Skills
About
I've spent over a decade in security, building and leading security programs at enterprise scale across tech, finance, and healthcare; most recently as Senior Security Manager at Microsoft. My work sits at the intersection of technical security engineering and business risk, and I care deeply about making security programs that actually work in the real world, not just on paper. Outside of my day job, I have mentored 100+ security professionals and continue to do so actively. I've been recognized globally as one of the top cybersecurity mentors and featured at Times Square for that work. I speak and panel at security conferences, academic institutions, and industry events, and I write about current state of enterprise security.
Gaurav Kulkarni
Published content
expert panel
Cybersecurity leaders have never had the luxury of moving slowly, but the second half of 2026 may test even the most mature security teams. AI is accelerating both sides of the fight: Attackers can find vulnerabilities, craft more convincing scams and move faster, while businesses (and employees) are racing to embed AI into products, workflows and everyday operations. That combination raises the stakes for every leader responsible for protecting data, systems, customers and trust.The challenge isn’t just technical. As cyber risk spreads across engineering, finance, operations, legal, HR, procurement and executive teams, the old model of security as a separate checkpoint no longer fits how businesses actually run. The organizations that handle this next phase successfully will need to rethink cybersecurity as a shared operating discipline, not a last-minute review, compliance exercise, or problem for one department or leader to solve alone.Members of the Senior Executive Cybersecurity Think Tank have deep expertise in enterprise cybersecurity strategies, risk management, threat detection and cybersecurity leadership. Below, a group of them discusses what they see as the biggest cybersecurity challenges for leaders in the second half of 2026 and how organizations move from reactive defense to enterprisewide resilience.