How Does the Business View Security and Your InfoSec Team?

Thornton May delivered a funny and engaging keynote at SecureWorld Boston this morning, and he got off the stage and into the crowd to prove a point.

If you ask business leaders at your organization how they feel about cybersecurity and your team, you'll probably hear things like, "It's important," or "In this day and age we have to do it."

In other words, you would learn nothing about how other leaders really feel about InfoSec.

A better way is to ask others in the business to think of a TV show, movie, or song that describes how they feel about cybersecurity and the way it is being approached.

May did that same thing in the crowd today, and he heard the following answers:

• "Spaceballs" (the movie)
• "Red Dawn" (Russia is invading...)
• "Titanic" (the ship is sinking and a lot of people are panicked)
• REM's song "It's the End of the World as We Know It"
• Hall & Oates' song, "Private Eyes Are Watching You"

May says he often hears negative responses, but the reality shows something else: "Both information security and risk management have migrated to a 'core' element in business. Core is what differentiates you in business."

And that's why he believes there's never been a better time to be in cybersecurity.