Episode 359 Deep Dive: Omar Khawaja | Data Intelligence for Cybersecurity

In this episode, we sit down with Omar Khawaja, Vice President of Security and Field CISO at Databricks, as he explores the intersection of data, AI, and cybersecurity defense. Omar addresses the real fatigue facing CISOs amidst rising AI hype, emphasizing that combining high-quality data with AI—not just AI alone—is pivotal to effective cyber defense. He shares insights on the growing need for organizations to get their data in order, challenges in adapting operating models for AI, and the importance of reducing security tool sprawl through robust, unified platforms. Omar also discusses the increasing role of AI agents in automating routine tasks, the evolving skills required to leverage AI securely, and why mature frameworks and a growth mindset are critical as organizations navigate the complexities and risks of AI adoption. Omar Khawaja is the VP, Field CISO at Databricks where he gets to work with CISOs to help them securely shepherd their organisations’ data+AI journey. He leads Databricks’ Field Security practice globally, teaches at Carnegie Mellon’s CISO program, sits on the boards of HITRUST and FAIR Institute, spent 9 years as CISO of a $26B enterprise and is leading a team that developed an actionable AI security framework for 11,000 enterprise data platform customers at Databricks.