Dan Cole, senior vice president of product management at Sophos, unpacks how cybersecurity strategy is shifting from a prevention-first mindset toward resilience and response.

Cole traces his career from the early days of mass malware outbreaks like Melissa and ILOVEYOU through today’s environment of nation-state actors, AI-assisted attacks, and sprawling hybrid workforces. While the tools and threat actors have evolved, he argues the core challenge has remained the same: attackers move fast, defenders are always reacting, and perfect prevention has never been realistic.

That reality is driving organizations to rethink how they measure security success. Rather than asking whether breaches can be stopped entirely, Cole explains that CISOs and boards are now asking how quickly incidents can be detected, contained, and recovered from. This shift is helping elevate managed detection and response (MDR) as a practical layer of operational resilience, especially for organizations without round-the-clock in-house expertise.

He also explores how artificial intelligence is changing both sides of the equation. Attackers are using automation to scale reconnaissance and exploitation, while defenders are increasingly relying on AI to triage alerts, surface real threats faster, and reduce response time. Cole emphasizes that AI alone is not the answer—human expertise still matters—but AI can dramatically improve signal-to-noise ratios when paired with experienced analysts.

Hybrid work emerges as another recurring theme. With users moving between office, home, and remote locations, Cole highlights the importance of consistent security policies that follow the user rather than the network. He discusses why fragmented controls and inconsistent enforcement create blind spots that attackers can exploit.

Ultimately, modern cybersecurity is a balance between technology, people, and process. Prevention still matters, but resilience is now the defining measure of an effective security program.