In this episode of the Innovator Series, we chat with Abhay Kulkarni, co-founder and CEO of WideField Security, a venture-backed startup focused on one of enterprise security’s most persistent blind spots: the identity attack surface. Kulkarni brings deep roots in the space—early engineering leadership at Netskope, then SVP and General Manager of Cisco’s collaboration business—and he’s applying that experience to a problem the industry hasn’t fully solved.
Beyond Authentication: Securing the Full Identity Lifecycle
Large organizations have invested heavily in authentication. But getting in is only part of the story. What happens after a user or service authenticates—how identities move, what they access, and when they’re abused—is where attackers increasingly operate, and where most security tools go dark.
WideField Security addresses that gap. The platform provides continuous visibility across the complete identity attack surface: human, machine, and AI identities, spanning cloud, SaaS, and on-premises environments. The goal is to catch what authentication alone misses—session hijacking, token theft, privilege abuse—before it becomes a breach.
The Innovator Series is meant to get inside the mind of the founder, to learn what inspired and motivated them to find success in the cybersecurity industry. Learn more about Abhay Kulkarni and WideField Security in our 16 minute conversation on YouTube.