The Pressure of Security Leadership: What SLAs Actually Work? with Terry O'Daniel

Today, I’m excited to be joined by Terry O’Daniel, former global head of security at Amplitude, Instacart, and Netflix, and a trusted advisor in the security space. Terry thrives in high-growth environments and loves tackling complex challenges.

With a strong background in engineering and security, he builds teams that focus on solving security problems at scale through automation and instrumentation.

Terry is also a frequent public speaker and passionate advocate for product security. And recently, he joined Harvard as the Head TA for Security Lifecycle Threats.

In this episode, we break down how SLAs enforce real accountability, why security leaders are constantly under pressure, and why ignoring identity and data structures is a recipe for failure.

We also discuss how operating under pressure can surprisingly lead to better decision-making and what the future of product security will look like.

Dive right in!

Connect with Terry:   / terryodaniel  
https://terryodaniel.com/
Connect with Alexandra:   / alexandra-charikova  

This podcast is brought to you by
Escape: https://escape.tech — Modern DAST built to test for business logic instead of missing headers

Mentioned
Verizon Data Breach Investigations: https://www.verizon.com/business/reso...

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:00 Terry’s background
02:10 Navigating the Fast-Paced Tech Landscape
06:24 Thriving Under Pressure: Decision-Making in Security
13:17 The Role of SLAs in Security Management
19:40 Balancing Customer Expectations and Internal Capabilities
22:13 Quality vs. Speed: The Security Leader's Dilemma
24:28 Testing in Production: The Importance of Quality Assurance
26:46 Shifting Mindsets: From Speed to Quality in Development
28:39 Understanding Security: Bridging the Gap Between Developers and Security
30:49 Fundamentals of Security: Building Resilience in Software Development
32:31 The Role of Security in Product Development: Balancing Innovation and Safety
37:44 Advising Startups: Understanding the Problem Space Over Technology Trends
43:01 Zero Trust: A Buzzword in Need of Action