Thomas Richard talks to Griffin Payne, Principal Platform Engineer at Autonomous Cyber

Griffin Payne on relationships, AI-augmented pen testing, and trust in cyber hiring. Thomas chats with Griffin Payne on the Cybersecurity Recruiter podcast about his career from help desk to senior security roles including IBM X-Force Red and Protiviti, and his current work as Principal Platform Engineer at Autonomous Cyber. Griffin describes startup life while working from home with three kids and explains Autonomous Cyber’s approach to AI-enabled offensive security as an augmented, collaborative tool that boosts testers rather than a “set-and-forget” automated pen test. They discuss how commoditized offensive AI tools create noise and risk, token/rate-limit and cost challenges, and how AI is impacting bug bounty quality, hiring (fake applicants, deepfakes), and workplace communication. Griffin emphasizes relationships and communication as key to career opportunities, alongside rigorous interviewing and skills. Book recommendations include Dan Brown’s “The Secret of Secrets” 00:30 Linkedin and social media habits 01:40 Griffin career highlights 03:02 Day in the life at home 05:11 Autonomous pentesting boom 08:53 How their tool works 11:28 Bug bounty AI slop 14:14 AI and hiring trust issues 17:32 Deepfakes and interview cheating 19:52 Honesty in interviews 20:44 Networking opens doors 23:47 Help desk to red team 26:08 Visualization and momentum 28:26 Trust beats cold applying 29:58 Building the platform 31:17 Token limits and costs 33:05 AI needs fundamentals 35:55 Speed of AI attacks 38:00 Books and final thoughts Nexo - Executive, GTM & Cybersecurity Recruitment https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomaspropen/