GO PHISH
How do you deal with stress and unwind outside the office ?
Every day , I try to take a walk , usually with my Golden Doodle dog , Lucy . I find walking and hiking are great ways to relieve stress . I also enjoy gardening , as well as do-it-yourself construction projects . My to-do list is never-ending !
If you could go back and change one career decision what would it be ?
I ’ ve had some great opportunities to move around the world throughout my career . When I was a young engineer , I was asked to move to Malaysia to lead the go-to-market and sales in the region . I declined and sometimes daydream about how that move may have changed my career .
What do you currently identify as the major areas of investment in the cybersecurity industry ?
Cloud security , Zero Trust and data privacy are some major areas of cybersecurity investment . Solutions already exist today , but there is a lot of technology innovation and emerging solutions coming to market . Think about cybersecurity in three simple words – discover , protect , control . Building a system architecture that can do these things will reduce risk and can help protect companies .
Are there any differences in the way cybersecurity challenges need to be tackled in the different regions ?
The same cybersecurity challenges exist no matter where you are in the world . Digital Transformation is creating the same attack surfaces and vulnerabilities from the use of public cloud and Softwareas-a-Service to IoT devices , payment systems and Quantum Computing .
However , data sovereignty dictates that digital data is subject to the laws of the country it is collected in , so different compliance and privacy laws around the world will determine requirements . For example , country sovereignty is very important in the European Union where GDPR requires that data must be either stored in the EU or within a jurisdiction that has similar levels of protection , such as the use of onpremise key management platforms . It ’ s vital that companies follow the rules of the appropriate nation , or else they will face the consequences of possible legal action and reputational damage .
What changes to your job role have you seen in the last year and how do you see these developing in the next 12 months ?
Cybersecurity has impact across all functions and at different levels of an organisation . Developers are being asked to think about security from the ground up , not from the top
down . As leaders of an organisation , we need to make sure that the appropriate security controls are in place , but it ’ s becoming less prescriptive on how to implement these controls .
The job role is changing to make sure that all cross-functional teams have the appropriate ‘ guardrails ’, budget and tools to protect our business .
What advice would you offer somebody aspiring to obtain a C-level position in the security industry ?
I would say get as much practical experience as you can today , while keeping an eye to the future . Drive yourself to take on new positions and new roles ( within your company ) at least every three years ( think generalist versus specialist ) and also make the time to experiment with new ideas .
The IT security problems of today may not be the problems of tomorrow . u
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