Ross Haleliuk

Experienced operator & builder shaping the future of cybersecurity. Now working on something new. 

📙 Book about building the future of cybersecurity 👉🏻 cyberforbuilders.com
📬 Blog & newsletter 👉🏻 ventureinsecurity.net
🚀 Angel syndicate for security practitioners  👉🏻 visangels.com

"Write something worth reading or do something worth writing." —  Benjamin Franklin

“Life is too short to do mediocre work, and it is definitely too short to build shitty things.” — Stewart Butterfield, Co-Founder of Slack

"As you start to walk on the way, the way appears." — Rumi

In security or otherwise, trends are temporary. Stick to fundamentals.

Director of Product

My LinkedIn feed is full of people screaming that cyber is dying, and they could not be more wrong. It's really, really simple: 

- When companies are looking for network security, they go to Palo Alto and Checkpoint, not to Cisco and Juniper even though they built the underlying network layer. 
- When companies are looking for browser security, they go to Talon (now Palo Alto), they go to Surf, LayerX, you name it, and not to Chrome. 
- When companies are looking for cloud security, they go to Wiz, Upwind, Palo Alto, and such, even though cloud provides the basics. 

There are 2 key points everyone needs to understand: 

1. The layer zero players (you can look up a Venture in Security article where I explain this) have to offer security, but they don't compete on security. To them, security is a way to address sales objections ("We can't buy cloud if it's not secure", "We can't use your browser if it's not secure" etc.). They offer good enough solutions for SMBs, they provide okay solutions for some midmarket companies, but they always fall short for enterprise. 

2. When layer zero adoption grows, it expands the market. Cloud adoption only made cloud security a more urgent, and a harder to solve problem. Sure, some companies are happy with the capabilities offered by CSPs, but many aren't which is why we have Wiz. The more companies install Cisco devices, the more of them buy Palo Alto firewalls. The list can go on and on. 

I talked about this at length - that AI labs are turning into a Layer Zero, similar to cloud providers, networking vendors, browsers, and so on. That will eventually give them the ability to compete on having an all-in-one suite which will include security, but that will expand the market, not contract it. 

Lastly, if you are worried that frontier AI labs will "solve security", here's an anecdote for you. In 2004, Bill Gates predicted that the problem of email spam would be solved within two years. For context, Mimecast was a 1-year-old startup, and Proofpoint was a year older. 22 years later, and the spam problem has only gotten worse, while companies that were supposed to be gone are now worth over $20 billion combined. In theory, Microsoft had everything it needed to solve the email security problem but in practice, well, you know what happened.

More on Layer Zero: https://lnkd.in/gfmMihdU

Security product leader, author, advisor, board member and investor.

Alex Waintraub, serves as a leader of strategic security initiatives, oversees threat detection and response programs, and implementations of security frameworks to protect organizations. Alex is also responsible for developing proactive defense strategies, ensuring businesses are prepared for and can effectively respond to cyber incidents. 

With nearly 15 years in cybersecurity, Alex has held leadership roles across multiple firms, specializing in DFIR, threat intelligence, and ransomware negotiations. He has built and managed SOCs from the ground up, developed incident response programs, and worked closely with organizations in healthcare, financial services, manufacturing, and beyond to improve their security posture. His hands-on experience in high-stakes cyber incidents has made him a trusted advisor in crisis situations, helping companies navigate complex breaches and ransomware attacks. 

Alex remains deeply involved in the industry and currently holds certifications with Splunk and Security Blue Team. He is a frequent speaker at major cybersecurity conferences and has contributed insights to publications like Forbes, RSAC Conference, NJNY Metro Cyber Conference, IT Nation Connect, Dark Reading, and CyberSecurity Dive.

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