EPISODE · Aug 17, 2026 · 43 MIN
No Password Required Podcast Episode 76 - Dr. Aleksandr Yampolskiy
from No Password Required · host Aleksandr Yampolskiy, Ernie Ferraresso, Rex Wilson, Yazzel Corona, Jack Clabby, Kayley Jerrell, Cyber Florida, SecurityScorecard, Cognitive Security Institute
In this episode: How a virus-infected Prince of Persia floppy disk on a Commodore 64 sparked a lifelong obsession with cybersecurity (03:03 - 06:45) From NYU to Yale cryptography PhD to Goldman Sachs to Gilt Groupe, and the near-miss that changed everything (03:03 - 06:45) What SecurityScorecard actually does and why the pen and paper questionnaire era had to end (06:55 - 08:18) What it looked like in the early days, including an IKEA furniture test for business partnerships (08:26 - 12:01) Why SecurityScorecard now scores every company in the world, not just twelve million organizations (12:01 - 12:29) The Gilt Groupe credit card near-miss, what the first 24 hours looked like, and why fear was the first reaction (12:50 - 17:30) What it takes to create an entire market category from scratch and why the job to be done never changes (17:48 - 20:20) The difference between the CISO version and CEO version of Alex, and what Satya Nadella said about zooming out (20:49 - 22:36) Which version of Alex people would rather have a beer with and why any job besides CEO is more fun (22:43 - 23:45) How North Korea used a fake hedge fund to try to recruit SecurityScorecard developers (24:06 - 25:47) Why the world is not becoming safer and the critical difference between robustness and resilience (25:59 - 26:42) The True Confessions keynote: why openly admitting breaches makes the whole ecosystem stronger (27:13 - 29:22) The Jaguar Land Rover breach and what it took to double a UK company's security budget overnight (27:13 - 29:22) The single most dangerous thing a board member has ever said in a meeting about cybersecurity (29:45 - 31:09) What one thing a non-technical CEO could do this week to make their CISO's life better (31:25 - 32:12) The Lifestyle Polygraph: restaurant health scores, PowerPoint ban, The Inner Game of Tennis, chess, false advertising, and podcast advice (33:07 - 41:32) Timestamp Highlights: (03:03) Prince of Persia, a floppy disk, and the origin of a cybersecurity career (06:07) The realization that changed everything: you can do everything right and still lose (08:26) The IKEA furniture test for business partnerships (12:50) The Gilt Groupe near-miss and what the first 24 hours looked like (17:48) What it takes to create a market category from scratch (20:49) CISO vs CEO: zooming in vs zooming out (22:43) Which version of Alex would you rather have a beer with? (24:06) North Korea's fake hedge fund operation (25:59) Robustness vs resilience: why the mindset has to change (29:45) The most dangerous thing a board member has ever said (31:25) One thing every non-technical CEO should do this week (36:48) The Inner Game of Tennis and the infinite game (40:00) Chess, false advertising, and meeting his future wife Resources & Links: SecurityScorecard — securityscorecard.com The Perfect Scorecard by Aleksandr Yampolskiy ThreatLocker — Presenting sponsor of No Password Required DerScanner — Episode sponsor Cyber Florida — The Mother Ship
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What this episode covers
Dr. Aleksandr Yampolskiy is the Co-Founder and CEO of SecurityScorecard, one of the world's most trusted cybersecurity brands with tens of thousands of customers, including half of the Fortune 100 and nine of the top 10 US banks. Before founding SecurityScorecard in 2014, Alex earned a PhD in cryptography from Yale, built authentication infrastructure for Goldman Sachs and Oracle, and served as CISO at Gilt Groupe, where a near-miss with exposed credit card data became the genesis for an entirely new category of cybersecurity. In this episode, Alek traces his journey from a fourteen-year-old immigrant kid whose friend handed him a virus-infected floppy disk with Prince of Persia on it, all the way to building a company that now scores the security of every organization on the internet. He breaks down what it takes to create a market category from scratch, why the CISO version of him was more fun to have a beer with, and why North Korea tried to recruit his developers through a fake hedge fund. Jack Clabby and co-host Kayley Jerrell talk with Alek about the difference between robustness and resilience, why SecurityScorecard banned PowerPoint slides, and the single most dangerous thing a board member can say in a meeting. Alex also argues that companies openly admitting security breaches actually makes the whole ecosystem stronger. In the Lifestyle Polygraph, Alek reveals he grades restaurants by their health inspection scores, shares what The Inner Game of Tennis taught him about trusting his gut, and tells us how chess got him a date with his future wife even though she had never played chess. Follow Alex on LinkedIn and reach him at [email protected]. Learn more at securityscorecard.com.
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No Password Required Podcast Episode 76 - Dr. Aleksandr Yampolskiy
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