Intelligent CISO Issue 31 | Page 71

GO PHISH

WE ‘ GO PHISHING ’ WITH RICHARD CASSIDY , SENIOR DIRECTOR OF SECURITY STRATEGY , EXABEAM , WHO TELLS US ABOUT LIFE INSIDE AND

OUTSIDE THE OFFICE .

wWhat would you describe as your most memorable achievement in the cybersecurity industry ?

I made a decision a very long time ago to maintain a position as a deep technologist and strategist , with a desire to ride the waves of new technologies at the bleeding edge of cybersecurity . I ’ ve had many opportunities to sit in C-level positions exclusively .
I took a decision , however , to remain a trusted advisor to C-level , bringing a hands-on , experienced view of this vast technology landscape , so I could support the best possible decisions ( and thus business outcomes ) across as many organisations as I could interact with in my career .
Today , C-level teams have far too much to juggle with the hyper proliferation of tools , creating an industry-wide effectiveness challenge . We ’ ve lost sight ( for the most part ) of what we ’ ve employed the ‘ tools ’ to do for us in the first place . I take pride in working with CTOs , CISOs and CIOs , in articulating this across the business to enable true security , compliance and risk management outcomes . For me , there are far too many memorable achievements to mention , spanning military , finance , manufacturing , healthcare , pharmaceutical and education . But , being a thought leader in the space of cybersecurity and demystifying the haze of unnecessarily complex functions and demonstrating how to apply technology in a true business outcomes sense has been where I ’ ve taken great pride .
What first made you think of a career in cybersecurity ?
I ’ d always shown a keen interest in computing and technology from a very early age . I can remember getting my first Atari 2600 at the ripe young age of six-years-old ( back in the 80s ) and my goodness , it blew my mind . I remember thinking how on earth can electricity be turned into something so amazing . From there I was hooked on how things worked and what made it all glue together .
As a teenager , I acquired a supercharged US Robotics V . 32 high-speed 9600 bps modem , then eventually saved a lot of pocket money for the even slicker ‘ Sportster 14,400 ’ bpm modem upgrade . I assembled my own PC via component acquisition and brought them all together in an old DAN Computing case to get me Internet bound ( via the good-ole CompuServe landing portal ).
It was a natural progression into a career that was tech bound . I ’ ve always had an interest in why things work the way they do , what makes , breaks and improves them and what we can learn from past evolutions of hardware / software iterations .
What style of management philosophy do you employ with your current position ?
It ’ s a case of intrinsically understanding the failures and successes of others , then forging a path in how you manage yourself , your teams and the expectations of those around you in all that you do .
We often neglect the intrinsic part that ‘ human factor ’ has to play in everything we do and for every individual we are responsible for in management . I ’ ve always applied the ‘ SHELL model of human factors ’ in developing a continuous improvement framework in all management endeavours . The key factor in any management philosophy is one of ‘ empathy ’ – empathy for yourself , your colleagues and your customers .
What do you think is the current hot cybersecurity talking point ?
Without a doubt , IoT / OT Security ( especially in the area of Telemedicine ) and DevSecOPs , as it pertains to ‘ secure coding ’ practices .
We ’ re at a point in history where electronic devices outnumber humans ( and have done for some time ), with new devices being manufactured in their millions every day . Add to that the proliferation of 5G ( and soon Starlink !) providing the ability to connect smart devices no larger than a contact www . intelligentciso . com | Issue 31
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