COVER STORY
nd-user
O
Mark Walmsley, CISO at
global law firm Freshfields
Bruckhaus Deringer, talks
us through the challenges
keeping CISOs up at night, how
his company is tackling the
cyberskills shortage and what
advice he would offer those
aspiring to join the c-suite in a
cybersecurity role.
B
By way of background . . .
Having studied law, he spent time
working in a different field before
joining Freshfields.
He said: “I spent time learning the
business in a variety of roles within the
litigation department before moving into
project management. That opened up
the opportunities within security. I have
been the CISO for the last five years”.
Mark more recently also started working
with the National Cyber Security Centre
(NCSC) in its Industry 100 scheme and
is also the chairman of the steering
group for the annual Cyber Security
Connect UK conference.
|
Issue 13
glo
ba
g
l la
ri n
w fi
De
s
u
rm Fr
a
eshfields Bruckh
er
SECURING THE
LEGAL SECTOR
Mark Walmsley has been the Chief
Information Security Officer at global
law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
for five years but he’s been at the firm
longer still.
www.intelligentciso.com
at
Partnerships, collaboration,
information sharing – how
important is it?
Walmsley explained that traditionally
information sharing wasn’t common among
security professionals. But that mindset
has changed over the last three years. He
said: “We are all more collaborative and
that has taken a bit of the pressure off my
organisation and me personally.
“No one is pleased to see another
business been breached but it does
mean the threat is real and tangible and
that helps to focus future improvements.”
He added: “It’s not just talking about
threats but it’s also being able to
introduce parties to one another based
upon experience and trust. For a CISO
this is absolutely critical.
“The CISO community is very small.
Everyone thinks it’s this massive beast
51