Experienced Chief Security Officer – skilled in Physical Security, Loss Prevention, Risk Management, Internal Investigations, Leadership and Network Security. Strong military and protective services professional with a Bachelor of Arts – BA focused in Security, Terrorism and Counterterrorism from Murdoch University.
- What do you feel are the biggest challenges IT security leaders are currently faced with within their business? Â
I feel one of the biggest challenges IT security leaders will be facing in 2019 and beyond will be a shortage of suitably qualified and experienced IT security professionals. Ours is a rapidly growing field and I believe we will see far more small to mid-range companies employing full time IT security teams from now on, as a result of the escalating threat and new regulations. This could lead to a very competitive recruitment market and subsequently the level of cyber security experts in the field will be spread very thinly.
As an IT leader, what do you feel businesses continue to get wrong when it comes to their IT security strategy?
I believe when it comes to IT security most businesses have more focus on the software and technical aspects of security than they should. It is my belief that a solid IT security strategy should be far more focused on end-user development and training. By no means am I saying the technical aspects are not important, as they definitely are. However, I believe that if you’re able to upskill your workforce they will be able to identify threats; recognise potential vulnerabilities in their current workflow; and ultimately aid in your ability to quickly respond to any potential issues or avoid them altogether.
What are the latest trends and behaviours you predict will be surfacing on the market over the coming 12 months?
I believe we will see a solid increase in the sophistication and number of credential theft attacks. I believe we will also see this being focused far more on those roles who have high level access to valuable data, i.e. human resources, accounts payable and those responsible for large data sets of PII information. I base this on the current levels of income being generated by the illegal sale of sensitive data, as the same dataset can be sold numerous times for a relatively large amount. Such high levels of income will be highly appealing to threat actors and will mean they are able to organize themselves to present a sophisticated threat.
What is one key takeaway you hope our IT audience leaves with after hearing your presentation on site?
My hope is that people leave the seminar with a realistic understanding of the current threat; and a sense of optimism in our ability to meet this threat. We are operating at a threat level that is unprecedented and this threat continues to grow, change and improve on an almost daily basis. New technologies are being deployed by threat actors that are incredibly sophisticated and I believe this will continue to advance at a rapid pace, with tech such as machine learning only in its infancy. However, I also think we are at a time of opportunity. I believe that most executives are now far more engaged with security than ever before and that there is large interest in the development of new and improved IT security technologies. If we are able to capitalise on this we will be able to develop our abilities, training and technology in-order to meet these new threats, and save ourselves from falling further behind.
