In this episode, Dirt sits down with Jonathan Claudius — founder of Asymmetric Research and former Jump Crypto and Mozilla security lead — to discuss how one of crypto’s most trusted security firms approaches incident response, long-term client partnerships, and the art of being “boring but brilliant.”

From leading Mozilla’s offensive security team to tackling the Wormhole hack on day two of the job, Jonathan shares deep insights into Web3 security, policy design, and why humility, trust, and steady execution matter more than hype. ⏱

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro: Dirt welcomes Jonathan Claudius, CEO of Asymmetric Research

00:34 – Jonathan’s background: from TrustWave to Mozilla to Jump Crypto

03:20 – The Wormhole hack: what happened and what it taught the industry

05:25 – Lessons in resilience and why security is like a team sport

07:14 – Founding Asymmetric Research with Felix Wilhelm (Google Project Zero)

09:18 – Offense vs defense: balancing attack and protection in security

11:07 – Long-term partnerships vs one-off audits — a new security model

13:15 – Becoming a “core contributor” and embedding with clients

16:24 – “Boring is sexy” — why simplicity wins in security design

20:17 – Remote-first operations and global incident response culture

25:46 – Policy is power: practical advice for founders on security setup

28:29 – Confidentiality & trust — the stories they can’t tell

31:08 – Hiring for EQ and the “no-assholes” policy at Asymmetric Research

33:14 – Closing thoughts & reflections on building with trust