“I think one of the things I’m seeing is just new fundamental philosophies about information security.”
What can reduce fear about cybersecurity threats? Experts with skills to mitigate these threats can instill courage in us. Derek Hardy, Corporate Vice President and CISO of AMD, provides his expert take on the current cybersecurity threat environment given his work securing both hardware and software elements. Also, he shares how a movie about hacking inspired his career path.
Key Insights
How Can Threat Modeling Mitigate Security Threats? (03:49)
Derek describes how he must factor in both hardware and software security in his work. He explains the utility of threat modeling in this process.
“At AMD, we have security as a very high priority. And we essentially go through threat modeling to understand what those threats are. And then we work to bring those requirements in as early as we possibly can in that life cycle and making sure that both the hardware and the software really execute together to get a secure environment all the way down to what we call that base zero.”
How Fierce Is the Competition To Attract and Retain Talent? (16:23)
“The war for cyber talent is intense. And to win that war, you have to be firing on all cylinders.”
A concerted HR effort, allocation of resources to the existing team, partnerships with universities, and a focus on mentorship are all keys Derek mentions in the fight to attract and retain talent.
Can a Movie Change Your Life? (21:54)
According to Derek, this certainty was true for him. He tells how he watched a movie about hacking as a teen and that this inspired him to get involved in the security business. The takeaway is… watching movies is not wasting time.
About the Guest:
“Mr. Derek Hardy is currently the CISO at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) designing, improving, and implementing security services globally. Mr. Hardy graduated, Magna Cum Laude, from Norwich Military University with a National Security Agency (NSA) approved Masters of Science Degree in Information Assurance (IA). He has 20 years of experience in Information Technology (IT), security strategy, architecture, engineering, operations and security service delivery. In addition, Derek was an adjunct professor at John Hopkins University from 2009 to 2013 teaching Network and Security architecture to graduate students.
Mr. Hardy’s technical and leadership background includes:
Working directly with Global Finance, Intelligence and Civil Agencies to evaluate, develop, consolidate, and implement security technologies, strategies, process and transformation. Direct and matrix leadership of large global teams specialized in security architecture, engineering, operations and various support staff. Derek has lead organizations in strategy and roadmap development and implementation, global security operations (SOC), full life-cycle architecture and engineering integration, program and project management, capture leadership, organization budgeting and financial management, Earned Value Management (EVM), vendor Negotiations, support contract management, COOP development, disaster policy development, security policy development, red teaming, Computer Network Defense and Operations (CND&O), global team talent management and transformation, security testing, Certification & Accreditation (C&A) management, international program execution and oversite, and inter-organization consulting.
In his career, Mr. Hardy has continually been called upon for his ability to quickly assess, adapt, lead, and perform with excellence on many challenging organizations.”
IT Visionaries is powered by Salesforce Platform. If this episode makes you want to go deeper into the data security world, check out Salesforce.com/datasecurity and download the IT Guide to Data Security and Governance to learn how to protect your customer data with Salesforce Security Portfolio.
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