The AI attack surface with Katherine McNamara

LimaCharlie

Apr 30, 2026

Join us for this week's Defender Fridays as Katherine McNamara, Cybersecurity Technical Solutions Architect at Cisco, breaks down the expanding attack surface of AI and ML systems and what organizations need to do to secure them before it's too late.

At Defender Fridays, we delve into the dynamic world of information security, exploring its defensive side with seasoned professionals from across the industry. Our aim is simple yet ambitious: to foster a collaborative space where ideas flow freely, experiences are shared, and knowledge expands.

What We'll Discuss

In this episode, Katherine McNamara cuts through the hype to expose the real security gaps organizations are creating as they rush to adopt AI tools, from unsecured chatbot integrations to shadow IT and OAuth overexposure, and what defenders can actually do about it.

Key Topics:

Why most organizations only understand one AI threat (and miss all the others)
How prompt injection works and why it's essentially social engineering an amnesiac
The four critical components to secure in any AI system: Model, Data, Application, and System
Why integrating public AI models with backend systems requires the same rigor as any other third party access
The risks of user-run AI agents like local LLM tools installed on work machines
How OAuth permissions are being exploited through AI tool adoption
Why written policies alone will not stop shadow AI use

About Our Guest

Katherine McNamara is a Cybersecurity Technical Solutions Architect at Cisco with nearly two decades in the tech field and multiple CCIEs to her name. She works daily with enterprise customers navigating complex security challenges, and brings a practitioner's perspective to the often-overlooked vulnerabilities introduced by AI adoption.

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Register here: https://limacharlie.io/defender-fridays

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