The Good Tech Companies - How GenAI Security Engineer Chetan Pathade Is Protecting the Next Era of AI
Episode Date: February 2, 2026This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/how-genai-security-engineer-chetan-pathade-is-protecting-the-next-era-of-ai. Chetan Pathade,... GenAI Security Engineer, protects AI systems from adversarial attacks, data leaks, and cloud vulnerabilities at enterprise scale. Check more stories related to cybersecurity at: https://hackernoon.com/c/cybersecurity. You can also check exclusive content about #genai-security-engineer, #llm-model-protection, #cloud-security-ai-2026, #adversarial-ai-threats, #prompt-injection-defense, #cybersecurity-leadership-ai, #chetan-pathade-aws-security, #good-company, and more. This story was written by: @jonstojanjournalist. Learn more about this writer by checking @jonstojanjournalist's about page, and for more stories, please visit hackernoon.com. Chetan Pathade, a GenAI Security Engineer at AWS, secures AI systems and cloud infrastructure against data leaks, adversarial attacks, and emerging cyber threats. From bug bounty beginnings to advanced LLM protection, Pathade blends practical skill, academic rigor, and continuous learning to safeguard enterprises while preparing the next generation of cybersecurity talent.
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How Gen. AI Security Engineer Chedin Pathade is protecting the next era of AI.
By John Stoyan journalist, Byline.
Milana Van Tyler Artificial Intelligence is a double-edged sword for global enterprises.
On theon hand, it optimizes efficiency.
On the other hand, it multiplies security risks, such as data leakage via large language models,
LLMs. Chedin Pathade, a gen AI security engineer, has taken on this challenge. With a rare mix of
practical skill and analytical prowess, he helps secure cloud infrastructure from cyberattacks.
Securing the AI shift, enterprises race to deploy LLMs and generative systems at scale.
However, Fell understand how to secure them. Traditional cybersecurity approaches don't always translate
to AI, where data pipelines and model behavior introduce new vulnerabilities.
These include prompt injection attacks, training data poisoning, and the exposure of sensitive
information through model responses.
In these environments, there is no margin for error.
One breach can impact millions of users worldwide.
Pathade tackles this issue with a focus on offensive security.
In other words, he builds protection into systems from the beginning rather than reacting after
breaches occur.
What fascinates me is the intersection of cybersecurity with artificial intelligence,
of technology's most transformative domains, he says. Before joining enterprise roles,
Pathade built his reputation as a bug bounty researcher, identifying and reporting vulnerabilities
to major platforms. Hissarly work in responsible disclosure earned him recognition in several
Hall of Fame programs across leading organizations from Curiosity to Cyber Defense.
Pathade's interest in cybersecurity began in 2018 during his undergraduate fellowship at
Tyside University in the UK. What started as academic curiosity
curiosity soon became a career mission. I committed to cybersecurity as my specialized field and
began developing expertise in this area, he says. Breaking into cybersecurity wasn't easy. He began as a
test automation engineer at Quantify Inc., then moved into threat research at Qualis. At this
company, he served as a member of the Attack Surface Management team. Later, Pathaid advanced to
the Eden India Innovation Center, where he worked as a product cybersecurity engineer. In this role,
critical systems across a global product portfolio. Pothade furthered his education at Carnegie
Mellon University, its prestigious institution renowned for its rigorous and comprehensive
information security program, he says. In May 24, I completed my master's in information security.
During his academic journey, he also contributed to the cybersecurity research community,
authoring several peer-reviewed publications that are available on his Google Scholar profile.
These works have been recognized within academic circles for advancing cybersecurity knowledge.
As a security engineer at Amazon Web Services, AWS, Pathade is fulfilling a professional aspiration to work in security.
He leverages his academic training and hands-on experience to safeguard complex cloud environments.
The discipline of constant learning. The most significant challenge in cybersecurity is maintaining
currency in a field that evolves at an extraordinary pace, says Pathad.
His daily learning strategy involves reading research papers, conducting lab experiments, and participating in cybersecurity communities.
This discipline has helped him avoid emerging threats, such as new exploit techniques and adversarial AI attacks.
Pathade is candid about his early struggles with mastering technical concepts.
Instead of giving up, he adapted his learning process.
I focused on thorough comprehension rather than matching others' progress, he says.
He discovered that each individual's learning process,
is uniquely their own. What matters most ease a commitment to continuous improvement and the resilience
to persist through difficult learning phases. This mindset has shaped Pathade's long-term approach to
leadership. Though early in his professional journey, he actively builds the foundation for future leadership
by seeking mentorship, embracing complex projects, and maintaining humility in his growth.
Building a more secure future. My long-term vision is to establish myself as a leader in the
cybersecurity industry and eventually launch my own security product company, says Pathaid.
Additionally, he aims to identify and nurture unconventional cybersecurity talent with his future
business venture. He believes that many skilled individuals, even without formal credentials,
can thrive in cybersecurity IF given the right opportunity. His future recruitment philosophy
centers own aptitude, curiosity, and problem-solving ability over traditional qualifications,
a reflection of his own journey into the field.
His recruitment will prioritize people with aptitude and drive,
even if they like traditional credentials.
Meanwhile, as AI rewrites how the world creates, communicates,
and computes, chedin pathade protects critical systems and data from cyber threats.
This story was distributed as a release by John Stoyen under Hackernoon Business Blogging Program.
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