In this landmark 99th episode of the Cybersecurity Readiness Podcast Series, Dr. Dave Chatterjee is joined by Denny LeCompte—CEO of Portnox (https://www.portnox.com/) and a former SolarWinds executive—to examine one of cybersecurity’s oldest yet most persistently exploited challenges: access control.

Despite decades of investment in passwords, MFA, and perimeter defenses, breaches rooted in access failures continue to dominate headlines. Drawing on firsthand experience—including lessons learned from the SolarWinds Sunburst breach—LeCompte explains why password-centric security models are fundamentally misaligned with human behavior and modern digital environments.

Together, Chatterjee and LeCompte argue for a decisive shift toward passwordless, device-centric, zero-trust access models that assume human fallibility, eliminate implicit trust, and dramatically reduce attack surfaces. Framed through Dr. Chatterjee’s Commitment–Preparedness–Discipline (CPD) lens, the episode reframes access control not as an IT configuration issue, but as a core pillar of cybersecurity governance, business resilience, and competitive survival.

00:49 — Episode framing and the persistence of access control failures

03:15 — Why passwords remain fundamentally broken

05:54 — Enterprise vs. consumer passwordless realities

09:25 — SolarWinds breach lessons and access control failures

17:52 — Zero trust explained without the buzzwords

23:07 — Device identity, IoT risk, and network visibility

28:02 — Why identity and device controls must converge

35:52 — How leaders should assess access control maturity

42:52 — Designing security for human behavior

43:30 — Closing reflections

To access and download the entire podcast summary with discussion highlights - https://www.dchatte.com/episode-99-access-control-reimagined-why-identity-devices-and-zero-trust-must-converge/

Connect with Host Dr. Dave Chatterjee

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dchatte/

Website: https://dchatte.com/

Books Published

The DeepFake Conspiracy

Cybersecurity Readiness: A Holistic and High-Performance Approach

Articles Published

Ramasastry, C. and Chatterjee, D. (2025). Trusona: Recruiting For The Hacker Mindset, Ivey Publishing, Oct 3, 2025.

Chatterjee, D. and Leslie, A. (2024). “Ignorance is not bliss: A human-centered whole-of-enterprise approach to cybersecurity preparedness,” Business Horizons,

In this timely and hard-hitting episode, Dr. Dave Chatterjee is joined by Sandeep Pauddar—an accomplished global auditor with over 30 years of experience—to challenge a deeply entrenched misconception: that cybersecurity certifications and compliance are merely regulatory checkboxes. Instead, the conversation reframes compliance as a strategic asset—one that can strengthen trust, resilience, and competitive positioning in an era defined by AI, global regulations, and escalating cyber risk.

Drawing on real-world breach examples, audit insights, and cross-industry comparisons, Pauddar explains why organizations that treat compliance reactively often pay a steep price—financially, operationally, and reputationally. Dr. Chatterjee integrates his Commitment–Preparedness–Discipline (CPD) governance framework to demonstrate how leadership mindset, continuous audit readiness, and disciplined execution transform certifications from defensive necessities into engines of strategic value.

Together, they explore why leadership engagement—not regulatory pressure alone—determines compliance effectiveness, how audit culture can shift from adversarial to collaborative, and why proactive organizations outperform peers by embedding governance into everyday operations rather than scrambling after incidents occur.

00:49 — Episode introduction and framing compliance as competitive firepower

02:22 — Podar’s professional background and global audit experience

05:01 — Real-world consequences of non-compliance

07:30 — Sector comparisons and leadership mindset gaps

09:36 — Global regulatory approaches to cybersecurity and AI

12:33 — Compliance overload and framework fatigue

14:56 — Why audits fail to drive change

16:10 — Shifting from adversarial to collaborative audits

18:17 — Leadership’s role in cybersecurity culture

21:44 — Proactive vs. reactive compliance models

23:54 — Leadership best practices for audit readiness

25:45 — CPD framework applied to certifications

29:37 — AI standards and proactive governance

34:24 — Human risk, awareness, and phishing realities

37:44 — Closing reflection

To access and download the entire podcast summary with discussion highlights -

https://www.dchatte.com/episode-98-beyond-certification-turning-compliance-into-competitive-firepower/

Connect with Host Dr. Dave Chatterjee

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dchatte/

Website: https://dchatte.com/

Books Published

The DeepFake Conspiracy

Cybersecurity Readiness: A Holistic and High-Performance Approach

Articles Published

Ramasastry, C. and Chatterjee, D. (2025). Trusona: Recruiting For The Hacker Mindset, Ivey Publishing, Oct 3, 2025.

Chatterjee, D. and Leslie, A. (2024). “Ignorance is not bliss: A...

In this insightful episode, Dr. Dave Chatterjee speaks with Greg Clark—longtime enterprise content management and cybersecurity leader—about a foundational but overlooked ingredient of AI success: information readiness. While organizations rush to implement artificial intelligence, many neglect the quality, governance, security, and contextual integrity of the data fueling these systems. As Clark notes, without clean, curated, and governed information, even the most advanced AI models will misfire—sometimes with damaging or legally significant consequences.

Together, they explore why “garbage in, garbage out” is more relevant than ever in the AI era, especially as enterprises confront fragmented data, weak metadata, inconsistent governance, and high regulatory scrutiny. Dr. Chatterjee weaves in his Commitment–Preparedness–Discipline (CPD) governance framework, demonstrating why information readiness must be treated as a strategic capability, not a technical afterthought. The conversation illuminates how trust, data integrity, and responsible model oversight are emerging as competitive differentiators in the age of GenAI and agentic AI.

Time Stamps

00:49 — Dave introduces Greg Clark

02:43 — Clark’s 20+ year journey

07:14 — Defining information readiness

08:32 — Importance of understanding data

09:58 — Data chaos and pitfalls

12:00 — Trust erosion

13:29 — Air Canada chatbot case

16:22 — Auditability and explainability

18:51 — CPD applied to AI governance

20:43 — Operational maturity

22:53 — JPMorgan’s Responsible AI Council

25:43 — Security as strategic capability

27:35 — Zero trust and data protection

30:32 — Mayo Clinic example

31:25 — Metrics for buy-in

32:50 — Destroy-your-business scenarios

34:21 — Trust-first culture

36:09 — Human-in-the-loop

37:20 — GDPR case

38:23 — Final reflections

To access and download the entire podcast summary with discussion highlights - https://www.dchatte.com/episode-97-ais-missing-puzzle-piece-why-information-readiness-determines-ai-success/

Connect with Host Dr. Dave Chatterjee

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dchatte/

Website: https://dchatte.com/

Books Published

The DeepFake Conspiracy

Cybersecurity Readiness: A Holistic and High-Performance Approach

Articles Published

Ramasastry, C. and Chatterjee, D. (2025). Trusona: Recruiting For The Hacker Mindset, Ivey Publishing, Oct 3, 2025.

Chatterjee, D. and Leslie, A. (2024). “Ignorance is not bliss: A human-centered whole-of-enterprise approach to cybersecurity preparedness,” Business Horizons, Accepted on Oct 29, 2024.

Isik, O., Chatterjee, D., and...