Leaders of today’s channel security powerhouses such as Cyderes CEO Chris Schueler are showing how to strike the balance between separating the real AI threats and risks from the hype.
If there’s one thing the cybersecurity industry has never lacked, it’s FUD-driven marketing.
With the advent of AI and its undeniably massive impact (for the worse) on cyberattacks, these types of fear-based marketing tactics have lately gone into overdrive.
[Related: Cyderes CEO: ‘Not One’ CISO Has Disclosed Getting More Budget To Secure AI]
At the same time, that doesn’t mean the dangers aren’t real. They very much are. Some of what is happening around AI-powered threats is—let’s admit it—truly scary.
In my view, the key is knowing the difference.
That’s one of the reasons I believe the cybersecurity channel has a more pivotal role to play than ever right now. MSSPs and solution providers are the ones who know what is really happening, security-wise, inside customer environments.
The channel—with its unique vantage point that is both on the front lines, while also able to see broadly across customers—understands probably better than anyone how AI is affecting the security picture today.
They know whether the new technologies work for stopping AI-accelerated attacks—as well as where the risks may be getting exaggerated.
Ultimately, it’s leaders of today’s channel security powerhouses, such as Cyderes CEO Chris Schueler, who are showing how to strike the balance between separating the real AI threats and risks from the hype.
Speaking with me for the latest episode of CRN’s Security or Else! podcast, Schueler proved that it is possible to frame the urgency of the situation in a way that is neither alarmist nor overly dismissive of very real concerns.
For instance, Schueler makes it clear that some of the major claims in circulation, such as the idea that AI will replace security professionals, are nothing but hype. The notion that AI can remove the need for humans in a Security Operations Center (SOC), he told me, is “ridiculous marketing jargon.”
Without a doubt, AI-powered SOC tools are already proficient at gathering evidence, correlating signals and automating repeatable tasks. Kansas City, Mo.-based Cyderes, a major MSSP and No. 124 on CRN’s Solution Provider 500 for 2026, is using AI intensively for these very purposes.
That doesn’t mean that AI should, or even can, autonomously make all security decisions of consequence, however.
There’s no question that AI “will change the work and remove significant manual efforts,” Schueler said. “That is 100 percent true. We use it. I’m a huge fan of it. But security still requires people who understand intent, the business trade-offs and exceptions.”
From my perspective, this is exactly the type of reality check the cybersecurity industry needs. Faster does not necessarily mean safer because, as Schueler points out, an AI system that reaches a verdict rapidly is not an improvement if that verdict is wrong.
Still, Schueler is in no way minimizing the fact that there are huge concerns for cybersecurity in this brave new AI world. One of his comments during the interview for Security or Else! is among the most stirring I’ve heard all year.
Schueler said he regularly asks CISOs how much additional budget they’ve gotten to secure their organizations’ adoption of AI.
The answer: “Not one CISO—not one—has told me they’ve gotten any incremental budget to secure AI. Not one.”
All in all, “that to me is the biggest, scariest thing that I’ve ever seen,” Schueler said.
Overall, this approach—identifying what constitutes hype in AI and security, and what’s actually real—is exactly what I believe we need more of in the cybersecurity industry and channel today. That’s why it’s in the tagline for Security or Else!—and why we will continue speaking with the most compelling voices around the channel and vendor landscape on these topics.
Schueler follows four terrific Security or Else! guests who have brought their own perspectives to bear on questions of what the channel truly needs to focus on now when it comes to AI and security:
• CrowdStrike Chief Business Officer Daniel Bernard discussed why the surging usage of frontier AI demands an unprecedented mobilization across the industry and channel—and why being afraid is not, on its own, a strategy.
• Huntress co-founder and CEO Kyle Hanslovan discussed why MSPs have “all been drafted” into the response to the rise of autonomous attacks.
• ThreatLocker co-founder and CEO Danny Jenkins discussed why “fighting AI with AI” is not enough—and why controls such as zero trust and deny-by-default remain critical.
• Noma Security CISO Diana Kelley discussed why framing cybersecurity’s future as “AI versus humans” misses the point.
We’ll continue releasing new episodes of Security or Else! twice a month (available on YouTube, Spotify and Apple). Thanks for watching and let us know what you think with a like or comment.
