Published on: October 22, 2025 Updated 2 times since publishing
SafetyDetectives recently spoke with Chris Glanden, Founder and CEO of BarCode Security, to discuss his unconventional path into cybersecurity and how he built a thriving community around authentic, human-centered conversations about security. From launching the BarCode Podcast during the pandemic to founding a consultancy focused on blending strategy, creativity, and culture, Chris has redefined what it means to make cybersecurity relatable. In this interview, he shares how BarCode Security helps organizations strengthen defenses, the growing threat of cognitive deception, and why balancing technology with human behavior is key to building lasting resilience.
Can you tell us about your journey into cybersecurity and what led you to start BarCode Security?
My path into cybersecurity was anything but traditional. I’ve always been passionate about technology, but I didn’t have the grades to get into a 4 year school, so I went to community college (in the mid’90s) before cybersecurity was even a thing. During that time, I became a dad, so ended up leaving and went straight into the workforce. My first job was as a cable tech at a local cable company, where I got to personally witness the rise of highspeed internet and digital TV. That ignited my interest about how all this cutting edge technology actually worked behind the scenes.
I moved into IT support at JPMorgan Chase, and that’s where I really got thrown into the deep end. Solving problems fast, and essentially learning on the fly. Over time, I met and interacted with peers in security field, and one of them recruited me into my first analyst role in 2012. From day one, I was hooked. It honestly didn’t feel like a 9-5 anymore. It was a new passion that I wanted to study and master on my own time.
Fast forward a few years, I was working in security consulting, and during the pandemic, I recognized a huge void. All of the in-person networking and side conversations that make our community special were gone. So, I created BarCode Podcast to virtualize that element and to bring that energy back.
If you think about it, the idea was simple. Recreate the kind of authentic, after-hours conversations you’d have at the bar or hallway after a conference. No slides, no suits, just real people talking about security and life. That’s what BarCode became. An online space for genuine connection, storytelling, and community.
What is the mission of BarCode Security, and how do you approach helping organizations strengthen their defenses?
At its core, the mission of BarCode Security is to help organizations strengthen their defenses by blending strategic advisory, human awareness, and creative engagement.
What that means is that we don’t just hand over a checklist of controls or throw technology at the problem. We look at the entire security ecosystem, which includes people, process, and technology. Every environment has different maturity levels and pain points, so our approach begins with understanding the organization’s culture and its risk tolerance. From there, we help clients build or enhance their programs around resilience. We emphasize context-driven security rather than universal frameworks. That could mean developing an advisory roadmap, employing a vCISO, or creating a holistic awareness programs that make security part of the company DNA.
Truthfully, what differentiates us is the creative layer we bring. BarCode was built from a hybrid of cybersecurity skills and storytelling. So, we leverage written content, film, podcasting, and live events to make security relatable. Whether it’s awareness training for employees or strategy workshops for executives, the goal is to make people care. When people care, they change behavior.
What do you see as the biggest security challenges businesses are facing right now?
Currently, I think the biggest security challenge facing businesses is the intersection of identity and deception, specifically through the rise of weaponized AI technologies.
We have already entered an era where attackers don’t need technical sophistication as much as they need psychological precision. Deepfakes, synthetic voice cloning, automated phishing toolsets are all mechanisms being used to impersonate trust at scale. And that’s dangerous because identity has become the new perimeter.
Traditional controls were built to protect systems and networks. But now, the target is people. For example, the CFO getting a voice call that sounds like their CEO, or an employee receiving a personally prescribed email that looks like it came directly from IT. These attacks bypass firewalls, EDR, and everything in between because they exploit human perception.
At BarCode, we call this the age of cognitive deception. Defending against it is becoming more critical by the day, and it will require a new level of both detection technology and human awareness.
How do you balance the technical side of cybersecurity with the human and cultural elements inside an organization?
You said the magic word – “balance”.
You can have the best technology solutions in existence, from XDR, to XYZ.AI. But if your people don’t understand why those controls exist or how their behavior ties into them, your security posture will be fragile.
To me, cybersecurity is 50% technology and 50% psychology. The technical side gives you visibility and control and the human side gives you resilience. You need both working in sync, and embedded within the culture of operations. Ideally, you want to make security invisible, by being engrained in how people think, communicate, and make decisions.
Artificial intelligence is becoming a bigger part of security conversations—what opportunities and risks do you think it brings?
AI is a double-edged sword. On the opportunity side, AI gives defenders incredible leverage. We can now detect anomalies faster, correlate massive data sets in real time, predict attack patterns before they happen, and incorporate better automation within our security operation tools.
On the other side of that coin s weaponized AI. The same tools that help us defend are being used by attackers to deceive us. Deepfakes, cloned voices, adaptive phishing, automated reconnaissance… we’re seeing mass identity manipulation at a scale that didn’t exist before.
Looking ahead, how do you see BarCode Security evolving to meet the needs of organizations in the future?
When I first started BarCode, it was about starting real conversations, by making cybersecurity approachable, human, and creative. That’s grown into something much bigger. Looking ahead, I see BarCode evolving into a full-scale ecosystem that brings strategic advisory, awareness, and culture together under one platform.
In fact, that platform is already in development, and we’re targeting an early 2026 release. I really believe there’s untapped power within the security community through meaningful connections, insights, and personal mappings we haven’t fully leveraged yet. We want to be the ones to build something that helps optimize that collective intelligence.
Ultimately, our mission stays the same: to make security human again. That’s the thread that ties everything we do together.