CISO Conversations: John ‘Four’ Flynn, VP of Security at Google DeepMind

John Flynn, known as ‘Four’, has been DeepMind’s VP of security since May 2024, after a career that saw him serve as a CISO at Amazon and Uber, and as director of information security at Facebook, with an earlier stint as manager of the security operations team at Google between 2005 and 2011. SecurityWeek notes that DeepMind, founded in London in 2010, was acquired by Google in 2014 and merged with Google Brain in April 2023 to form Google DeepMind.

In the interview Flynn discusses the evolving role of the CISO in the era of AI, emphasising that leaders must blend technology with psychology and humility, and that AI’s probabilistic nature complicates cyber defence and threat modelling. He also highlights that AI can both increase attacker capabilities and provide security tools, such as automated vulnerability detection and secure code generation.

According to SecurityWeek, Flynn argues that the modern CISO should cultivate insatiable curiosity and a scientific mindset while prioritising hiring the best people and giving them the right context to do their jobs.