Cyber Dialogues: The Gen AI Talk: Practical Online Safety for the Next Generation

Welcome to Cyber Dialogues, powered by Palo Alto Networks! In this essential episode, host Sharmin Jassal dives into the fastest-moving trend in cyber - the digital lives of our children with the brilliant minds behind Cyberlite, co-founders Nina Bual and Michelle Yao.

The digital world is changing too fast to track, and our kids are at the forefront. Nina and Michelle share some truly eye-opening statistics:

• The average two-year-old is now spending two hours a day online.
• Children are adopting Gen AI tools like ChatGPT and Co-pilot much faster than adults.
• Up to 60% of the content kids see on YouTube is AI-generated, a phenomenon they call "AI slop."

This is more than just a screen-time conversation; it's about core cyber safety. We discuss why "Information is safety," and the critical need to shift the focus from preventing AI use to teaching kids to use it responsibly.

Whether you're a parent, a teacher, or a concerned cyber professional, this 20-minute chat is packed with the practical, actionable commentary you need to help secure the next generation of digital citizens.

Find out more about Cyberlite's mission: https://www.cyberlite.org/

Connect with our guests:

• Nina Bual's LinkedIn
• Michelle Yao's LinkedIn

Subscribe for more candid conversations on the latest in cyber!

Guest: Andrew Milroy, Distinguished Analyst and Founder of Veqtor8

In this episode of Cyber Dialogues, we explore the rapid emergence of Agentic AI, autonomous systems that can perceive, reason, plan, and execute actions independently.

Host Sharmin Jassal speaks with renowned analyst Andrew Milroy about the unprecedented security challenges and defensive opportunities this technology presents.

Andrew explains that the current rush to adopt AI for productivity is creating an exponentially larger attack surface, a pattern he likens to the early days of Cloud and Mobile adoption where security was an afterthought. He details two critical and unique vulnerabilities:

1. Model Poisoning and Prompt Injection: How malicious data or disguised commands can manipulate an autonomous agent's behavior, leading to unauthorized actions or sabotage.
2. Detection Difficulty: Why the adaptive, constantly changing nature of Agentic AI makes it difficult for static security rules to detect anomalous or compromised activity.

The conversation then pivots to the offensive power of these agents, discussing how they can supercharge threats with speed and scale, making phishing attacks almost indistinguishable from legitimate communications. Finally, Andrew offers an optimistic outlook, highlighting the opportunity for enterprises to adopt Agentic SecOps - autonomous defense systems capable of instantly detecting, responding to, and shifting security posture against sophisticated, evolving threats.

Key Takeaways:

• The AI Vulnerability: AI adoption is currently being driven by enthusiasm for efficiency, often ignoring security risks, leading to a massive expansion of the attack surface.
• The Attacker's Edge: Agentic AI enables attackers to create fully automated, Cunning, and adaptive threats that can respond dynamically to human attempts at validation.
• The Defender's Opportunity: Security Operations Centers can leverage Agentic AI to automate threat hunting, reduce false positives, and achieve response speeds that were previously impossible, effectively turning defense into an autonomous function.
• Market Transformation: Andrew believes Agentic AI will disrupt the entire IT industry, potentially marking a shift away from standardized SaaS platforms toward highly customized, data-proximate agent architectures.

• Connect with Andrew Milroy on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewmilroy/

Welcome back to Cyber Dialogues! In a world filled with digital threats, the question isn't just what we need to learn, but how we learn it.

In this episode, your host Sharmin Jassal, sits down with the visionary founder of Quitch, Grainne Oates, to discuss a groundbreaking new partnership with Palo Alto Networks. We dive deep into the power of nano-learning—a mobile-first, gamified approach that’s making cybersecurity training accessible, engaging, and incredibly effective.

Grainne shares the origin story of Quitch, explores how AI is shaping the future of personalized education, and reveals how you can use a few minutes a day to level up your cyber smarts. Don't miss this conversation on why quick, bite-sized learning is the key to securing our future.

What We Discuss:

• The origin story of Quitch and how it evolved into a powerful edtech platform.
• The science behind nano-learning and spaced repetition for long-term knowledge retention.
• How the new partnership with Palo Alto Networks is democratizing cybersecurity training.
• The future of learning: how AI and personalized education are changing the game.
• Why nano-learning is the perfect antidote to "doom scrolling" for busy professionals and small business owners.

Guest: Grainne Oates is the CEO and founder of Quitch, an edtech company that uses mobile-first, gamified learning to improve knowledge retention.

Resources & Links:

• Learn more about Quitch: https://www.quitch.com/
• Explore the partnership: https://www.paloaltonetworks.com.au/company/press/2025/palo-alto-networks-and-quitch-partner-to-make-cyber-training-more-engaging-accessible
• Connect with Grainne Oates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drgrainneoates-b07589139/