Founders on Fire with Steve Brodie of Goldilock Secure

In this episode of Founders on Fire, host Rose Ross sits down with Steve Brodie, Chief Revenue Officer and Head of Partnerships at Goldilock Secure, the winner of the 2025 Security Trailblazers Award.

Goldilock Secure is a UK-headquartered cybersecurity company approaching digital resilience from a different direction. While most cyber defences rely on software to detect, block or respond to an attack, Goldilock’s technology allows organisations to physically connect, disconnect and isolate their critical systems remotely, without relying on the internet.

Steve explains the thinking behind the company’s FireBreak technology and why genuine cyber resilience requires organisations to consider what happens when their conventional software defences have already been compromised.

More than a cybersecurity “kill switch”

One of the central topics in the conversation is Goldilock’s decision to move away from describing its technology simply as a “kill switch”.

Although the phrase communicates the ability to disconnect a system quickly, it can also suggest a last-minute emergency response. FireBreak is designed to play a much broader and more proactive role.

Rather than waiting until an attack has spread throughout an organisation, businesses can use physical network segmentation and isolation to reduce their attack surface, protect particularly sensitive assets and control when systems are connected.

This means physical disconnection can become part of an organisation’s everyday security and resilience strategy, rather than something used only when everything else has gone wrong.

Bringing security back to the physical layer

Cybersecurity has traditionally concentrated on software controls such as firewalls, endpoint protection, identity management, monitoring and threat detection.

These remain essential, but Steve discusses why software cannot always be expected to protect itself when an attacker has already gained access to the environment in which it operates.

Goldilock’s approach introduces a hardware-enforced layer of protection. FireBreak operates at the physical layer, giving organisations the ability to sever network connectivity through non-IP, out-of-band controls.

As Steve explains during the episode, this can make physical security both the first and last line of cyber defence. It can reduce opportunities for an attacker to reach a protected system in the first place, while also providing a final method of containment if other controls have been bypassed.

Protecting IT, IoT and operational technology

The conversation also looks at how physical connectivity controls can be applied across very different technological environments.

These include conventional IT networks, Internet of Things devices, operational technology and the systems supporting Critical National Infrastructure.

This is particularly important for organisations that cannot simply shut down all their operations when an attack occurs. Hospitals, energy providers, manufacturers, transport operators and other essential services need to contain threats while maintaining the systems required to keep people safe and services running.

FireBreak allows individual assets, network segments or locations to be isolated, helping organisations prevent an incident from spreading without necessarily bringing their entire operation to a halt.

Cyber resilience in a changing regulatory landscape

Steve and Rose also discuss the changing legislative environment surrounding cybersecurity and operational resilience.

The UK’s Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill is intended to strengthen protection for essential and digital services, expand the organisations covered by cyber resilience requirements and improve the reporting of harmful incidents.

Against this backdrop, organisations are increasingly being asked not only whether they can detect an attack, but whether they can contain it, continue operating and demonstrate meaningful control over critical infrastructure.

Physical isolation provides another tool for organisations looking to strengthen that resilience across interconnected networks, third-party suppliers and operational environments.

Responding to ransomware, DDoS and AI-driven threats

The episode explores a range of circumstances in which remote physical disconnection could help protect essential systems.

During a ransomware attack, isolating affected systems can prevent malicious code from moving laterally across a network. During a distributed denial-of-service attack, organisations may be able to disconnect targeted infrastructure while preserving autonomous or local functions.

The technology also has implications for emerging AI-enabled threats. As attacks become faster and increasingly automated, security teams may have less time to identify and manually contain suspicious activity.

Hardware-enforced controls provide a way of taking vulnerable connectivity out of the equation, even when the wider software environment can no longer be trusted.

Building resilience before the emergency

Throughout the discussion, Steve makes the case for moving cybersecurity beyond a purely reactive mindset.

Resilience is not simply the ability to recover after an incident. It means designing systems so that organisations retain control during an attack, can limit the damage and can keep their most important operations functioning.

Tune in to hear how Goldilock Secure is rethinking network connectivity, why physical disconnection deserves a place alongside established cyber defences and what organisations can do to prepare for threats before they become full-scale emergencies.

Listen to Founders on Fire with Steve Brodie and Goldilock Secure

Could you be our next Security Trailblazer?

Goldilock Secure was named the winner of the 2025 Security Trailblazers Award, recognising its innovative approach to enterprise cybersecurity and operational resilience.

The Tech Trailblazers Awards celebrate ambitious startups and scale-ups developing technologies that challenge established thinking and solve important enterprise problems.

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