AI can help businesses identify threats faster—but it also introduces new agents, behaviors, conversations, and vulnerabilities that must be secured.

Ryan Grant, Country Manager for ESET North America, joins Joey Pinz to explain how cybersecurity is changing as organizations rapidly adopt artificial intelligence. Ryan shares lessons from competitive sports, his first technology role with an MSP, more than two decades at Ingram Micro, and his transition to leading ESET across North America.

The conversation examines ESET’s updated PROTECT portfolio, including AI agent security, behavioral monitoring, conversation security, MDR, and its combination of artificial intelligence with human oversight. Ryan also reveals why many smaller businesses remain dangerously dependent on basic antivirus protection while overlooking fundamentals such as multifactor authentication, patch management, email security, governance, and continuous monitoring.

He explains why MSPs should extend existing cybersecurity frameworks into AI instead of creating an isolated AI practice—and why prevention must receive as much attention as incident response.

🌟 Top 3 Highlights:

🤖 AI Requires Oversight: Why autonomous agents should be monitored, governed, and treated much like employees.

🛡️ Prevention Before Response: Why cybersecurity must move “left of boom” instead of concentrating exclusively on post-breach recovery.

🏄 Priorities Create Discipline: How sports, leadership, health, and customer service taught Ryan that consistent discipline begins with choosing what matters.