How do you secure systems when attackers are moving faster than your developers?
Derek Foster has spent his career inside that gap. From breaking video games with GameShark to securing large-scale fintech systems, he now builds what most teams still lack: a way to test, validate, and fix vulnerabilities continuously, not once a year.
As Co-Founder and CTO of Best Defense, Derek is building an AI-driven cybersecurity platform that doesn’t just flag risks, it proves exploits and ships fixes directly into developer workflows. That shift matters now. Software velocity is accelerating, attackers are faster, and the cost of a breach averages over $4M.
In Today’s Episode We Discuss
- 00:01Introduction to Derek Foster & Best Defense
- 00:37Derek’s Background and Early Curiosity in Systems
- 02:25From Gaming to Cybersecurity Foundations
- 04:41First Experiences in Security and Problem Solving
- 07:24Origin Story of Best Defense
- 10:42AI, Developer Velocity, and Rising Security Risks
- 13:15Target Customers and User Focus
- 14:29Why Traditional Security Models Are Broken
- 17:30AI, Trust, and Security in Developer Workflows
- 21:19Fixing Vulnerabilities vs Detecting Them
- 23:12Building Automated Security Remediation
- 26:32Market Trends and Investor Blind Spots
- 29:32Common Security Mistakes Founders Make
- 31:52Hardest Engineering Decisions at Best Defense
- 33:56Open Source vs Closed Source Strategy
- 36:12Long-Term Vision for Cybersecurity
- 39:30Red Team vs Blue Team Explained
- 42:28The Future of Cybersecurity and Automation
- 46:07Seamless Security in Developer Workflows
- 48:30Metrics That Signal Industry Change
- 49:37Governance Debt and AI Risk
- 51:19SOC 2 Compliance and Security Standards
Follow Derek Foster on LinkedIn: LinkedIn