A personal note from me instead of an essay.
Most of what I write here is about the strategy layer between the business and the technology: who decides what an agent is allowed to do, who is accountable when it does it, and how leaders govern that at scale. Over the next month there are three places where that conversation moves from the page to a room. I would like you in those rooms.
Here they are, in the order they happen.
1. Tomorrow: Who’s Authorized? Managing Agentic Intent
Thursday, September 10, 10:00 to 11:00 AM PT, LinkedIn Live
Rohan Pinto (Founder and CTO, 1Kosmos) joins me for an hour on the question every identity team is now being asked: when an agent acts, who authorized it, and how do you prove it? The fabulous Heather Vescent moderates.
We will cover the AuthR protocol, why intent is becoming the new perimeter, and what NeuroNest learned putting agent authorization into practice. No slides to sell you. Just two practitioners working through a hard problem in public.
Register: Reserve your seat on LinkedIn Live
2. September 17 to October 8: Digital Twin Builder Workshop
Thursdays, 8:00 to 10:00 AM PT, online, four sessions
This is the hands-on cohort Heather and I built for leaders who are tired of reading about agents and want to ship one that would survive an audit. Over four weeks you build your own governed digital twin: the retrieval layer, the decision traces, the guardrails, and the deployment.
It is for CISOs, CTOs, Heads of Risk, directors, and architects. Bring your own judgment. We supply the pattern, the templates, and the working sessions. Seats are limited so the cohort stays small enough to actually help you.
Register: Claim a seat in the cohort
3. October 8: Candid CISO Season 2 launches, with a live event in Palo Alto
Thursday, October 8, 6:00 to 8:00 PM, Anderson Collection at Stanford University
John Donovan and I are bringing The Candid CISO Podcast back for Season 2, presented with HYPR. Season 2 focuses on the pressure identity and security teams are under as the workforce becomes agentic, and whether the discipline is maturing as fast as the risk.
To open the season, we are recording live in front of an audience. Our guest is Jason Chan, former VP of Information Security at Netflix and the person most associated with the “paved road” model of security. The conversation: The Paved Road Is Dead. Long Live the Paved Road. What still holds when the developers using your paved road are agents, and what has to be rebuilt?
Live recording, then a reception. If you are a security leader in the Bay Area, or can be that Thursday, this is the one I would most like to see you at.
Register: RSVP for Candid CISO Live in Palo Alto
Subscribe to Candid CISO for Season 2 episodes and updates:
Why these three, together
Each one takes a different cut at the same problem. The webinar is the protocol argument. The workshop is the build. The live event is the leadership conversation about what changes when the paved road has to carry non-human traffic. Attend one and you will get something useful. Attend all three and you will have a working point of view on agentic governance before most of your peers do.
I hope to see you tomorrow.
Steve
If you know a security leader who should be in one of these rooms, forward this note.