GO PHISH
WE ‘ GO PHISHING ’ WITH JAY RYERSE , CISSP , VICE PRESIDENT OF CYBERSECURITY INITIATIVES AT CONNECTWISE , WHO TELLS US ABOUT LIFE INSIDE
AND OUTSIDE THE OFFICE .
Ryerse is responsible for driving cybersecurity initiatives throughout the organisation and the MSP market , as well as providing education around managing cyber-risk for ConnectWise partners and their clients .
wWhat would you describe as your
most memorable achievement in the cybersecurity industry ?
My most memorable achievement was when a local government office nearby was hit by a ransomware attack . Although we were not responsible for
protecting them , my team was asked to help during the investigation phase . We worked under the microscope of having the Secret Service watch over our shoulder and discovered that some
Knowing what I know now , maybe I would have moved into cybersecurity sooner . servers , which had been taken out of production – but hadn ’ t been disposed of – still contained readable data on them . We worked with Oracle which provided some initial guidance and computing power , and through a series of processes we managed to decrypt the data and therefore the local government office didn ’ t have to pay the ransom . It is incredibly rare for that to have happened – an unlikely case of reversing the encrypted data and one I definitely won ’ t forget !
What first made you think of a career in cybersecurity ?
Similar to a lot of our partners , I previously owned a Managed Service Provider ( MSP ). After I sold it , I found that a lot of my friends in the industry were being hit by cyberattacks . Having a background in cybersecurity , I decided to dive in to help the industry defend against cyberattacks . It ’ s my personal mission now to help every MSP avoid cyberattacks .
What style of management philosophy do you employ with your current position ?
I have the management philosophy of trust but verify . There are so many tools and ideas out there , it ’ s easy to get lost .
I endeavour to trust in what is being recommended to me from well-known people , but then I need to verify them for myself . Checking that something works and reviewing it is absolutely vital .
What do you think is the current hot cybersecurity talking point ?
The hottest conversation around cybersecurity currently is about the end client ’ s risk . Specifically , we ’ re seeing more SMBs fall victim to ransomware and Business Email Compromise ( BEC ) attacks . These have a major financial impact on small businesses . If people wire money out fraudulently or if a company gets hit by ransomware , they will have no access to their files , so it has a massive impact . These are two www . intelligentciso . com | Issue 30
71