COVID-19 , Fraud Management & Cybercrime , Governance & Risk Management

Cybersecurity Leadership: What We've Learned From COVID-19

CEO, CISO Panel on Innovation, Risk and Lessons Learned From Crisis Management
Clockwise from top left: Anahi Santiago of ChristianaCare, Stephen Fridakis of Google, Stephenie Southard of BCU Credit Union; Gal Helemski of PlainID, David Merkel of Expel, and Chuck Brooks of Brooks Consulting

What are the biggest leadership lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic? And what will CEOs and CISOs look back on and say, "Why did we ever do things that way?" Those questions were posed to a panel of cybersecurity leaders, and here are their candid answers.

See Also: Cyber Defense: What Are We Missing?

Participating in the latest in a series of Information Security Media Group cybersecurity leadership forums are:

CEOS: Chuck Brooks, president, Brooks Consulting; Gal Helemski, co-founder and chief innovation and product officer, PlainID; David Merkel, CEO, Expel.

CISOs: Stephen Fridakis, technical program manager, security - mergers and acquisitions, Google; Anahi Santiago, CISO, ChristianaCare; Stephenie Southard, CISO, BCU Credit Union.

In the latest Cybersecurity Leadership video panel discussion hosted by ISMG, this select group of CEOs and CISOs discusses:

  • Telehealth and other innovations that have emerged from the crisis;
  • Risk acceptances that still await permanent solutions;
  • How to monitor and mitigate the heightened insider risks within all enterprises.

As ChristianaCare's CISO, Santiago provides strategic direction and oversight to a comprehensive security program; policy development; standards and controls implementation; training and awareness; regular risk assessment and mitigation; as well as partnerships with internal and external auditors.

Fridakis, technical program manager, security - mergers and acquisitions at Google, previously was senior vice president and CISO of WW (formerly Weight Watchers), and before that was CISO of HBO. He also worked as a security scientist at AWS and served for many years as the CISO of several United Nations agencies.

Southard, CISO at BCU Credit Union, has over 25 years’ experience in information technology and security. She is a strategic executive with CISO and VP-level success in physical and logical governance, risk management, mergers and acquisitions and business continuity.

Helemski is a recognized cybersecurity expert, leading innovation and product strategy at PlainID. In the past 14 years, she has defined solutions for customers and created and defined project specs, technical documentation, presentations and training, primarily in the identity and access management area.

Merkel, the co-founder and CEO of Expel, has been involved in the information security field for nearly 20 years, first as a federal agent pursuing cybercriminals and then as CTO and vice president of products at Mandiant. Following FireEye's acquisition of Mandiant, he served as the global CTO of FireEye.

Brooks, who heads a consultancy, is a globally recognized thought leader and evangelist for cybersecurity and emerging technologies. LinkedIn named him as one of “The Top 5 Tech People to Follow on LinkedIn”. He was named by Thompson Reuters as a “Top 50 Global Influencer in Risk, Compliance,” and by IFSEC as the “#2 Global Cybersecurity Influencer” in 2018.


About the Author

Tom Field

Tom Field

Senior Vice President, Editorial, ISMG

Field is responsible for all of ISMG's 28 global media properties and its team of journalists. He also helped to develop and lead ISMG's award-winning summit series that has brought together security practitioners and industry influencers from around the world, as well as ISMG's series of exclusive executive roundtables.




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