No exceptions: How Amazon killed the password and unified security

No exceptions: How Amazon killed the password and unified security

From Safe Mode Podcast by Safe Mode Podcast

February 12, 2026 · 37 min

About this episode

The episode discusses Amazon's approach to unifying security and identity management with Stephen Schmidt.

In this episode, we sit down with Stephen Schmidt, SVP & Chief Security Officer at Amazon, to explore the engineering and leadership required to run a "no exceptions" identity program at a global scale. Most organizations suffer from the "fragmentation problem"—a mix of high-security cloud apps and vulnerable legacy systems. Stephen explains how Amazon unified its authentication standard to ensure that every internal account, from a fresh developer environment to a legacy application from 2003, meets the same rigorous bar. In our reporter chat, Greg talks with Derek Johnson on why your AI doctor does not have the same privacy protections as your real doctor. https://cyberscoop.com/radio/how-amazon-killed-the-password-and-unified-security/ Join Virtru on Feb 18th for the inaugural DCMMC at 1801 Pennsylvania Ave for a no-nonsense CMMC deep dive followed by a bourbon tasting—grab your spot here. - https://www.virtru.com/dcmmc-event Follow CyberScoop on Social Media • https://www.twitter.com/CyberScoopNews • https://www.linkedin.com/company/cyberscoop • https://www.facebook.com/cyberscoop/ • https://www.instagram.com/cyberscoopnews/ • https://www.tiktok.com/@cyberscoopnews •…

People in this episode

Host: Greg

Guest: Stephen Schmidt

Topics covered

  • cybersecurity
  • identity management
  • cloud security
  • AI privacy
  • authentication standards

Keywords

  • Amazon
  • password security
  • identity program
  • cloud apps
  • legacy systems
  • AI doctor privacy

Sponsors

Virtru

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Amazon, CyberScoop

More episodes of Safe Mode Podcast

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Safe Mode Podcast podcast page.