1999.
00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:36.959
So he's been in a business for the last uh uh 25 plus years with a single mission.
00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:52.560
The mission has always been that Qualys wants to help uh customers globally in managing, communicating, and eliminating their cyber risk, which is basically created by the cyber attackers, right?
00:01:52.719 --> 00:02:02.959
So the simple goal, simple mission to help organization in do business safe and secure way by securing or by managing the cyber risk.
00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:03.840
That's the vision.
00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:05.680
That's the mission of the company.
00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:06.799
Wonderful.
00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:13.360
Well, can you start first by sharing what is the overarching message at this year's event?
00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:15.120
Yes, great question.
00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:31.840
Look, the overarching message is all about the agentic AI, as you can imagine, Amanda, with agentique AI, the it is giving an advantage to the attackers also, and attackers are leveraging agent uh AI uh to basically launch the attack at the machine speed.
00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:38.080
So the overarching message, you know, one-liner, if you were to ask me, Kunal, tell me one liner, what's the message?
00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:42.479
We our message is that use AI to fight with AI.
00:02:42.639 --> 00:02:44.719
That's the only way to do this.
00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:46.080
There is no other way.
00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:47.360
Absolutely.
00:02:47.599 --> 00:02:50.639
Well, so AI is really changing the game.
00:02:50.879 --> 00:02:59.840
Can you share from your experience how is AI helping attackers exploit vulnerabilities a lot quicker?
00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:01.919
Yes, no, great question, Amanda.
00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:08.159
And before we talk about that, but if you look at some of the uh data points that are available in the market, right?
00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:12.080
You see the Verizons, the DBIR report, and all of that, right?
00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:22.479
I mean, the vulnerability exploitation is the number one thing that attackers are leveraging to land into the organizations to start doing bridges, right?
00:03:22.639 --> 00:03:24.400
So that that remains number one.
00:03:24.639 --> 00:03:40.000
Second, now coming back to your point, with the AI models like a mythos and other frontier AI model, what attackers are able to do is to build the exploit chaining.
00:03:40.479 --> 00:03:48.960
Build the exploit chaining at the machine speed because the model will help them build those exploits very, very rapidly.
00:03:49.280 --> 00:04:02.639
So if we go back historically, when the new disclosure, new vulnerability disclosures comes in, then a month later, two months later, attackers would start thinking about how to write the exploit and etc.
00:04:02.960 --> 00:04:13.199
Right now that window of disclosure to the writing the exploit and chain of exploit to get into the organization.
00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:13.840
Why?
00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:19.759
Because attackers are now leveraging the frontier AI model for bad purposes.
00:04:19.920 --> 00:04:25.839
While, like a good citizen like you and me, are using the model to build the business, to drive the productivity.
00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:27.920
For them, it is a different type of business.
00:04:28.079 --> 00:04:39.839
So that's what the AI is giving them an unfair advantage and which is helping them reduce that window of disclosure to the exploitation.
00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:44.800
What's slowing security teams down when it comes to fixing these attacks?
00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:46.560
Very, very great question, right?
00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:52.959
And if you really look at some of the data points, uh and today actually is a patch Tuesday, so we are waiting for that.
00:04:53.040 --> 00:05:02.879
But if you see the last one, September uh 13th or 12th, I think there was a patch Tuesday when Microsoft releases the disclosure, right, about their uh environment.
00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:05.040
Uh and then they release the patches.
00:05:05.279 --> 00:05:18.720
So the number of uh disclosure only with one vendor that's a Microsoft had gone to 972 patches, which is 10x compared to the last year September, right?
00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:24.480
So the disclosures are increasing in an order of magnitude.
00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:36.480
And if you think about this, think of this as a top of the funnel where all of these disclosures are coming, and then the bottom of the funnel, you see here the number of vulnerabilities that are getting exploited.
00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:46.240
See, all of the disclosures are not necessarily risky, the ones that that are getting exploited by the attackers, which is think of that as your bottom of the funnel.
00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:46.800
Okay.
00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:54.720
Now, since the top of the funnel, which is the new disclosure amenda, that are increasing in an order of magnitude, like a 10x, 20x.
00:05:54.800 --> 00:05:57.519
So that is increasing from here to here, right?
00:05:57.759 --> 00:06:01.120
And the bottom of the funnel is also proportionally increasing.
00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:11.600
And to my point that I said that the AI model is giving them an unfair advantage, so they are producing those exploits faster.
00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:14.480
So you see the bottom of the funnel is also increasing.
00:06:14.639 --> 00:06:28.800
So now the question is how can a security team quickly fix those bottom of the funnel, prioritize finding before attacker actually launched the exploit, correct, and get in their environment.
00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:58.800
And the only way to do it, the only way, Amanda, practically possible, humanly possible, is to have an automation, leverage the agency KI and start eliminating the risk that is applicable in your environment, which is validated that hey, this risk is applicable in your environment rather than worrying the top of the funnel, focus on a bottom of the funnel and figure it out which ones are applicable, validated in your environment.
00:06:59.120 --> 00:07:03.519
And then start automating them by leveraging the AI.
00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:04.800
Okay.
00:07:05.279 --> 00:07:11.839
Well, and you're unveiling a new solution, the True Risk Eliminate 2.0 at this event.
00:07:12.079 --> 00:07:14.480
So what's the difference?
00:07:14.959 --> 00:07:16.639
Oh, yeah, no, great question, right?
00:07:16.720 --> 00:07:26.319
And this is where uh one of the key themes uh for this year's Rocon conference is the uh we we call it as a three musketeer agents, right?
00:07:26.560 --> 00:07:30.639
And uh so the agent KI powered agents, agent insta.
00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:42.160
So what it does as soon as the disclosures are coming, the new findings are coming, agent insta, which is instant detection, it helps you detect all of those in your environment.
00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:42.879
Number one.
00:07:42.959 --> 00:07:44.399
So that's the first agent.
00:07:44.720 --> 00:07:50.879
The second agent is the agent validation, agent val is how we call it, agent well.
00:07:51.279 --> 00:08:00.319
Okay, what it does, it takes those exploitable vulnerabilities and then tests it in your environment that can attacker exploit in your environment.
00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:04.240
If yes, then it is risky, otherwise, it's a theoretical risk.
00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:07.360
So that's a second musketeer agent.
00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:13.279
The third one, which is the big launch today, is the agent Sarah.
00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:16.000
That is for the zero-day remediation.
00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:23.680
So the one disclosure or vulnerabilities that are validated can be exploited in your environment.
00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:37.840
Agent Sarah fix those and helps you with the planning on what to fix, what not to fix, what kind of controls that you have in your environment, how to remediate them faster without deploying the patches and etc.
00:08:38.159 --> 00:08:45.120
So that's the exciting announcement, Amanda, which is the True Risk Eliminate 2.0 product.
00:08:45.279 --> 00:09:15.519
That's the latest and greatest announcements with the agent Sarah, which is part of our three Musketeer overarching theme that we are uh reinforcing at Aqualis, and then Agent Sarah is the new capability as a part of our True Risk Eliminate 2.0 launch, which is going to help organization in planning, preparing, and remediating the disclosure at the machine speed that is the AI fighting with the AI.
00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:17.200
Absolutely.
00:09:17.440 --> 00:09:24.799
So, can you also share how does the true confidence help teams move faster while making sure that the fixes are safe?
00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:27.519
Great question, and glad that you brought it up, right?
00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:41.519
So, as a part of our true risk caluminate 2.0, we are unveiling true confidence, which is our AI-powered remediation intelligence and the orchestration engine.
00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:59.200
Now, Amanda, if you think about it, whenever there are disclosures, vulnerabilities, and all of that is coming in, in order to fix them, organization really had always had an option of automating those patch deployments or automating those mitigation and all.
00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:10.240
But still, as you see the data, the or or the way organizations are operating today is by creating the ticket and waiting for a 60-90 days SLS and etc.
00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:21.200
So, though the automation to automate and fix those vulnerabilities was never the blocker, the real blocker amenda was the confidence.
00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:24.320
The confidence in, hey, will this remediation work?
00:10:24.480 --> 00:10:26.159
What if I deploy this patch?
00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:29.279
Then how would my system or my business will behave?
00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:40.960
For example, if you are a banking customer and if you are deploying the patch, your biggest concern is what if after the patch is deployed, if it brings down my banking application?
00:10:41.120 --> 00:10:44.559
Now that's the billions of dollars of loss for your organization.
00:10:44.720 --> 00:11:14.639
So true confidence with our AI-powered remediation intelligence and orchestration engine gives that confidence and a trust to the security team in remediating the findings before even you start about it, and then during the remediation and after remediation is done, it is monitoring your business for a resiliency that if business is not going down.
00:11:14.799 --> 00:11:15.039
Right.
00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:31.200
And I can I can talk a bit more, but true confidence before the patch deployment or a remediation, during the patch deployment and mitigation, and after the patch deployment and mitigation is what we call it as a true confidence everywhere.
00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:32.240
Fantastic.
00:11:32.399 --> 00:11:34.480
Thank you for sharing that example.
00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:45.200
Well, from a vendor neutral standpoint, what is one step that security leaders could take today to close the gap between finding risks and fixing them?
00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:46.240
Of course.
00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:47.519
That is a great question.
00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:54.080
And as I said, the overarching theme or message for the security leader that guys use the AI to fight with AI.
00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:55.039
There is no other way.
00:11:55.200 --> 00:11:57.600
Human cannot outpace the machine speed.
00:11:57.759 --> 00:12:01.679
This is proven, it's nothing new, and you got to leverage the AI.
00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:12.080
And you have to be comfortable to live in an uncomfortable environment where the disclosures are going to balloon and the number of exploits going to also increase.
00:12:12.320 --> 00:12:25.679
And you need to leverage the zero-day remediation strategy by deploying the agents, and especially like agent Sarah that quality says launched a year back, and now we refresh with a lot of exciting things.
00:12:25.919 --> 00:12:38.720
Where now we help we are helping the security team in planning what to fix, what not to fix, and when what to fix is available, then is the patch is available.
00:12:38.879 --> 00:12:47.440
Can they do the third-party mitigation by using their existing Zscalar, CrowdStrike, and all of the control that they have already put into place?
00:12:47.600 --> 00:12:47.919
Right.
00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:53.039
And then during the patching, they need a strategy that what if the patch goes down?
00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:53.840
Right?
00:12:54.159 --> 00:12:58.879
And after the patch is deployed, how is my business going to remain resilient or not?
00:12:58.960 --> 00:12:59.120
Right.
00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:06.559
So, security team, our advice to them is not to get overly concerned about the automation.
00:13:06.799 --> 00:13:09.919
Automation is here to help, leverage the AI.
00:13:10.080 --> 00:13:18.399
And when you are thinking about remediating the risk, think holistically that what to fix, what not to fix is also important.
00:13:18.559 --> 00:13:24.080
And when you think about it, you have to look at your existing compensatory control that you have already applied.
00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:25.759
That means risk is already covered.
00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:32.320
If you patching is the right strategy, then you apply the patches with the confidence that it's guaranteed to work.
00:13:32.399 --> 00:13:34.799
And if anything goes wrong, you have ability to roll back.
00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:38.480
And if patching is not the right strategy, then think about the mitigation.
00:13:38.639 --> 00:13:41.360
That how can you minimize risk, right?
00:13:41.440 --> 00:14:10.559
So this is how we qualists uh recommend the security leader in approach this uh uh from holistic strategy perspective, planning perspective, and that's where we introduce the autonomous REM-ups remediation operation center, which is the new platform concepts that qualicies or new market category that we are creating called autonomous RAM-ups, which is a general open architecture with the six different stages.
00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:22.960
First, fix the validated one, then give a credit for the existing control that you have deployed, then figure it out what is the right strategy for you, whether it is a patching or a patchless remediation.
00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:28.559
Then you figure it out what's your resiliency strategy and what if the patch goes down, right?
00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:35.039
So, this is a general framework that we are announcing today called autonomous REMOPS remediation operation.
00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:43.519
And as a part of that, the true risk eliminate 2.0 with the true confidence is the implementation of that autonomous REMOPS platform.
00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:46.240
And that's what we are advising to our customer.
00:14:46.399 --> 00:15:03.679
And I just walked out of the product advisory board meeting that is happening right now, and I can tell you, Amanda, we have a 22 member coming from large banks, retail, financial industries, healthcare, they are all sitting in the room and I'm I was listening to their introduction.
00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:07.279
Everybody is worried about one word remediation.
00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:09.519
How do I quickly remediate?
00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:11.200
Fantastic.
00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:16.320
That was gonna be my next question is what were people saying about these announcements?
00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:18.080
What were they most excited about?
00:15:18.240 --> 00:15:20.960
What were their biggest concerns here at the conference?
00:15:21.120 --> 00:15:23.120
So you brought up remediation.
00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:25.200
Can you share a little bit more about that?
00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:33.200
You know, kind of window into the biggest concerns or the issues of your customers and why they came to this event today?
00:15:33.600 --> 00:15:34.000
Totally.
00:15:34.159 --> 00:15:46.240
Look, I mean, one of the key draws here for them to come here is to learn from a Qualices CEO leadership, and then we have industry thought leaders that are coming in tomorrow when the actual conference starts, right?
00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:47.039
And so they are coming.
00:15:47.120 --> 00:15:52.639
So they want to hear about latest trends, what's happening in industry, how Qualys is innovating.
00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:53.440
That's one.
00:15:53.759 --> 00:15:57.200
Second thing, and I can tell you this, I'm already hearing.
00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:08.399
Security practitioners are telling us that their CISO, their CIO, chief information officer, are now asking them, hey, can you patch this?
00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:10.879
Can you remediate in the next 48 hours?
00:16:11.120 --> 00:16:16.320
Earlier, the CIO and CISOs will tell the security team that can you create a ticket?
00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:18.960
And then my guy will look at when they have a bandwidth.
00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:21.279
That bandwidth comes after 60-90 days.
00:16:21.519 --> 00:16:30.559
Now they are telling us, hey, Qualis, do you have a solution for us to patch it or remediate or mitigate the risk in 48 hours?
00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:31.600
In hours.
00:16:31.759 --> 00:16:34.720
You remember, Amanda, earlier it was months.
00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:40.399
Now they are asking us that can you help me remediate in hours?
00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:46.639
And the biggest draw so far with all of the signage that we have is the three musketeer agents that I told you.
00:16:46.799 --> 00:17:00.240
And they are very, very curious about agent Insta, which is for instant detection, agent Val to validate what exists or exploitable in your environment, and Agent Sarah, which is a remediation.
00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:02.159
So they are very, very curious.
00:17:02.320 --> 00:17:08.319
They have been asking a lot of questions, and hey, not months, not years for the remediation.
00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:11.920
How can I remediate in a 48 hours?
00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:12.799
Wow.
00:17:13.039 --> 00:17:26.079
Well, if there was one piece of advice you could give business leaders on how to prepare for this rapidly advancing technology, as in regard to the future, what would you tell them?
00:17:26.720 --> 00:17:28.160
Yes, like I said, right?
00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:49.759
You have to be comfortable to live in an uncomfortable environment and learn to leverage AI, embrace the AI, to fight with the AI-powered attackers who are going to continuously increase the attacks, speed, and accuracy.
00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:53.920
And the only way to fight is to leverage the AI.
00:17:54.079 --> 00:18:00.400
And so start looking at how the agents, AI agents are going to help in your organization.
00:18:00.559 --> 00:18:06.559
And look, like any other technology, whenever the new tech technology comes, it always has some downside.
00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:14.240
But our recommendation to them, Amanda, is that if the benefit outweighs the risk, then you have to take that risk.
00:18:14.400 --> 00:18:24.240
And there is never ever going to be zero risk in your in your life, in your enterprise IT cyber hygiene, you will always have some risk.
00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:28.799
So if the benefit outweighs the risk, take the risk and go for it.
00:18:28.880 --> 00:18:32.640
And that's where leveraging the AI is going to be extremely important.
00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:39.680
We firmly believe the next decade will be dominated by the agents with the human in the loop.
00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:52.400
And they are those organizations who are embracing them early are the ones who will drive their business agility with the safety and the trust that is needed to build for their customers.
00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:53.519
Absolutely.
00:18:53.680 --> 00:18:58.160
Well, thank you so much for taking time out of this busy conference to speak with me today.
00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:02.079
And I can't wait to hear more sessions and speak with more people.
00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:04.400
Thank you, Amanda, for having me.
00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:07.440
And I look forward to seeing you uh later today in the evening.
00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:08.880
We have a reception.
00:19:09.039 --> 00:19:20.640
And guys, if as you are watching the show, please go to the COLIS and figuring and look at our three musketeer agents on how they are going to help you uh fight against the AI using the AI.
00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:23.119
So thank you so much, uh Amanda, for hosting me.
00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:23.680
Thank you.
00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:24.799
And thank you to our audience.
00:19:24.960 --> 00:19:28.880
If you have any questions or comments, leave them below, and I'll try to respond back as soon as possible.
00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:32.000
And until the next podcast, have a wonderful week.