a16z Podcast

a16z Podcast: Making Security More Useable

Vijay Balasubramaniyan and Todd McKinnon

Posted May 8, 2015

 

The days of cramming security down employees’ throats or sending out best-practices advice emails are over. “You have to make security more useable,” says Pindrop CEO and co-founder Vijay Balasubramaniyan. Especially in a world of ubiquitous connected devices, from smartphones to smart thermostats. Security also has to be attractive, argues Okta CEO and co-founder Todd McKinnon. For example, if an employee uses a more sophisticated form of authentication from the road, then they should get access to a deeper, fuller set of data or applications than if they hadn’t gone through that extra layer of security.

In this segment of the a16z Podcast, Balasubramaniyan and McKinnon discuss how they approach the problem of making security something that is both powerful and easy to use. From more sophisticated voice analysis to shifting from two-factor to three-factor and beyond authentication, where can technology push security next?

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The a16z Podcast discusses the most important ideas within technology with the people building it. Each episode aims to put listeners ahead of the curve, covering topics like AI, energy, genomics, space, and more.

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