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Uros is recognized as a Most Valued Professional (MVP) by Microsoft as an exceptional community leader for their technical expertise, leadership, speaking experience, online influence, and commitment to solving real-world problems. Learn more about MVPs and what it takes to become one here: FAQ | Most Valuable Professionals. Within our Security MVPs, Microsoft has hand-selected some of our top collaborative MVPs with a passion for working directly with the Product Group to share community insights with Microsoft and co-create content to help address the community needs. Read the interview below!
What first inspired you to pursue a career in cybersecurity?
My interest in cybersecurity began more than 20 years ago, long before it became a mainstream discipline. Early in my career, I was fascinated by how systems communicate, establish trust, and ultimately fail when that trust is broken. What started as a technical curiosity quickly grew into something far more meaningful.
As technology evolved, I witnessed security incidents become increasingly sophisticated and impactful. Attackers shifted from targeting isolated on‑premises environments to exploiting complex cloud and hybrid ecosystems, where identity, automation, and scale dramatically increased both attack surface and blast radius. Security incidents were no longer purely technical issues—they became business‑critical events with real operational, financial, and human consequences.
This evolution naturally led me toward Zero Trust principles—the idea that trust should never be implicit and must be continuously verified. I saw firsthand how traditional perimeter‑based models failed in cloud‑first and identity‑driven environments, and how modern attackers abused excessive trust, identity misconfigurations, and weak access controls to move laterally and escalate privileges.
What ultimately anchored me in cybersecurity was the realization that this field demands both deep technical expertise and responsibility. Over the past two decades, platforms, threats, and attack techniques have continuously changed—from on‑premises defenses to cloud‑native, identity‑centric attacks—but the core challenge has remained the same: protecting trust.
The need to constantly adapt, learn, and apply Zero Trust thinking to ever‑changing environments is what keeps me motivated in cybersecurity. In this field, standing still is not an option—and that ongoing challenge is exactly what continues to drive me forward.
Can you walk us through your journey to becoming a recognized MVP?
My journey to becoming a Microsoft MVP was long, intentional, and deeply tied to real-world security work across SIEM & XDR and Cloud Security. I spent years working hands‑on with Microsoft Sentinel, Defender XDR, and cloud security technologies, dealing with the realities security teams face every day—complex environments, noisy alerts, identity-driven attacks, and the constant pressure to do more with less. Over time, I realized that security operations and cloud security cannot be treated as separate disciplines; they must work together to be truly effective.
Much of my journey was built quietly, without guarantees or shortcuts. I consistently shared practical experiences—what worked, what failed, and what needed rethinking—rooted in real operational challenges. There were long periods of effort without visibility, recognition, or certainty that it would lead anywhere. But I kept going because the goal was never a title; it was to help others navigate complexity and build better security outcomes.
Being recognized as an MVP in both SIEM & XDR and Cloud Security was especially meaningful because it reflected sustained impact across two demanding domains. That recognition represented patience, persistence, and long‑term contribution—not a single moment or achievement. It reinforced my belief that staying hands‑on, sharing honestly, and consistently giving back to the community ultimately matters.
As a Microsoft Security MVP, I’m excited to keep contributing to the global tech community — sharing insights, exchanging knowledge, and learning together. Here’s to continued innovation, collaboration, and pushing the boundaries of what we can achieve in cybersecurity and AI!
What does being named an MVP mean to you personally and professionally?
Being named a Microsoft MVP is deeply personal to me because it reflects years of consistent blogging and intentional knowledge sharing, rather than a single achievement or milestone. Personally, the MVP award validates the time and effort I’ve invested in writing detailed technical blog posts focused on real‑world security challenges—often based on hands‑on experience, lessons learned the hard way, and practical scenarios from production environments. Blogging has been my primary way of contributing to the community: turning complex topics into clear, actionable guidance that helps others learn faster, avoid common mistakes, and gain confidence in their work.
Professionally, being an MVP represents a responsibility to continue that consistency. It means staying hands‑on, continuing to document real experiences, and mentoring others through written content that is honest, practical, and grounded in reality. I strongly believe blogging is one of the most powerful forms of mentorship—it scales knowledge, creates long‑term value, and supports people I may never meet directly. As an MVP, I also see blogging as a bridge between practitioners and Microsoft: sharing real‑world feedback, highlighting gaps, and helping shape solutions that truly work in day‑to‑day security operations. Ultimately, being an MVP reinforces my commitment to long‑term contribution through blogging, transparency, and community‑driven growth.
What are the biggest security challenges organizations are facing today?
Organizations are facing a rapid evolution in attack tactics, especially around identity, cloud, and unmanaged assets. One major challenge is ransomware targeting cloud servers, where attackers exploit identity access, lateral movement, and misconfigured cloud workloads to reach critical resources. Another growing risk comes from human‑operated ransomware (HumOR) attacks starting on unmanaged or lightly managed devices, which bypass traditional controls and use identity credentials to move into the enterprise environment.
Additionally, adversary‑in‑the‑middle business email compromise (BEC) attacks are becoming more sophisticated, enabling attackers to intercept authentication flows, steal session tokens or credentials, and impersonate trusted users without triggering traditional alerts. Across all these scenarios, the common theme is the abuse of identity and trust relationships rather than direct exploitation of infrastructure. This makes visibility across identity, cloud, endpoints, and email—and the ability to correlate signals across them—a critical challenge for modern security teams.
In your experience, what’s one vulnerability that teams consistently overlook?
Identity misconfigurations are the most consistently overlooked vulnerability I see across organizations. This includes over‑privileged users, legacy and unmanaged service accounts, dormant identities, weak or inconsistently applied conditional access policies, and unmanaged or non‑compliant devices authenticating into trusted environments.
Many security teams continue to focus primarily on perimeter defenses or endpoint protections, while modern attackers increasingly target identity as the primary entry point—and the easiest path to lateral movement and privilege escalation. In cloud and hybrid environments especially, attackers don’t need malware if they can abuse trust relationships, token theft, or misconfigured access controls.
What makes identity risk particularly dangerous is that small gaps—often labeled as low risk or deferred as technical debt—can be easily chained into full attack paths. A single stale service account, excessive directory role, or missing conditional access policy can undermine even the most advanced security tooling.
Treating identity as a core security control, not just an authentication layer, is essential. This means continuous identity hygiene, least‑privilege enforcement, visibility into attack paths, and validating how identity controls behave under real attack scenarios. Organizations that fail to prioritize identity security often discover it only after an incident—when it’s already been exploited.
Can you share a project or achievement you’re particularly proud of?
One project I’m particularly proud of involved helping organizations transition from fragmented security tooling to a unified security operations model built around Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Defender XDR, and Microsoft Security Copilot. The objective went well beyond tool consolidation—it was about fundamentally improving how SOC teams investigate threats, respond to incidents, and proactively hunt across their environments.
The work included redesigning detection logic, introducing SOC‑as‑code practices, and implementing automation for incident response and attack disruption. We also embedded Microsoft Security Copilot directly into investigation and threat‑hunting workflows, enabling analysts to quickly summarize incidents, understand attack paths, pivot across multiple data sources, and accelerate investigations using natural‑language queries.
The outcomes were tangible and measurable: reduced alert noise, faster investigation times, greater analyst confidence, and significantly less burnout. Seeing SOC teams shift from reactive firefighting to proactive, intelligence‑driven security operations made this project especially meaningful to me.
I’m also proud to share that I successfully completed the Microsoft Connected Security Program 2025, earning five Microsoft Black Belt badges across key security domains and MVP categories SIEM/XDR and Cloud Security:
Microsoft Sentinel SIEM
Microsoft Defender XDR
Microsoft Defender for Cloud
Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
This marks three incredible years in the Microsoft Customer Connection Programs. I’m deeply grateful to the amazing Microsoft Security Community team in Redmond—Kristina Quick, Pablo J. Chacón, Katie Ryckman, Linnet Kariuki, Adrian Moore, Kari Feistner, Jeena Cassidy, Rod Trent, and Ashley Martin—for their mentorship, collaboration, and inspiration throughout this journey.
I’m excited to continue this momentum and take on new CCP challenges in 2026, especially around Microsoft Threat Protection Advisors.
How do you balance strong security practices with user experience and productivity?
I focus on risk‑based, adaptive security rather than one‑size‑fits‑all controls. Strong security doesn’t have to create friction if it’s driven by context and automation. By using identity signals, device posture, behavior, and location, organizations can apply stricter controls only when risk increases, while keeping everyday user experience seamless.
In parallel, automation plays a critical role. In the SoftwareOne Global Center of Excellence, we actively apply SOC‑as‑code practices, where detections, response logic, and security workflows are built, versioned, and deployed consistently through automation. This approach reduces human error, speeds up response, and ensures security controls are applied reliably at scale without interrupting users. By combining identity‑driven controls with automated, repeatable SecOps processes, security becomes embedded into daily operations—protecting critical assets while enabling productivity instead of slowing it down.
What emerging threats or trends are you paying closest attention to right now?
I’m paying closest attention to the growing abuse of identity and trust relationships, especially in cloud‑first environments. Attacks increasingly bypass traditional malware and instead exploit valid credentials, token theft, MFA fatigue, and misconfigured identities to move laterally and persist quietly. Closely related to this is the rise of human‑operated ransomware, where attackers adapt in real time and leverage legitimate tools, APIs, and automation.
Another key trend is the convergence of cloud, identity, and security operations—attackers no longer distinguish between endpoints, SaaS, or cloud workloads, so defenders can’t either. Finally, I’m watching how AI is being used on both sides: defenders are gaining major advantages in investigation and hunting, while attackers are using AI to scale social engineering and reconnaissance. These trends reinforce the need for unified visibility, strong identity posture, and automation at SOC scale.
How is AI impacting cybersecurity—from both a defensive and offensive perspective?
AI is accelerating cybersecurity on both sides, changing not just the scale but the speed of attacks and defense. From a defensive perspective, AI helps security teams process massive volumes of signals, quickly summarize incidents, identify patterns, and accelerate investigation and threat hunting. Used correctly, AI reduces cognitive load on analysts and enables faster, more consistent decision‑making, especially in complex, multi‑signal environments.
From an offensive perspective, attackers are also using AI to scale social engineering, improve phishing quality, automate reconnaissance, and adapt attacks in real time. This lowers the barrier to entry and increases the effectiveness of identity‑based attacks. The key difference will be how responsibly defenders integrate AI into real security operations—pairing it with strong identity controls, automation, and human oversight. AI doesn’t replace skilled defenders, but it significantly amplifies their impact when embedded into unified security operations.
What tools or approaches do you find most effective in modern security work?
The most effective approach in modern security is unified security operations, where identity, endpoints, cloud workloads, email, SIEM, and XDR are treated as a single operational system. Platforms like Microsoft Defender XDR and Microsoft Sentinel provide this foundation, but real value comes from how teams operate them. High‑quality detections, meaningful threat hunting, and automation at SOC scale are what turn signals into outcomes.
Security Copilot plays an increasingly important role by using generative AI to accelerate investigations, summarize incidents, explain attack paths, and assist with threat hunting across multiple data sources. Combined with automatic attack disruption, which can stop attacks in progress by disabling compromised identities or containing affected assets, this allows SOC teams to act decisively and consistently. When these capabilities are implemented more automation, operations become repeatable, reliable, and scalable.
How do you stay up to date in such a rapidly evolving field?
Staying current in such a rapidly evolving field requires continuous, hands‑on engagement, not passive consumption of information. I spend a significant amount of time actively testing new security features, detection logic, and response capabilities in lab environments that mirror real‑world attack scenarios. This allows me to validate how modern defenses behave under pressure—particularly AI‑assisted investigations, automated attack disruption, and identity‑driven controls—and to understand how effectively they integrate into existing SOC workflows and operational processes.
Equally important is learning from real incidents. Post‑incident analysis, attack path reconstruction, and understanding how small misconfigurations turn into large‑scale compromises provide insights that no documentation or release notes ever could. These experiences directly influence how I design detections, tune response automation, and prioritize security controls in practice.
I also stay closely connected to the security community through conferences, deep technical discussions, and collaboration with other practitioners across different industries and regions. Exchanging perspectives with peers helps surface emerging attack patterns, operational challenges, and practical solutions that are often ahead of formal guidance.
Security evolves far too quickly for static knowledge. True relevance comes from experimentation, failure, iteration, and continuous learning. Actively breaking things, validating assumptions, and adapting to new threat models is what keeps skills sharp—and ensures that security strategies remain effective in real‑world environments rather than just on paper.
What role does community involvement play in your work as an MVP?
Community involvement plays a central role in my work as an MVP. The community is where real operational challenges surface first—often long before they appear in official documentation, best‑practice guides, or product roadmaps. Engaging with practitioners exposes the realities of running SIEM, XDR, and cloud security platforms under pressure, in environments shaped by legacy systems, constraints, and constantly evolving threats.
By actively sharing hands‑on experiences, lessons learned, and practical patterns—from Microsoft Sentinel and Defender XDR to Security Copilot and automated response—I aim to contribute knowledge grounded in real‑world operations, not theory alone. Mentoring, presenting, and openly discussing what works (and what doesn’t) helps the entire community move faster and avoid repeating the same mistakes.
Community engagement also serves as a continuous feedback loop. Real scenarios, questions, and incident stories directly inform better detections, more effective automation, and more usable security features. This connection between practitioners and platform capabilities helps bridge the gap between product design and operational reality—and ultimately contributes to stronger, more resilient security solutions.
Just as importantly, the community keeps my own perspective grounded. It continually challenges assumptions, surfaces new attack techniques, and highlights emerging operational pain points. This ensures that my contributions as an MVP in SIEM, XDR, and cloud security remain practical, relevant, and aligned with how SOC teams actually work day to day—not how we wish they worked.
In a field that evolves this quickly, community is not optional; it is an essential part of learning, teaching, and improving security outcomes together.
What advice would you give to aspiring cybersecurity professionals?
Start with strong fundamentals and don’t rush the journey. Identity, networking, operating systems, logging, and cloud architecture matter far more than any single tool. Invest time in building hands‑on experience—set up labs, simulate attacks, analyze logs, and understand how incidents actually unfold from initial access to impact. Theory is important, but real understanding comes from working with real scenarios.
As automation becomes a core part of modern security operations, focus on learning how to design, build, and validate automated workflows. Understand how detections trigger responses, how playbooks behave under different conditions, and how to safely automate containment without breaking business processes. SOAR Automation should amplify your effectiveness, not obscure what’s happening. Most importantly, share what you learn through documentation, mentoring, or community discussions—teaching others helps solidify your own understanding and accelerates long‑term growth.
What skills or mindset traits set top security experts apart from the rest?
Top security experts combine deep curiosity, systems thinking, and humility. They don’t just learn tools—they seek to understand how technologies, identities, networks, and people interact as a system. They’re comfortable questioning assumptions, revisiting designs, and adapting as environments and threats evolve. Strong practitioners also value hands‑on validation: they test detections, break their own automations, and learn how incidents and hunting unfold end‑to‑end, not just how they’re described on slides. Just as important is the ability to communicate clearly—explaining risk, tradeoffs, and decisions—because effective security depends as much on collaboration as it does on technical depth.
Looking ahead, what excites you most about the future of cybersecurity?
What excites me most is the shift toward proactive, unified, and automated security operations. Security teams are moving away from isolated tools and manual workflows toward integrated platforms that correlate signals across identity, cloud, endpoints, and email. With better automation and intelligence‑driven workflows, SOCs can interrupt attacks earlier, reduce noise, and focus on real risk instead of constant reaction. When automation is applied thoughtfully—paired with strong fundamentals and human oversight—it has the potential to significantly improve both security outcomes and the day‑to‑day sustainability of security teams. That evolution is what I find most encouraging about the future of cybersecurity.
