CyberTech Top Voice: Interview with Recep Ozdag, VP Americas at Keysight Technologies

Hello, CyberTech community. Welcome to part #22 of the CyberTech Top Voice interview series with Recep Ozdag, VP Americas at Keysight Technologies.

In this latest edition of the CyberTech Top Voice Interview Series, we’re joined by Recep Ozdag, Vice President and General Manager at Keysight Technologies. With over two decades of experience in cybersecurity, networking, and cloud solutions, Recep leads Keysight’s efforts in addressing the ever-evolving challenges of cloud security, network visibility, and performance monitoring. In this insightful conversation, he shares his journey, Keysight’s role in securing the digital landscape, and how the company is leveraging AI/ML to stay ahead of emerging threats in the fast-paced world of 5G and 6G networks.

Join us as Recep Ozdag shares his insights on the future of cybersecurity, the role of Keysight Technologies in tackling cloud security challenges, and how AI/ML is transforming the industry.

Hi Recep, welcome to CyberTech Top Voice Interview. Please tell us a little bit about your journey. How did you start at Keysight?

Recep: I received a PhD in asynchronous chip design and joined a startup that was focused on developing switching silicon. I was there for 10 years and at the end of that 10 years, we were acquired by Intel. I stayed at Intel for a couple of years, then left and joined a software company specializing in SDN and NFV orchestration software, targeting both on-premise and in the cloud infrastructure. A few years later, it was acquired by Ciena, which really helped us transform many of the service provider customers by combining optical, ethernet, switching, and SDN orchestration. After a few years, I joined Keysight to lead their network visibility organization. And this is really great because network visibility is right at the center of cybersecurity, application performance monitoring, network performance monitoring, observability, and service assurance. 

So, it’s really a key technology that touches all these important aspects of service provider networks and enterprise IT. 

Recommended CyberTech Interview: CyberTech Top Voice: Interview with Resec’s David Gordon

Discuss Keysight’s role in addressing evolving cloud security challenges. How do you stay updated with the latest cybersecurity threats and mitigation strategies?

Recep: I wouldn’t necessarily create a separation between cloud and non-cloud security because everything is connected at this point; there is no organization that is not somehow using the cloud. The only significant difference in my view is that with cloud, you cannot just install any hardware or software solution that you choose in a public cloud infrastructure that belongs to a cloud service provider. Securing your private cloud is much easier, but we have developed software solutions that work with all clouds to improve security for our enterprise customers.

 Staying current requires a lot of highly educated people. At Keysight, we have our own threat intelligence team that looks at everything happening in the cybersecurity world, from known and emerging threats to best-practice mitigation strategies. 

We also influence cybersecurity at a number of different levels. For example, we just acquired a company called Riscure that addresses security at the chip level, which affects the entire supply chain. Then we move up to the network and data center infrastructures where Keysight network visibility solutions come into play. 

We monitor the entire data center as well as cloud workloads for cybersecurity threats and we have a test division that focuses on cybersecurity and vulnerability assessments so we can do penetration testing at various intervals and intensities to understand vulnerabilities at the data center level.

I don’t know of another company that combines the testing of security down to the chip level with visibility and continuous monitoring of the entire infrastructure. Working with customers and partners in all these capacities keeps us up to date and actually ahead of trends in the global threat landscape.

That includes partnering with virtually all leading cybersecurity vendors, and now, with our new AppFusion AI initiative, we’re integrating security monitoring technologies directly onboard our visibility solutions to accelerate detection and response.

How is Keysight leveraging AI/ML in its cybersecurity solutions? What are your thoughts on the current state of cybersecurity workforce development?

Recep: Keysight leverages AI in multiple ways, including several cybersecurity initiatives that we have underway. Because we monitor all the data in the network, one application for AI and ML is to train and customize visibility solutions for customers. Every customer’s setup and the types of data traversing their data centers might be different, so there is no “one size fits all” approach. 

One AI initiative is to listen to the network and observe data for about 30 days to baseline the architecture before turning on an application so it can better detect various abnormalities. For example, if somebody connects a USB stick to a laptop that starts sending data from the network when that’s not supposed to happen, or it doesn’t usually happen at that time of day, that would be something abnormal we can detect. It’s very programmable, and with AI and ML we can fine-tune these capabilities for our customers.

We can also use AI to give customers greater control in the cloud by programming the underlying monitoring solutions to detect and suppress false alarms and only highlight the true alerts.

 Another initiative would be to avoid having to perform SSL decryption using keys by using AI and ML to predict what the data is going to be.  We also have efforts underway to use AI/ML to manage the entire visibility infrastructure and divert resources based on the changing needs of the data center. Meaning, if abnormalities occur in one part of the network, we can divert resources and focus on analyzing a certain piece with other packet brokers or other solutions that we have. 

In terms of cybersecurity workforce development, companies expect to hire seasoned cybersecurity experts, and that’s a huge challenge because we simply don’t have enough. AI and ML can help with that.

Obviously the more we can use AI and ML to automate repetitive manual work, the more security professionals can focus on more challenging jobs and specialize and develop broader skillsets. That in turn helps companies attract and retain top-tier talent. 

Using these technologies also helps professionals keep up with a very dynamic environment. If you look at the types of malicious actors, the methods, the vulnerabilities, it’s a very diverse ecosystem. It’s difficult to find somebody who’s an expert in everything, and it’s not getting easier because we’re getting more connected and hackers are using AI and ML as well. 

Recommended CyberTech Interview:  CyberTech Top Voice: Interview with Zimperium’s Krishna Vishnubhotla

What are the key security considerations for 5G and 6G networks, and how is Keysight addressing them?

Recep: One critical aspect of 5G is the expanded attack surface that comes with having billions of devices connected and more edge computing creating decentralized attack vectors that are harder to secure. 

 

One common challenge that service providers face is striking the right balance between performance and security. You can try to be 100% secure and that can render a network virtually unusable, or you can be very flexible and then security becomes a challenge. Managing cost here is also an issue: you can use all the tools in your arsenal to strengthen security, but that also becomes cost-prohibitive. This is very important in the 5G cybersecurity space because subscribers are not necessarily willing to pay a lot more for new services, which means service providers need to deliver 5G and cybersecurity solutions in a highly cost-effective manner—AI can definitely help with that.

 Supply chain risk from third-party vendors on the infrastructure side is another issue for 5G and 6G service providers and the whole ecosystem. AI-driven cyber threats. Are yet another challenge; we’re seeing this occurring with distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks deepfake-powered phishing that’s affecting 5G users as well.

 This is pretty new, but we’re also seeing some aspects of quantum threats. A quantum threat refers to the threat quantum computers pose to current cryptographic systems. The idea is that quantum computers could break encryption protocols, such as RSA, ECC, and AES, which secure internet communications. 

With software defined networks, once that gets hacked, there’s an issue there. 

Recommended CyberTech Interview: CyberTech Top Voice: Interview with ABBYY’s Max Vermeir

The final piece would be data privacy and protection where a lot of organizations and countries and the entire EU want strong reinforcements. The question becomes: How do you achieve privacy and strong cybersecurity at the same time? That’s very challenging. 

Keysight has a very lengthy and rich tenure in this, working very closely with partners throughout our cybersecurity ecosystem.  The AppFusion integration program that we recently launched creates tightly integrated third-party cybersecurity solutions that give customers complete solutions that address these concerns.

Not only are the solutions tightly integrated, but most of these third-party applications can run directly on our visibility devices like network packet brokers. The advantage to the end customer is that they can get everything in one solution, one box.

How important are collaborations and partnerships within the cybersecurity ecosystem? Can you share any insights into Keysight’s R&D efforts in the cybersecurity domain?

Recep: Partnerships and collaboration are essential in cybersecurity for a number of reasons. For one thing, the threat landscape changes so quickly that collaboration plays a vital role in keeping up, or hopefully a step ahead of emerging threats, threat actor groups, and evolving risks being created by AI, 5G, remote work, and other trends.

Another reason collaboration and sharing intelligence is essential is that risk can be introduced anywhere across a company’s supply chain or overall ecosystem. We all need to be working together to anticipate, discover and eliminate risk that can come from anywhere at any time. 

In terms of our own development efforts, the AppFusion Partner Integration Program that we just launched focuses directly on collaboration and partnerships and effectively ‘automating’ that whole process for customers. With AppFusion, we enable customers to deploy and run AI agents from their preferred security vendors—our partners—onboard our Vision network packet brokers. This integration eliminates hardware requirements and streamlines deployments but more importantly it ensures the tightest possible integration of multiple technologies. 

At the time of the launch, we announced Forescout and Nozomi Networks as two of the first partners whose security monitoring and analysis technologies are among the first to be integrated within AppFusion. There will be more announcements coming throughout the year.

Along with the ongoing collaboration efforts happening with AppFusion, several of Keysight’s next initiatives involve collaborating with partners around things we’ve discussed here already, like 5G/6G, and leveraging AI/ML to improve security there.

How does Keysight ensure that its cybersecurity solutions meet customer needs?

Recep: Understanding customer needs means understanding their pain points. Keysight customers include some of the leading organizations in the world—the largest banks, governments, service providers, IoT vendors—and we have Customer Advisory Boards for each of these industries that we work with very closely to understand those pain points.

We engage with customers directly and as early as possible. We conduct regular user interviews and work with their cybersecurity organizations. We also attend many cybersecurity conferences and workshops with our customers and with our channel and technology alliance partners so we also get lots of feedback and input directly from customers there.

What advice would you give to aspiring cybersecurity professionals?

Recep: I would advise aspiring professionals to master the fundamentals first and then look to specialize. Learn about operating systems where you’ll uncover many vulnerabilities, become familiar with the basics like encryption, authentication, threat models, and develop hands-on skills with networking protocols like TCP, IP, DNS, and HTTP.

Professionals can develop certain skills on their own using home labs and virtual machines and platforms like “Try and hack me” that create real-world scenarios.

I would recommend obtaining the basic certifications but not relying on them exclusively. I think it’s important to specialize in a niche because cybersecurity is so wide, whether it’s IoT, digital forensics, classic threat hunting, incident response, pen testing, ethical hacking or maybe 5G/6G.

It also helps to develop good communication skills to help stakeholders throughout the company understand the implications and value of security and security data and how they should be using AI.

Recommended CyberTech Interview: CyberTech Top Voice: Interview with Oasis Security’s Danny Brickman

What are your predictions for the future of CyberTech in 2025?

• The rise of post-quantum cryptography will become more important as governments and even large enterprises and hyperscalers transition to quantum-resistant encryption.
• AI-powered cybersecurity and AI-driven threats will continue to evolve as the two go hand-in-hand. AI-driven defense systems should improve in terms of real-time detection, so we’ll see improved speed, improved accuracy, and possibly automated incident response and even enhanced penetration testing as well. All these can be done with AI.

Against this, of course, we will also see AI-powered cyberattacks as well with ChatGPT, deep fake phishing, and AI-driven malware. AI is a tool that can benefit us but also the attackers we’re trying to protect against.

• There will also be even more increased awareness and activities around cyber warfare and nation state attacks as we continue to invest in more sophisticated cyber operations. And of course that affects everything from supply chains, IoT, elections, infrastructure—everything is connected. So, given that nations are also investing in AI, it makes sense for them to sprinkle a bit of the AI magic into this as well.
• IoT and OT will become even bigger targets. To date some attacks have been ‘hush-hush,’ but we’re definitely going to see more of that, particularly with 5G and edge computing and private 5G, and all the Industry 4.0-connected factories. Hacks will increase tremendously and we’ll definitely need to increase the spend on protecting that against these hacks.

Given the prevalence of AI, which is one of the reasons why Keysight is investing in AI across all business units, our            visibility solution acts as the lynchpin technology that brings APM/NPM, 5G monitoring, 5G cybersecurity, and overall      enterprise security together. We have a critical role to play in delivering AI-based solutions that improve the accuracy and speed of detection and make it all more cost-effective for customers.

Tell us about some of the top CyberTechnology/Other B2B events you’ll participate in (as a speaker or guest) in 2025.

Recep: I will be at the foremost events in cybersecurity including RSA, BlackHat, GovWare, and Infosecurity Europe. We also take part in a host of smaller regional conferences and events. We are pitching several sessions for inclusion in these agendas, particularly around AI.

Please tag a CyberTech leader or researcher you would like to get featured in the CyberTech Top Voice interview series.

Recep: I would definitely suggest reaching out Rik Ferguson, VP Security Intelligence at Forescout.

Thank you so much, Recep, for your delightful insights. We look forward to having you again at the CyberTech Top Voice engagements.

Recommended CyberTech Interview: CyberTech Top Voice: Interview with Fenix24’s Heath Renfrow

To participate in our interviews, please write to our CyberTech Media Room at news@intentamplify.com