Can AI Lift Organizations Above the Cyber Poverty Line?

Despite decades of advances in cybersecurity tooling, DevSecOps, and awareness, far too many organizations still operate below what might be called the cyber poverty line — lacking even minimal cyber hygiene. Surveys show that only about half of organizations have adopted DevSecOps best practices (51%), and fewer still use foundational tools like infrastructure-as-code (IaC) scanning (48%) or dynamic application security testing (DAST) (47%).

Why are these gaps still so wide? Cultural inertia, developer resistance, lack of policy and budget, and simple skill shortages continue to stall progress. But with AI reshaping how we build and secure software, could this finally be the equalizer? Can AI help lift under-resourced teams above the cyber poverty line — automating hygiene, enforcing policy, and embedding secure practices into every line of code?

Join experts from Checkmarx and Techstrong Group, along with Global Engineering Platforms Lead at Thoughtworks, for a forward-looking conversation about how AI can transform DevSecOps adoption. We’ll explore:

Why so many organizations still struggle to operationalize basic application security.
How AI-generated code introduces new risks — and opportunities — for secure development.
What it takes to embed “code-to-cloud” security into self-service developer platforms.
Whether AI can finally help organizations cross the chasm — from cyber poverty to cyber maturity.

If you’ve ever wondered whether AI can bridge not just the skills gap but the security gap, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss

Avi Hein

Sr. Product Manager - CheckmarX

Avi Hein is a Senior Product Manager at Checkmarx, where he leads go-to-
market strategy for application security solutions including SAST, DAST, API Security,
and AI-powered tools. With previous experience with cybersecurity leaders including
AlgoSec and Imperva, Avi turns complex security challenges into clear, actionable
strategies for CISOs, developers, and AppSec teams.

Luca Galante

VP, Product & Growth - Humanitec

Luca is the Core Contributor to PlatformEngineering.org, the world’s largest platform engineering community with over 200k members. He routinely speaks to dozens of engineering teams every month, and summarizes his learnings and takeaways from hundreds of setups into crisp, insightful content for everyone in the industry, from beginner-Ops to cloud experts. He is the host of PlatformCon, the world’s largest platform engineering event, and writes to over 100,000 engineers every Friday in his newsletter, Platform Weekly.

Alan Shimel

Founder & CEO - Techstrong Group

Alan is founder, CEO & editor-in-chief of Techstrong Group, the company behind DevOps.com, Container Journal, Security Boulevard and Digital Anarchist, as well as co-founder of the DevOps Institute. As such, he is attuned to the world of technology, particularly cloud, DevOps, security and open source. With almost 30 years of entrepreneurial experience, Alan has been instrumental in the success of several organizations. He is an often-cited personality in the security and technology community and is a sought-after speaker at industry and government conferences and events. In addition to his writing, his DevOps Chats podcast, DevOps TV and Digital Anarchist audio and videos are widely followed. Alan attributes his success to a combination of a strong business background and a deep knowledge of technology. His legal background, long experience in the field and New York street smarts combine to form a unique personality. He is a graduate of St. John's University with a Bachelor of Arts in Government and Politics, and holds a JD degree from NY Law School.

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