Jadee Hanson, CIO and CISO at Code42, joins ChedHER to discuss what to look out for in the world of cybersecurity in 2022, and why a diverse workforce is so critical in this industry.

chedHER

Workplace Cybersecurity Trends in 2022 

joining us now, JD Hansen C I O and si esto at Code 42. J. D. Welcome to the show. You hold to C suite roles at Code 42. That's very impressive. It's hard for so many women to just get one. What are your responsibilities in these positions? Yeah, I hope both the C I O roles. So the chief Information Officer role as well as the Cso role. So the chief information Security Officer role. Um Both my roles, I focus on enabling co free to to meet our objectives. I try not to juggle one versus the other. Instead we kind of weave these two things together. Having security be part of everything that we do from a technology standpoint is one way we as an organization, stay ahead um In the ci overall I get to be strategic innovative, I focus on bringing all the technology into the organization and equipping code for you to to have the right technology to really make it successful and then on my Cso role um it's really centered around protecting the organization, enabling just strong risk based decisions to help the company make the right decisions to meet its goals. Um It includes all aspects of security operations, compliance vulnerability management and really um a component of insider risk management and understanding kind of insider risk as a threat to the overall organization. Looking ahead, employers are switching to hybrid models and others are returning to the office full time. What kind of risks and threats are out there. What cybersecurity trends do you think will be big that we need to keep an eye on? Yeah, I don't believe we'll ever really go back to exactly the way things were before in terms of physical office space and workplace collaboration and and many organizations will be managing kind of this hybrid workforce for this perceivable future. Um And for security and I. T. It's made it really difficult to have visibility over data and ultimately protecting it. And so, you know, one of the areas inside a risk defined as employees, either intentionally or unintentionally exfil trading data is going to be a really big primary concern that organizations face in the next year. There's a couple different factors that are leading to making this an increased area of risk first. His hybrid work as I just stated level of complexity for security teams. Um And also even though we know it's not the case, users kind of feel like they're not really being watched and so they're more likely to move data data outside of the organization. Another kind of factor that's leading into insider risk being a higher risk this year is just this great resignation. So as people leave organizations, it's no surprise that they take data with them. Um And with a high degree of people leaving jobs today, it's putting kind of added pressure on teams Um to ensure that they have the right visibility when data, when data leaves it, but when people leave and seeing if data leaves the organization. Um we did a research report. We found that 98% of cybersecurity leaders are very concerned around turnover and that same group 71% said that they lack of visibility to how much sensitive data is actually leaving their organization. Um One last factor that's kind of leading to this insider risk being a larger risk this year is tied to external risk kind of bleeding into insider risk. And so there's two things going on within this trend. First is the fact that ransomware has evolved. It's no longer a case where data stays kind of isolated data is also leaving organizations before it's being encrypted and isolated. Um Making internal insider risk much a much bigger issue. The other external risk that's morphing into an internal risk. Is this increased case of corporate espionage? Um So scary stuff here. It's just when employees are hired um for at the company with the sole purpose of carrying out a data theft as part of an active foreign government. Um So all of these things just really important items and trends that the security teams need to be aware of and paying attention to. That's leading to this increased risk for the organization. J. I. T. And cybersecurity as you well know are two white male dominated industries. How has this impacted your experience at a leader in this field that again is dominated by men. Yeah I mean I absolutely love I. T. And cyber and I've had an incredible experience in this field that said um like many women, I've certainly had challenges. Um There's still definitely a bias towards women um as to what they know or how technical they are. Um And you know this bias it doesn't it doesn't make me angry because I believe we all under underlying we all have biases and so I instead think of this as a challenge just like any challenge women have to work a bit harder to prove themselves in this field. Um I've personally had so many really great mentors, colleagues kinda helped me along the way, constantly supporting me. Um I think this has made just a huge difference in in my experience hey is a diverse workforce. So important in these fields. Yeah in any environment workplace. Other ways um interacting with people from different backgrounds um is really crucial to building a well rounded team. It's always maintained I've always maintained a philosophy that diversity of thought leads to innovation, new solutions. Um Two different problems that we've kind of always had. So certainly we've had many problems in security. And so this diversity of thought is incredibly important. Um I make a point within even our team that when we hire people into co free to we absolutely pulled from the pool of candidates that is is diverse and has a diverse background. So gender race or different fields. It diversity is really the feel for innovation. Um New ways of thinking and we need that in cyber security. What advice do you have for other women in I. T. And cybersecurity. Who are watching this JD? Um First of all get that support system around you like we talked about before, surround yourself with the people that can pick you up, dust you off when you're knocked down. Um Second always be curious. It's one way for LS to kind of keep learning and growing. Ask tons of questions. Um Be the first to say when you don't understand something. I think the space is dynamic. It changes really quickly and so no one knows everything in this space and not knowing everything is totally okay. I think it is as women we tend to hold ourselves to this high standard of knowing everything. Um And we don't need to we just need to stay open to learning. Um And then lastly don't let anyone tell you this space is not for you. Um Both both my family, my mom and my sister would work in health care and so um when you know the sight of blood and healthcare made me sick. I was a bit of an anomaly for my family. Sure. And so and so don't let don't let anyone um say this isn't for you if you if you find it interesting you're gonna be successful here. I think that is fantastic advice. Thank you so much for coming on JD Hansen C. I. O. N. C. So at Code 42.