The Epistemology of Trust
Mike Wilkes
BSidesSF 2026 · Day 2 · AMC Theatre 12
In "The Epistemology of Trust," Mike Wilkes challenges conventional cybersecurity wisdom, urging a fundamental shift in how organizations perceive and manage risk. Drawing on his unique background in philosophy and decades of experience as a CISO, Wilkes argues that the prevailing focus on **breach likelihood** is an outdated and ultimately futile endeavor. Instead, he proposes adopting a **breach cadence** mindset, which assumes compromise is inevitable and prioritizes an organization's ability to recover, adapt, and even strengthen itself in the face of attack. This philosophical reframing is particularly pertinent in what Wilkes terms the "posthuman era," where the rapid ascent of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) acts as a powerful accelerant, amplifying both the strengths and weaknesses of an organization's security culture.
AI review
Wilkes is a credible speaker with genuine CISO experience who packages familiar ideas — assume breach, antifragility, AI-as-accelerant — into a coherent philosophical frame. The talk is well-structured and uses real incidents effectively, but it's synthesizing existing concepts rather than advancing them; most of this has been said before, at better venues, with more rigor.