CISO Hot Takes on MCP, PQC, and Data Center Attacks
Recorded live at F5 AppWorld 2026 in Las Vegas, this episode of Pop Goes the Stack puts Field CISO Chuck Herrin in the hot seat for a fast-moving conversation on what security leaders are really dealing with right now. Joel Moses kicks things off with the agentic AI debate: if teams bypass structured tool interfaces and let agents “just use the CLI,” what happens to authentication, observability, and predictability when autonomy accelerates faster than humans can keep up?
From there, Chuck makes the case that fear is a poor long-term strategy for running a business, even when the threats are real. He unpacks the tension he’s seeing across organizations, where executives are driven by FOMO while employees wrestle with FOBO (fear of becoming obsolete), and argues that companies get results when they redesign how they operate rather than bolting AI onto old structures.
The conversation shifts to post-quantum cryptography and why it still isn’t getting the attention it deserves. Chuck explains how “future tech” framing, short CISO tenures, and the pressure of today’s fires keep PQC from becoming a priority, even as harvest-now-decrypt-later attacks make it a present-day risk. His advice is practical: assign clear ownership, treat the effort like business continuity planning, and include your supply chain in the readiness scope.
Finally, they touch on a new class of concern for CISOs: kinetic targeting of data center infrastructure, and how sovereignty requirements can constrain options when physical risk rises. If you’re navigating AI adoption, cryptographic transition, or resilience planning, tune in for a grounded perspective from the show floor.
Creators and Guests
Host
Joel Moses
Distinguished Engineer and VP, Strategic Engineer at F5, Joel has over 30 years of industry experience in cybersecurity and networking fields. He holds several US patents related to encryption technique.
Guest
Chuck Herrin
Field CISO for Web App and API Security at F5. Chuck's purview includes customer advocacy and active engagement across Product, Marketing, Sales, and Channel operations to bring thought leadership and alignment of solutions with the real-world problems enterprise customers face every day. Prior to F5, Chuck was the CTO of Wib, an API security firm that created the second generation of API security solutions designed from the ground up to provide end to end visibility, testing, and context to discover, test, and secure all APIs across a customer ecosystem. Prior to Wib, Chuck spent 19 years as a CISO in financial services and banking, including SVP and Head of IT Security, Risk, and Compliance for all of AIG’s consumer-facing divisions ($29B annual revenue) and EVP and CISO of Texas Capital Bank prior to being named “Most Trusted Bank in America” by Newsweek in 2022. A lifelong learner, Chuck holds a litany of industry certifications gathered over the last 25 years, as well as a bachelor’s degree in biology from Lenoir Rhyne University.
Producer
Tabitha R.R. Powell
Technical Thought Leadership Evangelist producing content that makes complex ideas clear and engaging.
