All links and images for this episode can be found on CISO Series

https://cisoseries.com/would-you-look-at-that-unrealistic-licensing-deal/ 

CISOs know that salespeople want to make the best licensing deal they can possibly get. But unpredictability in the world of cybersecurity makes one-year licensing deals tough, and three-year licensing deals impossible.

This episode is hosted by David Spark (@dspark), producer of CISO Series and Mike Johnson. Our guest this week is Mark Eggleston, (@meggleston) CISO, Health Partners Plans.

This recording was recorded live in front of a virtual audience at the "SecTalks - Leading with grit in security" virtual conference brought to you by our sponsor, Cobalt.

Thanks to our podcast sponsor, Cobalt

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On this week's episode

Why is everybody talking about this now?

A redditor is struggling and overwhelmed! The person is in school studying, working, and loving cybersecurity, but has completely and utterly failed the foundations course and is on academic probation. The person told their story to the cybersecurity subreddit community, and the support came out in droves. We've seen this before. People hit a major wall professionally and they just reach out to the anonymous masses for support. The story hits a nerve and the community is eager to show encouragement. In fact, just this past week, the New York Times had an article about the unemployment subreddit offering advice and information to those struggling. We'll take a look at this tactic of reaching out for support and guidance through discussion boards.

What do you think of this vendor marketing tactic?

"Pro tip to vendors: don’t claim that you can’t do a one-year licensing deal. You might end up with a zero-year license deal", said Ian Amit, CSO, Cimpress on LinkedIn. We'll look at the art of negotiating a contract with a vendor: What is it ultimately you want? What are you willing to concede on and what must you have? And what are the situations that cause this to change?

It's time to play, "What's Worse?!"

Jason Dance of Greenwich Associates suggests two scenarios that others believe is security, but actually isn't.

If you haven’t made this mistake, you’re not in security

On Twitter, the CISO of Twitter, Rinki Sethi, said, "A career mistake I made, I rolled out a phishing testing program before the company was ready for it. The HR team said it was against the company culture and if I tried a trick like that again, I would be fired. Lesson - communication is important in #cybersecurity." Rinki asked for others' stories of failure. Let's explore a few.

What Is It and Why Do I Care?

For this week's game, the topic is vulnerability management. We look at four pitches from four different vendors. Contestants must first answer what "vulnerability management" is in 25 words or less, and secondly must explain what's unique about their vulnerability management solution. These are based on actual pitches - company names and individual identities are hidden. The winners will be revealed at the end.