Building the Defender Advantage in an AI-First World
About This Session
AI has fundamentally changed the way enterprises think about security, not just because it introduces new risks, but because it changes the speed at which everything happens. Organizations are moving beyond experimentation and into large-scale AI deployments, forcing security leaders to rethink how they protect both their environments and the AI systems running inside them.
This session explores how CISOs can build a "Defender Advantage" in an AI-first world. Drawing on conversations with large enterprises and emerging trends across the industry, Michael will discuss how AI is changing security operations, why response time is becoming the defining metric, and what security leaders should be doing today to prepare their organizations for what's next.
This session explores how CISOs can build a "Defender Advantage" in an AI-first world. Drawing on conversations with large enterprises and emerging trends across the industry, Michael will discuss how AI is changing security operations, why response time is becoming the defining metric, and what security leaders should be doing today to prepare their organizations for what's next.
Speaker
Michael Montoya
Chief Technology Operations Officer - F5
Michael is responsible for the enterprise‑wide strategy and execution to operate the company with security and resiliency at its core. He leads F5’s Security, Risk, and Digital Operations organizations, driving end‑to‑end operational trust for customers, partners, and employees.
Montoya joined F5’s executive leadership team in October 2025 after serving on F5’s Board of Directors from 2021 to 2025. Prior to F5, Montoya was Chief Operating Officer at BlueVoyant and previously served as Chief Information Security Officer at Equinix and Digital Realty. He spent more than a decade at Microsoft in global leadership roles, including Chief Cyber Security Officer, regional CIO/CISO for EMEA and Asia, and a global leader for Datacenter Operations.
Montoya joined F5’s executive leadership team in October 2025 after serving on F5’s Board of Directors from 2021 to 2025. Prior to F5, Montoya was Chief Operating Officer at BlueVoyant and previously served as Chief Information Security Officer at Equinix and Digital Realty. He spent more than a decade at Microsoft in global leadership roles, including Chief Cyber Security Officer, regional CIO/CISO for EMEA and Asia, and a global leader for Datacenter Operations.
