Illumio’s CTO and Co-founder Shares 5 Zero Trust Tips

Security initiatives must align with your business goals to fuel organizational growth and success – something that’s easier said than done. But Zero Trust security principles can help! Illumio CTO and Co-founder PJ Kirner joined me on this week’s episode of The Segment: A Zero Trust Leadership Podcast to unpack how Zero Trust and business transformation go hand-in-hand.  

In this episode, we discussed Illumio’s founding story and the Zero Trust principles that the organization was established on, the need to limit “implicit trust,” how data-driven decision-making drives innovation at Illumio, and what PJ is expecting to see at this year’s RSA Conference (hint: AI is top of mind).  

Haven’t heard my other episodes with the Zero Trust experts? Listen here.  

The Segment episode 6: Illumio CTO and Co-founder PJ Kirner

As Illumio's CTO and Co-founder, PJ is responsible for Illumio’s technology vision and platform architecture. PJ has 20 years of experience in engineering, with a focus on addressing the complexities of data centers.  

Prior to Illumio, PJ was CTO at Cymtec. He also held several roles at Juniper Networks, including distinguished engineer focused on advancing Juniper’s network security and layer 4-7 services plane.  

Implementing Zero Trust across the business can mean achieving better outcomes, more trust from customers, and a smoother path towards growth. For PJ, this has been the goal of not only advocating for Zero Trust principles but also applying them within Illumio! Here are my top takeaways from this week’s episode:  

• 0:47 – The Illumio founding story  
• 11:39 – What do submarines and cyber resilience have in common?  
• 14:55 – Overcoming implicit trust  
• 24:40 – Validating ideas with data  
• 36:13 – What a CTO hopes to see at RSA  

Read the full episode transcript here.  

Listen to the next episode on May 1

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