Fred Wilmot, CEO of Detecteam, joins the Disruption Interruption podcast to discuss rising cybersecurity threats, including the surge in zero-day vulnerabilities and the shortage of skilled detection engineers. He also introduces Detecteam's platform, which helps organizations assess and improve their defenses, reducing response times and costs while better preparing them for emerging threats.
TAMPA BAY, Fla., Jan. 21, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Cybercrime in the U.S. hit a staggering $12.5 billion in damages last year, highlighting the growing threats businesses and governments face daily. In response, the U.S. Justice Department has introduced new regulations to curb foreign access to sensitive American data—an effort to safeguard against espionage and cyberattacks. (1) In this week's new episode of the Disruption Interruption podcast, Fred Wilmot, co-founder and CEO of Detecteam, joins host Karla Jo Helms (KJ) to break down the evolving cybersecurity landscape, the role of AI in modern defense strategies, and why vendor accountability is more critical than ever. "The cybersecurity industry faces an amalgam of adversaries, from nation-state-driven to criminal gangs. But only 80 of 3,000 vendors can detect and alert you to the bad guys," highlights Wilmot.
Cybersecurity's Weakest Link: The Detection Engineer Shortage
Cybercrime is no longer a niche activity—it's a thriving industry, with ransomware alone costing businesses $1.2 billion in payouts last year, explains Wilmot. With double the number of zero-day vulnerabilities—unknown or unaddressed security flaws—compared to the previous year, attackers have more opportunities to exploit these flaws before vendors can patch them.
Yet, despite the growing threat landscape, the number of cybersecurity vendors focused on detection engineering is alarmingly small. Most security tools generate alerts or flag suspicious activity, but very few are designed to actively detect and disrupt cyber threats in real time.
This shortage extends beyond tools—it's also about people. Skilled detection engineers are shockingly rare. As Wilmot puts it, "Last time I checked, one of the requirements to be considered an endangered species was 2,500 or fewer. You could consider detection engineering an endangered species."
The Growing Challenges of Combatting Zero-Day Exploits
A decade ago, zero-day exploits were too valuable to be wasted on common cybercrime or ransomware. They were reserved for covert, long-term operations, such as nation-state espionage or sophisticated intelligence gathering, as Wilmot exposes. "But if you look at last year's number of vulnerabilities, there are 138. Seventy percent of those were zero-days."
These attacks often remain invisible until it's too late. Unlike vulnerabilities disclosed through the CVE system, zero-day exploits are used in the wild, undiscovered, for extended periods. "Somebody had some time... We've built an industry around testing security in production, finding threats only after they strike. But it doesn't work," Wilmot points out.
Bridging the Gap Between Detection and Defense with Detecteam
Wilmot comments that after spending years tackling this problem from both a CISO and product perspective, they developed Detecteam, a platform that can quickly assess an organization's detection regime—where it works, where it fails, and what needs to be fixed.
In just a few hours, the system can determine how prepared a company is for the threats in its risk register or the most pressing risks it faces. The challenge is that the technology stack designed for adversary simulation and the systems assessing defensive posture rarely intersect. "We reduce costs, response time, the required level of expertise, and add the missing automation to make all of this risk reduction one-tenth of what you would typically spend," Wilmot assures.
Links
Disrupting Extinction of Detection Engineering: Fred Wilmot's $24M Solution to the Next-Gen Threat Landscape
https://omny.fm/shows/disruption-interruption/disrupting-extinction-of-detection-engineering-fre
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fredwilmot/
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About Fred Wimot
Fred Wilmot is the Co-founder and CEO at Detecteam, a SaaS-delivered, cloud-strength performance testing platform that automates the detection lifecycle and improves detection behavior.
With over 20 years of Cybersecurity experience specializing in Product, Engineering, Sales, and GTM, Fred has also been the first CISO at three companies. As the first CISO at JumpCloud, he built and defended the product and organization from adversaries.
As head of Security Products and Engineering at Devo, Fred released a Security Operations platform generating $24M in its first year. As CEO/CTO at PacketSled, he built a DFIR product capable of finding adversaries on the network in 48 hours.
Fred was the founder of the Global Security Practice at Splunk. He also co-founded the Red Team Offensive Village at DEF CON and has done research in OT safety, including SCADA/ICS. He attended the United States Naval Academy and Florida State University.
About Karla Jo Helms
Karla Jo Helms is the Chief Evangelist and Anti-PR® Strategist for JOTO PR Disruptors™. Karla Jo learned firsthand how unforgiving business can be when millions of dollars are on the line — and how the control of public opinion often determines whether one company is happily chosen, or another is brutally rejected. Being an alumnus of crisis management, Karla Jo has worked with litigation attorneys, private investigators, and the media to help restore companies of goodwill into the good graces of public opinion — Karla Jo operates on the ethic of getting it right the first time, not relying on second chances and doing what it takes to excel. Helms speaks globally on public relations, how the PR industry itself has lost its way, and how, in the right hands, corporations can harness the power of Anti-PR to drive markets and impact market perception.
References
1. Joshi, Akshay, and World Economic Forum. "Cybersecurity News: US Introduces New Data Rules." World Economic Forum, 4 Nov. 2024, weforum.org/stories/2024/11/cybersecurity-news-november-2024/.
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727-777-4629
Media Contact
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SOURCE Fred Wimot
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