Security for AI
Protecting models, agents, and the data they touch, with clear limits on what AI can access and do.
AI / Cybersecurity / People
Next
is human.
Technology should help people do better work. I write about making complex technology understandable, putting AI to practical use, and keeping security and human judgment in the picture.
Meet Chris
Chris Ritchhart / Security engineer & AI advocateBased in Fishers, Indiana
01 / About
Clear thinking for a changing landscape.
I work where AI meets real people, real organizations, and the decisions about how far we trust it.
I’m Chris Ritchhart, a Focus Channel Sales Engineer at Fortinet. I help customers and partners make sense of complex technology and connect it to the business outcomes they’re trying to achieve. That starts with understanding what matters, what’s getting in the way, and where the right technology can make a useful difference.
My focus now is AI, building on a background in email and endpoint security. I like practical answers, honest tradeoffs, and ideas that hold up outside a slide deck.
Outside of work you'll find me on a motorcycle, building side projects I fully intend to finish, or hanging out with my pitty, Jackson — who is better at maintaining focus than I am.
02 / Focus
Where I spend my time.
Practical AI adoption
Starting with a problem worth solving, weighing the tradeoffs, and putting the security and oversight in place to make adoption useful.
The human impact
How automation changes work, what people need to adapt, and how we can make the benefits more widely shared.
03 / Writing
Three sides of the story.
Security work, life beyond the job, and the roads in between. Each space has its own voice.
01 / Security
Field Notes
Practical notes on AI, cybersecurity, and making technology decisions that work for people and businesses.
Read security notes 02 / PersonalOff Script
Curiosity, projects, people, and the occasional story that doesn't fit a résumé.
Read personal notes 03 / TravelOpen Road
Motorcycle miles, places worth stopping for, and what the road teaches you.
Read travel notesLatest
- / Field Notes
The AI Worm Isn’t Here Yet. The IoT Problem Already Is.
Anthropic’s research doesn’t mean an AI worm is about to take over your refrigerator. It does show that smaller models are getting better at adapting, troubleshooting, and potentially spreading across poorly secured IoT devices. The good news is that this kind of threat would still leave plenty of footprints. Patch devices, segment IoT networks, disable unused services, monitor unusual traffic, and stop treating smart appliances like they aren’t computers. AI may make malware smarter. It doesn’t make basic security obsolete.
- / Off Script
Team Colors: What Two Decades of One-Party Rule Has Delivered for Indiana
Indiana has been under Republican control for two decades, which makes it fair to judge the results rather than just the promises. The record is mixed: strong finances, low unemployment, affordability, and solid reading scores on one side; weaker health outcomes, lower pay, teacher shortages, public-health underinvestment, and low voter turnout on the other. The bigger point isn’t “red bad, blue good.”
- / Open Road
Small Chips, Long Roads: Why Harley Riders Collect the Miles
A Harley poker chip may only cost a few dollars, but the road attached to it can hold an entire story. For me, that chip is from Zion, where the scenery, the ride, a flat tire, and an incredible dealership all became part of the same memory. The chips are small. The miles behind them are the real collection.
04 / Connect
Let's compare notes.
I’m always interested in comparing notes on practical AI, email and endpoint security, and the questions that turn a technology discussion into something useful for a business.