In this landmark 99th episode of the Cybersecurity Readiness Podcast Series, Dr. Dave Chatterjee is joined by Denny LeCompte—CEO of Portnox (https://www.portnox.com/) and a former SolarWinds executive—to examine one of cybersecurity’s oldest yet most persistently exploited challenges: access control.
Despite decades of investment in passwords, MFA, and perimeter defenses, breaches rooted in access failures continue to dominate headlines. Drawing on firsthand experience—including lessons learned from the SolarWinds Sunburst breach—LeCompte explains why password-centric security models are fundamentally misaligned with human behavior and modern digital environments.
Together, Chatterjee and LeCompte argue for a decisive shift toward passwordless, device-centric, zero-trust access models that assume human fallibility, eliminate implicit trust, and dramatically reduce attack surfaces. Framed through Dr. Chatterjee’s Commitment–Preparedness–Discipline (CPD) lens, the episode reframes access control not as an IT configuration issue, but as a core pillar of cybersecurity governance, business resilience, and competitive survival.
00:49 — Episode framing and the persistence of access control failures
03:15 — Why passwords remain fundamentally broken
05:54 — Enterprise vs. consumer passwordless realities
09:25 — SolarWinds breach lessons and access control failures
17:52 — Zero trust explained without the buzzwords
23:07 — Device identity, IoT risk, and network visibility
28:02 — Why identity and device controls must converge
35:52 — How leaders should assess access control maturity
42:52 — Designing security for human behavior
43:30 — Closing reflections
To access and download the entire podcast summary with discussion highlights - https://www.dchatte.com/episode-99-access-control-reimagined-why-identity-devices-and-zero-trust-must-converge/
Connect with Host Dr. Dave Chatterjee
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dchatte/
Website: https://dchatte.com/
Books Published
Cybersecurity Readiness: A Holistic and High-Performance Approach
Articles Published
Chatterjee, D. and Leslie, A. (2024). “Ignorance is not bliss: A human-centered whole-of-enterprise approach to cybersecurity preparedness,” Business Horizons,