Developing the Skills Needed for Modern Software Development - Keith Hoodlet, Shashwat Sehgal, Ron Rasin - ASW #376
Application Security Weekly (Audio)Show Notes
The future of secure software is going through a mix of skills expected of humans and skills files created for LLMs. We might even posit that appsec as a discipline will fade (and that might not even be a bad thing!). Keith Hoodlet describes the skills he was looking for in building teams of security researchers and why there's still an emphasis on the ability to learn about and understand how software is built. But figuring out what skills will get you hired and what skills are valuable to invest in still feels daunting to new grads and others entering the security industry. We discuss where the role of appsec seems to be heading and a few of the security and software fundamentals that can help you follow that direction. Segment resources https://bsidessf2026.sched.com/event/2E1h4/we-pwn-the-night-growing-leading-an-31337-security-research-team?iframe=yes&w=100%&sidebar=yes&bg=no https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_zLH8vuHU1XOjEyk85WecQwSByDwxAmQ/view?pli=1 https://securing.dev/posts/if-i-were-eighteen-again/ https://research.nvidia.com/labs/lpr/slm-agents/ Then, we rebroadcast two interviews from RSAC 2026. The Identity Crisis of Agentic AI Identity security is being stretched between legacy infrastructure that was never built to be secure and rapidly emerging AI agents and non-human identities that organizations are quickly adopting. As AI accelerates, identity risk grows alongside it, making agentic security fundamentally an identity challenge—because the more access AI has, the greater both its power and potential risk. In this session, Ron Rasin explores how past gaps in areas like Active Directory and machine identities created today's blind spots, and why identity must now act as the control plane for AI-driven enterprises, with real-time enforcement before access is granted. He also highlights new innovations and partnerships enabling embedded identity controls across human, non-human, and AI identities, emphasizing that at machine speed, reactive security is no longer enough. To learn more about Silverfort and their AI Agent product, visit https://securityweekly.com/silverfortrsac. Privileged by Design: AI Agents and the New Identity Risk to Production Systems At RSAC this year, the AI conversation is getting more practical. Less "look what agents can do" and more "who's actually in control when an autonomous system can take real actions across business apps and infrastructure." The Moltbook breach and the growing attention on OpenClaw-style agent vulnerabilities put real weight behind that question because they show how quickly agent ecosystems can scale past oversight. Today we're talking with Shashwath, CEO of P0 Security, about why identity and authorization are the quiet enablers of modern AI, where teams are losing control as non-human identities explode and what security leaders can do to keep innovation moving without turning access sprawl into enterprise risk. To learn more about P0 Security, visit: https://securityweekly.com/p0rsac. Visit https://www.securityweekly.com/asw for all the latest episodes! Show Notes: https://securityweekly.com/asw-376
More from Application Security Weekly (Audio)
The OWAS Mobile Application Security (MAS) project recently released an updated version of its guidance, with excellent advice organized into common weaknesses, a verification standard for devs (MASVS), and a testing guide (MASTG). Ryan Lloyd and Jan Seredynski from Guardsquare dive into the project to talk about how it's been updated, how orgs can use it, and the challenges orgs face in managing their mobile frameworks and environments. We also cover how agents and LLMs are impacting mobile security and what future iterations of the MAS project might include for securing mobile apps interacting with LLMs or being written by LLMs. Finally, we share practical ways for developers to get involved as OWASP contributors and advocates. Segment Resources: https://mas.owasp.org https://mas.owasp.org/MASWE/ https://hubs.ly/Q04ykvgm0 This segment is sponsored by Guardsquare. Visit https://securityweekly.com/guardsquare to learn more! Visit https://www.securityweekly.com/asw for all the latest episodes! Show Notes: https://securityweekly.com/asw-405
To celebrate our 404th episode we discuss what's not found in modern appsec and what still exists that should become not found. The conversation starts with a classic problem of appsec -- looking for a reliable vuln prioritization methodology. But we expand from there to challenge whether a focus on vulns and patches is even the right choice for an appsec program. Then it's on to incentives, the role of agents in writing and securing software, and what we should be looking for to bring new appsec practitioners into the industry. Visit https://www.securityweekly.com/asw for all the latest episodes! Show Notes: https://securityweekly.com/asw-404
The principle of least privilege access is ubiquitous in recommendations, but perhaps too uncommon in practice. Alex Olivier explains how the AuthZen Working Group has been approaching new standards, guidelines, and practical deployment patterns to make it easier for orgs to establish more refined and correct access policies. It's a problem that predates LLMs, but also one that agents and MCPs made all the more acute. We talk about what intent means when trying to constrain agents' activities, what role LLMs have in policy decisions, and how LLMs can help create a much-needed inventory of access controls. Segment Resources: https://www.cerbos.dev/blog/dimmer-switch-not-a-kill-switch-rethinking-ai-agent-governance https://www.cerbos.dev/blog/multi-hop-delegation-ai-agents https://openid.net/wg/authzen/ Visit https://www.securityweekly.com/asw for all the latest episodes! Show Notes: https://securityweekly.com/asw-403
Finding flaws with LLMs and agents is changing bug bounty programs. But it's not necessarily changing how orgs fix those flaws. Shlomie Liberow shares his experience across a decade of bounty programs and how they have changed for researchers and orgs. He explains why fixing the bug reported through a bug bounty is more about understanding interconnected systems than fixing a single piece of software. We discuss how orgs can be more effective at securing their environment and what role LLMs might have in evaluating controls. Plus, we look to the future of bug bounty programs and how researchers can still excel through curiosity and expertise on a topic rather than relying on scanners, prompts, and luck. Visit https://www.securityweekly.com/asw for all the latest episodes! Show Notes: https://securityweekly.com/asw-402
Prompt injection demonstrates one of the major challenges in securing LLMs and agents -- how do you ensure an agent ignores attackers and only does what you instructed it to do. The flaw highlights how LLMs mix inputs, context, and outputs without any strict boundaries between them. Julie Brunias joins us to talk through examples of injections, why their consequences can go beyond information leaks, and why trying to mitigate them with other LLMs is insufficient. Segment resources: https://llmgateway.io/open-source https://www.wiz.io/blog/off-guard-breaking-litellm-from-authentication-bypass-to-cloud-compromise Visit https://www.securityweekly.com/asw for all the latest episodes! Show Notes: https://securityweekly.com/asw-401