OPSWAT Founder Benny Czarny Challenges Industry to Rethink Cybersecurity in New Book: "Cybersecurity Upside Down"

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Mar 19, 2026, 08:54 ET

Czarny explores why modern cyber threats require a prevention-first security approach

TAMPA, Fla., March 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- OPSWAT Founder and CEO Benny Czarny has released his first book "Cybersecurity Upside Down," calling on organizations to rethink their cybersecurity strategies. The book offers a fresh perspective on long-standing assumptions about defending against cyber threats and educates readers on the importance of a prevention-first mindset.

In Cybersecurity Upside Down, OPSWAT founder and CEO Benny Czarny offers a fresh perspective on long-standing assumptions about defending against cyber threats and educates readers on the importance of a prevention-first mindset.

Drawing on more than two decades of experience building cybersecurity technologies, Czarny argues that many modern cyberattacks succeed because security strategies focus on detecting threats after they enter a system. AI is adding to the challenge as threats are evolving faster than traditional detection tools can keep pace. In Cybersecurity Upside Down, he outlines a new approach to cybersecurity based on the principle that organizations should treat every file entering their systems as untrusted until verified as safe.

Challenging the status quo, Czarny explains why relying solely on antivirus and similar tools is insufficient. He argues that this approach creates a continuous "vicious cycle," as detection can never be perfect. Instead, he advocates Deep Content Disarm and Reconstruction (Deep CDR™) technology as a prevention approach that assumes files may be malicious and automatically rebuilds safe versions before they enter systems.

Czarny comments:

"For years the cybersecurity industry tried to achieve prevention through detection which worked for a time. But that model is broken. Attackers can now generate new threats faster than we can detect them, and AI is accelerating the problem."

Combining personal insights, industry analysis, and practical guidance for business leaders, the book calls on governments and policymakers to rethink cybersecurity standards and national initiatives with a stronger focus on prevention-based controls. Czarny distills complex security concepts into accessible insights, and the book brings these concepts to life with striking visuals and graphic design, including illustrations by artist Serge Seidlitz.

Cybersecurity Upside Down examines today's threat landscape and the strategies needed to defend against it. In the book Czarny outlines:

How to break the cycle of "detect and respond" with a new model: prevention through file regeneration.
How CDR works and how it compares to other cybersecurity solutions.
Why signature-based and AI-driven detection tools cannot keep pace with modern cyber threats.

Throughout the book Czarny shares insights from his personal journey, transforming OPSWAT from a modest startup into a global leader, protecting critical infrastructure worldwide.

Adds Czarny:

"This book is my personal reflection on why there is an urgent need for a fundamental reset on tackling cyber threats. The message is simple: it is time to reverse the detection-based models we have relied on and think prevention first."

About the Author

Benny Czarny is the founder and CEO of OPSWAT, a global cybersecurity company focused on protecting the world's most critical infrastructure.

For more than two decades, Benny has worked closely with governments, enterprises, and security teams to address the growing gap between cybersecurity theory and real-world attacks. His work on file sanitization and prevention-first security has influenced how organizations think about trust, data movement, and risk.

Cybersecurity Upside Down is his first book and a culmination of lessons learned while challenging some of the most deeply held assumptions in cybersecurity.

Follow Benny on LinkedIn.

Book Details