AI-Native Cybersecurity, MSP Automation, and What Education Must Change Next - with Manal Iskander

On the Cybersecurity Recruiter podcast, the host speaks with Manal Iskander, founder of PCtronics , co-owner of Green Shack Marketplace, and Marketing Lead at Fugazi about how AI and cybersecurity are now inseparable and how she’s using an AI-native, agentic software stack (including SuperOps, NinjaOne, SentinelOne, Huntress, and SharePoint-based automation) to speed onboarding, triage tickets, and generate monthly security and operations reporting that drives recurring revenue plus project work.

She describes using a human-centered “double diamond” approach (discover, define, design, deliver) with governance and accountability to decide what to automate vs. keep human-in-the-loop, giving examples like overriding blocked logins for a traveling CEO. She discusses private equity buying MSPs based on MRR, her goal to build toward a much larger exit, and her July 30 keynote in Sacramento for California higher-education CTOs on standardized AI adoption, governance, curriculum shifts toward critical thinking, and risks like Anthropic’s “Mythos” zero-day tool.

Book recommendations mentioned: “Abundance,” “The Human Fork Encoded,” and “The 80-Year Theory.”

00:00 Welcome and Introductions

00:28 Keynote and AI Security

01:51 Manel Background Story

03:25 Restaurants and Balance

04:47 Building an AI Native MSP

07:25 PBS Show Origin Story

09:47 Tech as Human Extension

13:54 Human in the Loop Security

15:19 Double Diamond Workflow

19:58 Automated Reporting Engine

23:20 Private Equity and Exit Plans

24:41 Leaving Reporting Teams

25:30 AI Tools For Operations

25:52 AI Boom For Business

26:57 Education Adapts To AI

30:18 Governance For Universities

31:30 Mythos Zero Day Fears

32:48 AI Geopolitics And Money

37:06 Human Fork And Cycles

40:22 Future Work And UBI

42:23 Keeping Up With Pace

43:42 July Keynote Preview

46:46 Adoption Divide And Wrap