From Cruise to Whatnot: Kieran Pierman’s GRC Playbook

Security & GRC Decoded

In this episode, Raj Krishnamurthy sits down with Kieran Pierman, GRC & Security at Whatnot, and a former security, risk and compliance leader at Cruise and Dropbox, to explore fresh perspectives on Security & GRC.

Kieran opens with a bold stance: data breaches, while critical, aren't the top threat they used to be. Instead, he argues, maintaining availability and service uptime is now paramount. Drawing from his unique experience building the foundational GRC program at Cruise, a pioneering self-driving car company, Kieran reveals how managing cybersecurity risks took on profound urgency—literally life-and-death implications—when securing autonomous vehicles.

Throughout the conversation, Kieran shares actionable insights on:

✅ Why availability and uptime are today's most critical security priorities.

✅ How building GRC at Cruise required an uncompromising security posture due to the potential consequences of vehicle security breaches.

✅ Why GRC should be seen as an engineering discipline rather than a checkbox function.

✅ Practical strategies to shift GRC from a cost center to a profit-driving role.

✅ The importance of automation, technical fluency, and proactive risk management.

✅ Balancing preventative and detective controls to optimize both security and business agility.

✅ Tips on working effectively with auditors to enhance, rather than hinder, security maturity.

Tune in to learn how adopting a proactive, engineering-minded approach can elevate your GRC program from compliance-driven to business-critical.

🎙️ Security & GRC Decoded is brought to you by ComplianceCow.

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Learn More / Connect with Kieran Pierman

💼 LinkedIn: Kieran Pierman
🌐 Company: Whatnot