Give People with Potential a Shot

“As leaders we need to ask ourselves, can we take a chance on somebody with potential and invest the effort and time to train them and help them get their start?”

In this episode, Mike Manrod, CISO of Grand Canyon Education, Inc., joins the podcast to discuss how the world is adapting to a mobile workforce and the state of the cybersecurity job market. He explains that while the job market is currently contracting, cybersecurity remains a needed, growing and in-demand field.

Mike goes on to talk about the closed mindset many leaders have when it comes to hiring. Constantly chasing a small pool of candidates with great experience and multiple skill sets has done nothing to close the skills gap.It has just led to inflated salaries. He believes managers should consider giving candidates with potential a chance. It is time to be flexible with the workforce.

02:05 — The job market is shrinking but cybersecurity as career field will not be going away.

07:15 — We need to give people a shot and a start. Not every cyber job requires decades of experience.

10:04 — The adversaries are still out there. We need to automate, strategize and be able to do more with less.

12:39 — Cold calling isn’t the best approach now. Vendors need to find introductions through trusted pipelines.

Ad Tech Remorse

In this episode, Johnny Ryan, Chief Policy & Industry Relations Officer at Brave Software, joins the podcast to talk data privacy. He speaks about Brave’s mission and explains its micropayment and cryptocurrency model. He discusses his experiences of working on both sides of the data privacy divide and the ad tech remorse that he and many of his colleagues feel. In describing the ad tech model, Johnny highlights just how much personal data is collected and why protections like GDPR should be strongly enforced. He explains, “You should protect yourself because, unfortunately, the referee has yet to walk on to the pitch.” Even amidst current fears that the world will have to sacrifice privacy to combat COVID-19, Johnny disagrees. For him, the answer lies in building privacy into design.0

02:35 — Ad tech remorse.

05:25 — Real-time bidding and how it works.

11:23 — GDPR needs to be enforced.

16:45 — We do not need to sacrifice data privacy in the fight against COVID-19.

22:57 — What are micropayments?

30:27 — Governments should not be using conventional web browsers.

To hear more about data privacy listen to our recent podcasts with Kavya Pearlman and Laura Noren.

“I hope what will change after this is that we won’t try and preplan the disaster. What we will do is we will set the stage so that we can respond quickly and adaptively when something happens.”

Ohio State University’s CISO, Helen Patton, returns to the podcast. Having started her career in business continuity and risk assessment, navigating a crisis is nothing new. Helen talks about how the traditional business continuity plan is no longer relevant and calls for a more agile approach. She shares her thoughts on the current relaxation of data privacy regulations and suggests a rethink on regulation. Helen also discusses how her team are coping with remote working and wonders how the pandemic will change the future of work.

03:18 — Traditional business continuity planning is no longer relevant.

06:00 — Regulations around data privacy have been relaxed. Should we consider rolling them back?

09:18 — What lessons will we learn from this about how we work?

12:51 — This hasn’t changed our direction, just accelerated our move towards cloud, mobile, remote.

You can listen to Helen’s previous podcast, “Adjusting to a New Normal” here.

Have a Resilient Plan

“I think it’s really critical to have the fortitude and the resiliency to make it through these things. It’s not that you pray you won’t have incidents, because you will, it’s that you plan for it.”

Ty Sbano, Chief Security & Trust Officer at Sisense, joins the podcast to talk about how having a resilient plan can remove emotion and make crises less scary. He discusses Sisense’s cloud-first approach, explaining how and where they see the future of work. And like many security practitioners we speak to here, Ty underscores the role of the CISO as a business enabler and encourages every company to make security part of company culture.  

02:06 — Getting ahead of the curve. Planning for the pandemic early.

06:28 — Having frameworks in place allows you to not have an emotional response.

08:22 — Remote working has leveled the playing field.

12:15 — Cloud first, remote working means connectivity will be crucial.

15:59 — Advice: CISOs – have a resilient plan. Vendors – tread with care.

To hear more about managing during a pandemic, listen to our podcast with Vince Crisler, CEO of Dark Cubed.

Focus on Your People

When our host, Ashwin Krishnan, came across a LinkedIn post supporting Zoom amidst their recent troubles, he immediately contacted the author Vince Crisler, Founder and CEO of Dark Cubed. Vince joins the podcast here to talk about why he felt compelled to support Zoom during their darkest hour and what he learnt about their corporate culture from the response to his article.

Vince also talks about how he is leading Dark Cubed through these strange and unprecedented times. He describes a people-first culture, reaching out to those who need help most, and the aims of D3 for Good.

04:41 — Zoom made mistakes, but they provide a valuable lifeline during a time of social distancing.

07:30 — Dark Cubed are determined to do good.  D3 for good aim to give away 2,020 free licenses to non-profits in 2020.

10:06 — The future has arrived early. This pandemic has thrust us three to five years into the future.

12:42 — It’s all about the people. Right now, leaders must put their people first.

13:33 — This is an unprecedented time. We must take care of those around us.

15:19 — It’s time to be creative. Innovate your business plan and your product offerings.

You can find Vince’s article about Zoom on Medium and the related post on LinkedIn.

Deidre Diamond is the founder and CEO of CyberSN, a cybersecurity recruitment specialist. In this edition of our podcast, Deidre talks about the current state of the cybersecurity job market. She shares her view that the initial hiring freeze has passed as companies and professionals realize that life has to move forward. And she discusses the unusual challenges brought by interviewing, hiring and onboarding remotely.

Championing diversity in cybersecurity is a passion of Deidre’s. Five years ago, she founded Secure Diversity  to help promote the interests of women and underrepresented minorities in cybersecurity. She enthusiastically describes the progress that has been made and describes the sisterhood it has created as “truly special.”

02:43 — Hiring on hold, but less so in cybersecurity.

06:42 — Remote interviewing, hiring and onboarding.

08:20 — Engineers remain in demand and privacy roles are increasing.

12:07 — #MeToo gave women the confidence to progress and move forward.

To hear more from brilliant women in cybersecurity, listen to our 2020 International Womens’ Day podcast.

In this FastCast episode, Digital Policy Expert Kristina Podnar talks about marketing during our new normal. She believes the smartest marketers have assessed and adjusted their messaging. Brands don’t need to be silent right now, but they do need to be empathetic and focus on the good they can do. Kristina believes that as traditional marketing such as conferences and events are canceled, we will see an increased shift towards virtual and digital platforms. The brands that are able to embrace this softer, empathetic marketing approach will be the ones who come out the other side.

02:04 — First things first: adjust your messaging

03:46 — Focus on what good you can do during this time. Have empathy.

04:15 — The “How We Feel” app from Pinterest is helping track the spread of coronavirus.

06:59 — Canceling traditional marketing, like events, doesn’t mean canceling all marketing.

10:28 — Simple thank-you messages can keep your brand front and center.

Reaching a Distracted Audience

Janice Le, Silicon Valley CMO and Startup Advisor, joins the podcast to talk about how brands can reach a distracted market. She sees two approaches to marketing right now, one that highlights how your company can help, and one that ensures your brand is remembered positively once the world is out the other side of the pandemic.

Janice emphasizes the importance of cyberhygiene in our world of ever increasing digital connection. She explains end-users cannot rely on vendors to do everything it takes to protect them in cyberspace and would like to see vendors remind their customers of that through education.

02:27 — Drawing upon her experience as immigrant from a third-world country to help others through the pandemic.

05:53 — Marketing should be working cross-functionally with communications, engineering, security, and customer support to discuss how remote working could be exploited and get ready with a response.

09:42 — Cyberhygiene is more important than ever. We, the end-users, need to own responsibility for that and not rely on the vendors.

12:40 — There are two approaches to sensitive messaging right now. First, if you address privacy and data, that should be at the forefront. Second, make sure your brand is positively remembered once this is over.

15:32 — Walk your kids through cyberhygiene and teach them about the threats.

You can hear more about marketing cybersecurity in our podcasts with FireEye’s Vasu Jakkal and Aruba’s Larry Lunetta.

Virtual Security

Gary Hayslip, CISO at Softbank Investment Advisors, joins the podcast to discuss how he and his team are navigating the challenges posed by a dispersed workforce from cloud adoption to virtual communication tools. As a CISO experienced with the cloud environment, he cautions his peers that 100% cloud does not equal 0% effort; the security program still needs to be managed and the cyber hygiene basics still have to be done.

01:30 — Communication requires greater effort in the remote working setting.

04:12 — Tracking productivity metrics to help enable executive business decisions in the future.

05:43 — 100% cloud does not mean 100% less effort. You still have to manage your security program.

08:00 — A dispersed workforce utilizing virtual tools does pose the possibility of impact to the business.

08:41 — Burnout is a real concern right now.

10:15 — Vendors need to understand that CISOs are just treading water right now.

You can find our previous podcast with Gary here.

Have our Privacy Gains Gone?

Kayva Pearlman, XR Safety Initiative’s Founder and CEO, joins our host, Ashwin Krishnan, on this podcast to share her concern that we may be losing our hard-won data privacy protection. We are currently seeing privacy regulations relaxed. While we mustn’t let data privacy impede the fight against COVID-19, we must be cognizant of the ramifications. Kavya explains, “after this passes, the data destruction clause has to be there.”

For small to medium businesses or small teams working in response to COVID-19 who lack privacy protection resources, XRSI are offering free privacy reviews. Reach out to them via their website.

03:20 — This crisis has shown us two types of leadership. Those leading with FUD and those leading with compassion.

08:09 — Right now we are seeing a relaxation of privacy regulations.

09:47 — This is not just about data privacy protection, so much more is at stake.

10:46 — Some of the largest companies are partnering with WHO hoping software can solve the COVID-19 problem.

12:53 — Cybersecurity is more important than ever. The recent layoffs are due to budget not lack of need.

16:16 — If you are working in response to COVID-19, please pay attention to privacy.

The website reporting hiring freezes mentioned by Kavya in the podcast can be found at https://candor.co/hiring-freezes. The CyberSN blog by Deidre Diamond can be found at www.cybersn.com/blog/.