Phishing didn’t get smarter, it got better at looking normal. What used to be obvious scams now blend directly into the platforms, workflows, and security controls people trust every day.

In this episode, Ron sits down with Yaamini Barathi Mohan, 2024 DMA Rising Star and Co-Founder & CPO of Secto, to break down how modern phishing attacks bypass MFA, abuse trusted services like Microsoft 365, and ultimately succeed inside the browser. Together, they examine why over-reliance on automation creates blind spots, how zero trust becomes practical at the browser layer, and why human judgment is still the deciding factor as attackers scale with AI.

Impactful Moments

00:00 - Introduction 02:44 - Cloud infrastructure powering crime at scale 07:45 - What phishing 2.0 really means 12:10 - How MFA gets bypassed in real attacks 15:30 - Why the browser is the final control point 18:40 - AI reducing SOC alert fatigue 23:07 - Mentorship shaping cybersecurity careers 27:00 - Thinking like attackers to defend better 31:15 - When trust becomes the attack surface

Links

Connect with our guest, Yaamini Barathi Mohan, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yaamini-mohan/

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Why MFA Isn’t the Safety Net You Think It Is with Yaamini Barathi Mohan

Hacker Valley Studio

Why MFA Isn’t the Safety Net You Think It Is with Yaamini Barathi Mohan