Allan Alford - The Business, Product & Security in the role of the CISO

Welcome to the latest episode of the Zero Hour Podcast and I’m your host Karl Sharman. Today we are joined by Allan Alford. Allan is Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) at Mitel, previously CISO at Forcepoint and CISO at Polycom.  With 30 years’ experience in IT and Engineering, Alford has a long history with product security as well, having served as Pearson’s Product Information Security Officer (PISO), and as Sr. Director of Product Security at Polycom. KEY MINUTES 2:20 - Things are not stable for the adults 3:30 - Attending Harvard while at high school 6:55 - Working to pay for your education 8:20 - What cybersecurity means? 9:50 - Making the transition from IT to Cyber 10:58 - Making the transition from Product Security to CISO 12:25 - Picking the right and best products 14:38 - Cloud Security Transformation 16:04 - Being in the role of the CISO 16:53 - The first 90 days in being a new CISO 19:57 - Communicating with board & C-Suite 22:01 - Using metrics to deliver your budget 24:10 - Moving away from security being seen as a cost centre 26:30 - People first approach 29:25 - Choosing Mitel 30:55 - Branding Mitel in the cybersecurity industry 32:00 - Constantly learning 34:28 - Standing out as a vendor 38:20 - Out of your comfort zone 39:50 - Advice for individuals starting in the industry Three key takeaways - Educate and train your team - Never stay still, keep evolving - Find the business need first You can find Allan at: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allanalford/ Website: https://allanalford.com/about Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/no/podcast/defense-in-depth/id1450197741 Follow us: Twitter: @zero_hourpod Instagram: @zerohourexperience Website: www.beechermadden.com This podcast is sponsored by: BeecherMadden - www.beechermadden.com Cyber Security Professionals - www.cybersecurity-professionals.com