Ian Riopel is the CEO and Co-founder of Root, applying agentic AI to fix vulnerabilities instantly. A US Army veteran and former Counterintelligence Agent, he’s held roles at Cisco, CloudLock, and Rapid7. Ian brings military-grade security expertise to software supply chains.
John Amaral is the CTO and Co-founder of Root. Previously, he scaled Cisco Cloud Security to $500M in revenue and led CloudLock to a $300M acquisition. With five exits behind him, John specializes in building cybersecurity startups with strong technical vision.
In this episode…
Patching software vulnerabilities remains one of the biggest security challenges for many organizations. Security teams are often stretched thin as they try to keep up with vulnerabilities that can quickly be exploited. Open-source components and containerized deployments add even more complexity, especially when updates risk breaking production systems. As compliance requirements tighten and the volume of vulnerabilities grows, how can businesses eliminate software security risks without sacrificing productivity?
Companies like Root are transforming how organizations approach software vulnerability remediation by applying agentic AI to streamline their approach. Rather than relying on engineers to triage and prioritize thousands of issues, Root’s AI-driven platform scans container images, applies safe patches where available, and generates custom patches for outdated components that lack official fixes. Root's AI automation resolves approximately 95% or more vulnerabilities without breaking production systems, allowing organizations to meet compliance requirements while developers stay focused on building and delivering software.
In this episode of She Said Privacy/He Said Security, Jodi and Justin Daniels speak with Ian Riopel and John Amaral, Co-founders of Root, about how AI streamlines software vulnerability detection. Together, they explain how Root’s agentic AI platform uses specialized agents to automate patching while maintaining software stability. John and Ian also discuss how regulations and compliance pressures are driving the need for faster remediation, and how Root differs from threat detection solutions. They also explain how AI can reduce security workloads without replacing human expertise.
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