Welcome to Data Security Decoded. Join host Caleb Tolin in conversation with Morgan Adamski who leads Cyber, Data, and Tech Risk at PwC and is a former US national security leader who spent 16 years tracking nation-state threats inside the US government. Coming out of a career spent inside secure facilities without windows or phones and working to address China’s prepositioning in US critical infrastructure, Morgan shares a direct view of how geopolitics is now shaping cyber risk decisions in boardrooms.

What You'll Learn:

• Why only 24% invest in proactive defense, even while 60% call cyber a top priority

• How AI agents are cutting breach timelines to under 80 days

• Why cyber insurance is now a hygiene scorecard, not just financial protection

• The real reason leaders lack confidence in resilience

• Where legacy systems and supply chain dependencies expose blind spots

• How public–private collaboration changed the response to China’s infrastructure campaign

• What CISOs must confront now to avoid being blindsided by the next crisis

The conversation gives security leaders and decision-makers a clear view of where current strategies fall short and the choices required to build real resilience before the next crisis forces it.

Episode Highlights:

[03:43] Why China prepositions inside US critical infrastructure to trigger disruption and panic in a crisis

[04:20] Collective defense in action: how victims and industry exposed the campaign

[09:27] The truth behind cyber budgets: only 24% invest in proactive defense

[11:57] How AI agents are shortening breach lifecycles to under 80 days

[13:07] Why cyber insurance is now a security scorecard, not a safety net

Episode Resources

• Caleb Tolin on LinkedIn

• Morgan Adamski on LinkedIn

PwC’s 2026 Global Digital Trust Insights report