AI, Cyber & Systemic Risk: Securing the Digital Frontline

Join Nicole Perlroth, New York Times Bestselling Author, former New York Times cyber journalist, cyber advisor and venture investor, Ballistic Ventures, Silver Buckshot Ventures, to examine how corporations balance profit with security and the real-world impact on customers when systems fail or data is compromised. The integration of AI into cybersecurity is transforming both the scale and nature of threats. At the same time, AI is not just part of the problem—it reshapes the defense landscape. The dual role of AI (in enabling threats and powering defense) makes this conversation highly relevant for risk management, institutional resilience, governance, and cross-sector implications. Perlroth is sounding the alarm about how cyber threats are evolving and calling for a shift in how the security community defines red lines and defends in this new threat environment.

In person and via Zoom.  

Nicole Perlroth, New York Times Bestselling Author, Former New York Times Cyber Journalist, Cyber Advisor, and Venture Investor (Ballistic Ventures, Silver Buckshot Ventures), is a cybersecurity journalist, author, and advisor who spent a decade as the lead reporter on digital espionage and sabotage for The New York Times. Her investigations exposed Russian, Chinese, Iranian, and North Korean cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, corporations, elections, and even The Times itself, helping prompt the first U.S. hacking charges against members of China’s People’s Liberation Army and earning her the “Best in Business Award” from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. Her co-investigation into commercial spyware in Mexico was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends, shortlisted for the 2021 McKinsey & Financial Times Business Book of the Year Award. Perlroth is a sought-after speaker, having given keynotes for organizations such as the U.S. State Department, the World Bank, and the Munich Security Conference, and has lectured at universities including Stanford, Princeton, Columbia, Harvard, and Berkeley. She holds a B.A. from Princeton University and an M.A. from Stanford University.

Moderator: Alexis Opferman, MBA ’26