Mike McPhee has been with Cisco for over 10 years and is part of the global security sales organization. He works with a variety of verticals, including healthcare, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, financials, and insurance. Mike finds excitement in the ever-changing nature of cybersecurity and enjoys solving puzzles and putting pieces together to understand problems and find solutions.

Join us as we chat about the importance of learning from failures, being authentic, pursuing personal interests, to the interplay of threat actors, malicious applications of AI, to innovate tech like extended detection and response (XDR), and the significance of diversity in the cybersecurity field.

Themes:

-The importance of learning from failures and being open to making mistakes in order to grow and build trust with others.

Authenticity and being true to oneself are highlighted as essential qualities for building relationships and solving problems with customers.

-Passions outside of work such as home brewing beer, woodworking, and spending time with family, with an emphasis on the importance of pursuing interests outside of work.

-The interplay of threat actors, particularly state-sponsored ones, and their organization and coordination.

-Observations about the applications of AI by threat actors, such as using AI to make playbooks more dynamic and adapt to defensive measures.

-Futures such as the importance of extended detection and response (XDR) in providing better visibility and context for defenders to effectively combat threats.

-The importance of diversity of thought, character, and background in the cybersecurity field and with encouragement for everyone to hop in and have fun, even if it's not their primary role.