At Black Hat USA 2025, Liz Morton, field CISO at Axonius, joins theCUBE’s Jackie McGuire for a candid discussion on how economic realities are reshaping security conversations and purchasing decisions. Morton draws from her 30-year career, including leading cybersecurity at Intercontinental Exchange, to share how her role has shifted from internal program leadership to influencing customer outcomes as a sales-facing executive. She explains how Axonius’s asset intelligence platform is helping practitioners and executives alike align budgets, risk reduction and operational priorities, especially as security teams face budget freezes and rising pressure to quantify risk. The conversation explores how defensive strategies are evolving in response to both emerging threats and constrained resources. Morton unpacks the value of visibility as the foundation of modern security programs, highlighting the pitfalls of tool sprawl, “set-and-forget” deployments and misaligned investments. She offers a pragmatic lens on bridging IT and security functions, structuring deals to fit real-world constraints and shifting from reactive firefighting to continuous improvement. For leaders navigating uncertainty, Morton’s insights reveal how to make the business case for security in 2025 – and why knowing your environment is the first step to getting ahead of the next exploit.