Episode 333 Deep Dive: Prashant Vadlamudi | Building Secure Foundations for Agentic AI

In this episode, we sit down with Prashant Vadlamudi, Senior Vice President of Product Security at Salesforce, as he explores how organisations can build secure foundations for agentic AI. Prashant offers a holistic view of agentic AI, highlighting its shift from simple generative models to autonomous agents capable of reasoning, sequencing complex tasks, and performing actions—while emphasising the productivity benefits and the imperative for strong trust and security principles. The conversation covers the balance between fostering innovation and maintaining robust governance and security, the evolving nature of guardrails as AI models mature, and the importance of ongoing policy updates to keep pace with rapid technological changes. Prashant also discusses Salesforce’s approach to deploying AI responsibly, the role of trust metrics such as bias and hallucination scores, the necessity for data governance as the backbone of AI strategies, and the shared responsibility between providers and customers to ensure that agentic AI operates securely and transparently. Prashant Vadlamudi is a strategic leader with two decades of experience driving transformative information security and compliance initiatives. As Senior Vice President of Product Security at Salesforce, he is responsible for safeguarding the company’s products and ensuring adherence to global standards. His career is marked by pivotal leadership roles, including Vice President of Information Security and Cloud Compliance at Cisco, where he established robust security baselines for SaaS offerings, and Director of Technology GRC at Adobe, where he architected the Adobe Common Controls Framework (CCF), a cornerstone of their global trust strategy. Prashant’s expertise spans cloud security, global certifications, and data-driven risk management, allowing him to navigate and mitigate complex security challenges in today’s dynamic landscape. He utilises a risk-based approach to decision-making and focuses on operational efficiency. He has experience in team development and mentoring, with individuals he has mentored holding security leadership positions across the industry. His professional experience includes strategic planning, technical implementation, and team management within the field of information security.