Robert Esposito brings over 25 years of experience in the cybersecurity industry and currently resides in the South Bay Area of Silicon Valley, California. His career reflects a diverse background, beginning in the 1990s after graduating from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo with a BS in Industrial and Technology Education. Working as a part-time Automotive teacher and Food Manufacturing Supervisor, he soon landed full-time work as a Control Process Systems Engineer for an environmental process control manufacturer in the photolithography market. In this role, he supported high-profile domestic and international clients, including Intel, Tokyo Electron, Motorola, IBM, and Tower Semiconductor in Israel. Robert’s introduction to cybersecurity came in the mid-1990s when his PC was compromised by a Master Boot Record virus. This incident steered his career toward cybersecurity, where he held roles at organizations like Cabletron/Enterasys, ArcSight, and Boeing. At Boeing, he was recognized as an Associate Technical Fellow and led cybersecurity programs for the Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Energy (DoE), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and Boeing Commercial Airlines (BCA). While at Boeing, Robert developed a cybersecurity assessment platform that was used globally, including in Singapore, Japan, and Qatar, and domestically with the DoE. This platform integrated AI/ML capabilities, earning him and his team a patent for a system and method for detecting botnet activities. He and team also performed penetration testing of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, working closely with the FAA as part of the aircraft’s flight certification process. Over the course of his career, Robert has worked with companies such as A10 Networks, Vectra, and Phosphorus. While at Phosphorus, he frequently spoke at cybersecurity conferences on threats and trends related to operational technology (OT), industrial control systems (ICS), and the Internet of Things (IoT). Today, Robert is dedicated to helping organizations navigate the escalating challenges in AI and cybersecurity. Agentic and Autonomous AI—advanced systems capable of making decisions, operating with minimal human oversight, and addressing complex problems—have become integral to nearly every industry. Widespread adoption makes them prime targets for cyber-attacks, underscoring the critical need to safeguard their models, inference and perception systems, and data against destruction, disruption, and exploitation.