Tech Advances We Love to Love

Love is in the air. Not romantic love or proposals or marriages or online scams (though there’s plenty of that floating around as well). This Valentine’s Day, Tech-Channels asked cybersecurity professionals to spill the tea on what they really love—technology.

Not every advance is something as life-altering as AI (or cloud or the internet before it). Some tech true loves are more subtle but every bit as important as the tech that sweeps you off your feet. Read on to see what tech our cyber experts choose as partners.

Automated discovery. “Every CISO is dealing with environments that are too complex and fast-moving to secure with static inventories or manual tracking. We all know you can’t protect what you can’t see, so visibility has to be continuous, providing real-time insight into what’s actually being used across SaaS, cloud, APIs, and AI. It keeps inventories current, helps steer teams toward approved tools, and quickly surfaces new shadow tech, from unsanctioned AI agents to MCP servers. In a world of growing sprawl, automated discovery makes cybersecurity stronger, smarter, and more sustainable for everyone.” - Diana Kelley, CISO, Noma Security

AI. “What I love most about the advances we’re seeing in AI and modern cybersecurity isn’t the novelty, it’s the opportunity. Every new capability pushes us to strengthen our fundamentals: well-understood process and inventory, data and identity management, clear ownership of business outcomes. Maturation of the way we think about protecting the systems that keep businesses running. For me, the exciting part is the maturity it forces across the entire ecosystem. Using these advancements to drive better hygiene, smarter decision-making, and stronger resilience, is where the real impact happens.” – Robert Reck, Chief Information, Trust, and Security Officer, Pax8

Identity and data-driven controls. “AI is accelerating everything. It heightens the risks, yes, but it also gives us the chance to build security programs that are more adaptive, more predictive, and more closely embedded in day-to-day operations. I’m especially energized by the way identity and data-driven controls are evolving to meet this moment.” –Robert Reck

Security automation. “I’ll admit it, I love security automation. The kind that shows up every day, does what it’s supposed to do and doesn’t need constant attention. Automation that enforces policy consistently and removes human error is a low-maintenance relationship, and in security, that matters. I also love AI when it’s used as a force multiplier for security teams. Not as a replacement for experience or judgment, but as a way to help defenders move faster, see patterns sooner and scale their efforts without adding noise. When automation and AI make security stronger and simpler, with less drama, that’s a relationship worth keeping.” – Shane Barney, CISO, Keeper Security

Gemini. “For me, the best tech advance is using Gemini as a specialized collaborator. I use NotebookLM to learn and synthesize new research at 10x speed, but the real win is how I've shaped the model to complement my weak points. By training it to stop being a "yes-man" and start pressure-testing my logic, I’ve turned it into a critical partner. It doesn’t always save me time, but it makes my results much better and removes the most stressful parts of my job.” – Martin Zugec, Technical Solutions Architect, Bitdefender

Identity Fabric and phishing-resistant authentication. "The industry is finally falling in love with security again, and it’s largely due to the rise of Identity Fabric and phishing-resistant authentication. For years, we treated security and user experience as a zero-sum game, and if you wanted more of one, you had to sacrifice the other. With the shift toward Passkeys and FIDO2-backed MFA, we are effectively curing 'password fatigue.' Security professionals love these advances because they address the single most persistent vulnerability—human error—at the source. By removing the friction of traditional logins, we aren't just making the enterprise more resilient; we’re making defense more comprehensive by ensuring that the 'easy path' for the employee is finally the 'secure path' for the organization." - Hannah Perez, Director of Marketing, Suzu Labs

Assured Identity using biometrics (with proximity and domain bound credentials). This is the path to rapid passwordless login and absolute assuredness that the user is the authorized user. Whether its Office or Salesforce or Zoom, with AI generating spoofing sites and phishing emails that work every hour, we need 100% solutions. This is one worth watching." - Kevin Surace, Chair, Token

There may not be a Match.com for defenders and their tech — yet — but understanding organizational risk, operational maturity, and long-term strategy helps security leaders choose the right technology partners.