Compliance Unfiltered With Adam Goslin

A.I. Grab Bag - Episode 205

Compliance Unfiltered With Adam Goslin

Show Notes

On this episode of Compliance Unfiltered, Todd Coshow and cybersecurity expert Adam Goslin delve into the hidden dangers of AI's rapid adoption. They uncover why organizations are neglecting essential safeguards, leaving sensitive data vulnerable, and how AI is being exploited as a malware command center. With insights into recent security failures and emerging standards from ISO, NIST, and IEEE, this episode is a must-listen for security professionals and business leaders. Learn how to implement responsible AI strategies and avoid becoming a cautionary tale. Hit play to understand what's truly at stake with AI.

Episode Transcript:

Well, Adam, we're going to do a little bit of something different. This is the episode that we're calling the AI Grab Bag. Now, there continues to be a lot of chatter. Things continue to heat up in the world of AI. It seems like we've got a number of topics in that area to discuss. Why don't you kick it off for the folks today?

Sure. I mean, in the AI space, I mean, this has been relatively well-documented, you know, that I'm like, eh, let's just kind of luggies our way into this and take it slow, and let's be smart, and you know, all that fun stuff. And I don't regret that approach, you know, as it relates to AI.

I mean, with any new technology, there's certainly a lot of opportunity, but there's also a lot of risk involved, et cetera. And really what you're depending on is you're depending on organizations to, oh, I don't know, act in a scrupulous manner to, you know, take this stuff seriously, to, you know, do their part as an upstanding member of society that's taking their responsibility seriously. So, you know, I mean, I don't typically crack out the good old tinfoil hat that often, but, you know, this arena especially tends to remind me a lot of lessons that don't appear to have been learned from the, you know, from the fine days of good old Edward Snowden. So, you know what? I was surprised about it. That was like 13 years ago that that hit the airwaves and everybody's like, oh, you know, shock and awe, right? Oh my God, what do you mean that, you know, there were, you know, surreptitious programs that were collecting up information and data on everybody under the F and so on, most of it illegal, you know, yada, yada, yada from, you know, the biggest tech giants that existed at the time, sharing information surreptitiously with the governments, you know, and, and, and, you know, and, you know, you just, you sit and you think about, you know, just the nature of the information and data that exists today. And especially in this world of, you know, world of AI, I personally find it perplexing that more people haven't been on the side of, you know, asking some real tough questions, some hard questions, you know, what are you doing with this information? Who are you sharing it with? Where does it reside? Who has access to it? And, you know, are there, are there back doors into the, you know, into the, into the vaults of data that, that these AI platforms are, you know, are grab bagging themselves, you know, so, you know, there's just, there's a, I think there's a lot of lessons to be learned. You would hope that people learn the lessons, but, you know, it's been, it's, it's been pretty entertaining kind of watching where people's headspace is, you know, for the last couple of years on this, you know, kind of AI trek, if you will.

No doubt about it. And it's funny how things quickly, how quickly things move in the tech space, like 13 years ago is an eternity as you're talking about technology.

So now I know you've been extra cautious when it comes to what you call the zombie walk toward AI over the course of the last couple of years. Um, it seems like you're not alone there. Tell us more.

Well, I mean, one of the things that as I walked into it is, you know, kind of a slow cautious, you know, let's, you know, let's wait for this arena to mature and, you know, and all that fun stuff.

More from Compliance Unfiltered With Adam Goslin

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Fresh from the 20th PCI North America Community Meeting, Todd Coshow and Adam Goslin break down what had the PCI compliance world talking. From AI and compliance fatigue to manual evidence collection and the annual audit scramble, they explore the challenges teams still face—and what’s changing. Hear why continuous compliance, smarter automation, multi-framework management, and responsible AI governance are becoming essential for organizations looking to reduce friction, improve accountability, and make compliance suck a whole lot less. Episode Transcript: Well, Adam, we’re officially back from the 20th PCI North America community meeting. Give me your overall impression. What was the energy like this year and what stood out to you? Adam Goslin: Well, I can tell you one thing for sure. I forget who it was. I had a conversation with somebody that was complimenting you on starting the pod with a different, “Oh, Adam’s the sparkle of your sterling silver,” or whatever you come up with. They’re like, “I don’t think we’ve ever heard Todd say the same thing twice. It’s pretty impressive.” So yeah, you were getting some shout-outs. Todd Coshow: Appreciate that. Adam Goslin: The show was a little bit smaller than I expected. Now, I know it was in Canada, so people have to actually travel internationally to be able to get… Todd Coshow: Shout out to Vancouver. Incredible city. Adam Goslin: Oh, hell yeah. Hell yeah. We got us some absolute rockstar poutine while we were up there. It was definitely a good time. Beautiful place, beautiful city. We were very, very lucky. The days of the conference were absolutely gorgeous. It was blue sky and sunny. Sometimes when you head to the northwest of the US, Seattle area, southwest Canada region, it tends to be a little wet sometimes. Todd Coshow: It can get a bit gloomy. You’re not wrong. Adam Goslin: Yeah, no, it held off. It was great. It was a little bit smaller. I’d say there were maybe two-thirds of the normal crowd. Todd Coshow: Sure. Adam Goslin: This year they didn’t have some new version of PCI or whatever. It was their 20-year anniversary, so there was a lot of hoopla around that and whatnot. I’m hoping that next year it’ll be in Vegas. One of the side notes that we got out of the conference was it sounds like, from the release timing for the next version of PCI, they were not specific if, right now we’re on 4.0.1, so are we going to 4.1? Are we going to 5? Don’t know yet. But whatever it is, I believe they’re going to have that ready to start previewing next year. So one, being in Vegas, someplace easy for everybody to get to, lots of fun stuff to do in that area, and if they’re gonna be releasing a new version of PCI, I’m really hoping that the numbers are up over where they normally are. The one person that I do wanna give a shout-out to is good old Gina at PCI. She’s always been involved in helping to coordinate and orchestrate the show. She does a fricking rockstar job. Todd Coshow: Absolutely. Adam Goslin: That lady needs a raise, for sure. She’s always very attentive and helpful and all that fun stuff, so I wanna give her a shout-out too. There was a high amount of engagement at the show. Because it was smaller, it has an ancillary impact, which is that the quality of those conversations tends to go up. Todd Coshow: Yeah, it does. Adam Goslin: So that part was cool. Vancouver was kind of like a homecoming for me because the very first show that we did as TCT where we had a booth was… Todd Coshow: Oh, cool. Adam Goslin: My wife, Kit, and I manned the booth in Vancouver in 2019. So it was kinda cool seeing it come to a full-circle moment on the 20-year anniversary, etc. A couple other people I wanted to give a shout-out to. First is Heidi and Jeff. Thank you so much for the annual gift box. Quite frankly, I started tucking into it before it even made it back home. So that was much appreciated. And a special shout-out to Paul.

Sep 24, 2026

What happens when your compliance champion suddenly disappears? Todd Coshow and Adam Goslin explore the hidden risks of building a compliance program around one go-to person. From tribal knowledge and scattered evidence to undocumented processes and failed handoffs, discover why single-person dependency can derail your next audit. Learn how clear ownership, documented procedures, distributed responsibility, and a centralized source of truth can create a resilient compliance program that survives resignations, vacations, turnover, and the unexpected. Episode Transcript: Today, Adam, we’re gonna talk about a fateful day, and that is the day that your compliance champion leaves. Every successful compliance program seems to have that one person who knows where everything is, understands every control, remembers every audit finding, and somehow keeps the entire program running and the coffee cups full. But here’s the question, Adam: If your compliance manager quits tomorrow, would most organizations’ compliance programs survive? Also, why do so many compliance programs become dependent on one single person? Adam Goslin: I just had this visual of people running down the hallway screaming. It’s cats and dogs and da, da, da, da. I think it’s a little extreme to go, would they survive? Well, yeah. There’s that expression out there, right? “Everybody’s replaceable.” That’s what they think. It doesn’t mean… Now, could they be replaced? Sure. But at what cost is really the question. Todd Coshow: Exactly. Adam Goslin: Most companies kind of have that central figure. Quite honestly, the main reason why for a lot of organizations that it ends up funneling down to this one person is that, at the end of the day, most organizations are managing their stuff manually. There’s too much going on. There’s too many control owners. There’s too many hands in the pie. There’s too many assessors. There’s too many states this stuff can be in for everybody to go sticking their fingers in the midst of all of the tracking, etc. If you’re using a manual system, then you’re almost forced into this notion. But not even almost forced. For every single company that I’ve ever seen that has either completely manual or hodgepodge manual and internal systems, etc., it ends up eventually gravitating to that single individual. The reason is simple. Organizations keep getting burned as they are trying to manage their programs. Somebody went in there to go and make mass updates to their stuff. Let’s pretend we’re using an Excel sheet. I go, “Oh, I need to mark these 10 things in this state.” Inadvertently, the person that’s going in to make their 10 things update accidentally blasts 57 items in the process and overwrites their statuses, etc. When you’ve got shared sheets, etc., it is not if you’re going to have a problem, but when or how many times you’re gonna experience a problem. It forces organizations to move into this notion where they’ve got the one ring to rule them all, type of deal. So you end up with that go-to person. The other thing is that whoever that central figure was, they’ve learned a lot, right? Year over year over year. It’s knowledge building that basically accumulates between their ears. I’ve been through so many audits, and I’ve learned what the assessors are looking for and their feedback. I’ve got boots-on-the-ground operational experience of running the program, etc. That person that’s at the center of the compliance efforts, they literally amass an unbelievable amount of data, information, experience. It isn’t experience that this person could just poof, walk away, and somebody else is just gonna inherit it. It’s not the reality. Over time, the knowledge, data, and information moves out of documented processes and things along those lines and lands up in somebody’s noggin.

Sep 10, 2026

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