October Cybersecurity Awareness

A Day of Cybersecurity Leadership, Technology, and Collaboration

What an inspiring day surrounded by cybersecurity leadership, technology, and collaboration. It was incredibly rewarding to see an entire organization come together to learn, share, and innovate toward a more secure future.

The morning began with a technical deep dive into an Application and Developer Security Platform that engaged participants across disciplines of developers, architects, analysts, and even non-technical team members eager to understand the benefits of an integrated BizDevOps and DevSecOps approach across the SDLC and vulnerability management lifecycle.

Key highlights included exploring capabilities that deliver visibility across the developer's path to production, from code inspection checkpoints to coverage spanning multiple languages, frameworks, and platforms that include infrastructure, containers, and workflows. Visibility and discovery remain essential to strong security postures, and the ability to scan environments for flaws, misconfigurations, and dependencies enhances protection from the start. Through SAST, DAST and SCA techniques, participants witness how pre-deployment and runtime vulnerabilities can be detected earlier, reducing risk and remediation costs. 

This "shift-left" approach not only embeds security into development but also strengthens collaboration between business and technology that create actionable remediation and continuous improvement opportunities.

Fireside Chat with Security Leadership

The day continued with a company-wide fireside chat, moderated by the CISO, featuring security leaders in the organization. The session began with a creative twist of introductions without using the words cyber, security, or technology. With the CISO set the tone, "I promote the company vision and protect member information," the discussion blended humor, engagement, and depth. Key topics covering leadership journeys, personal motivations, and practical insights. A light-hearted "Would You Rather…Lead this Way" segment sparked great energy, while the conversation delved into meaningful areas such as:

• Cyber maturity and leadership evolution – highlighting how strength, curiosity, and adaptability shape effective teams.
• Personal passions and superpowers – underscoring empathy, adaptability, and awareness as key leadership traits.
• Security at home – emphasizing that cyber hygiene applying to family memebers: strong passwords, MFA, phishing awareness, and router security.
• AI and innovation – exploring both opportunity and responsibility, balancing progress with privacy and ethical guardrails.
• Resiliency as a core principle – reinforced through the importance of backups, continuity, and operational safeguards.

Audience participation was lively, with thoughtful questions on topics such as password managers, MFA vs. passwordless authentication, and AI's evolving role in cybersecurity.

The session closed with scenario-based questions that brought humor and reflection. Purposefully debating situational but practical scenarios including:

• Building a rock-star team with no experience but eager learners or, seasoned veterans but overworked and burnt out.
• Short-term wins that boost morale or, long-term goals but suffer short-term pain.
• Budget cuts toward innovation but safeguard core operations or, cutting operations for future growth.

Afternoon Sessions

The afternoon featured a showcase of the organization's security pillars, including Compliance and Governance, Security Operations, Incident Response, Architecture, Security Awareness, and Third-Party Risk Management. Each security pillar leader shared updates and priorities, reinforcing how aligned security functions drive enterprise resilience.

The day concluded with interactive trivia focused on industry best practices and concluded with prizes and giveaways, recognizing participation and celebrating strong partnerships with leading security vendors and solution providers.

Key Takeaways

• Integration matters: Embedding security into every stage of development enhances visibility, collaboration, and faster remediation.
• Resilience requires preparation: Backups, testing, and awareness are vital both at work and at home.
• Leadership through partnership and collaboration: Cybersecurity thrives when technology, business, and people share responsibility.
• Balance innovation and governance: AI and automation drive progress but require ethical and strategic guardrails.
• Culture is the differentiator: Awareness, engagement, and shared accountability strengthen the entire security ecosystem.
• Power of partnership cannot be overstated, as security excellence is reflected across business lines that strengthen us through collaboration with our vendors, third-party partners, and trusted service providers.

 See my LinkedIn post for vendor and product solution partner names.

If You Only Listen to One Podcast

Mel Robbins joined by Emma Grede 

Success, in leadership and in life, starts with understanding yourself. Self-awareness is knowing your values, strengths, and blind spots. It's a continuous process: set clear, near-term milestones to measure progress, and seek constructive feedback from trusted mentors who challenge you to grow.

To sharpens decision-making and deepens empathy, it's vital to broaden your perspective by expanding your network and pursuing diverse experiences. While deep expertise is essential, becoming overly protective of your domain can limit collaboration and innovation. True influence stems from how you show up and not always what you know. Your presence, attitude, and openness define your leadership impact.

My daughter shared a podcast that resonated with me and so I look notes mid-flight. Below are key reflections and personal takeaways that I've adapted into my own leadership mindset:

1. Remember your roots – Honor where you come from and the lessons that shaped you
2. Own your accountability – Growth starts when you stop assigning blame and start looking inward
3. Practice the art of letting go – Inspired by Japanese philosophy, accept what is and release what holds you back
4. Protect your energy – Focus on what's within your control; don't dwell on what drains you
5. Pursue your higher self – Surround yourself with people and environments that challenge your growth
6. Take pride in your actions – Lead by example, beginning with self-care and personal wellness
7. Consistency matters – How you do anything is how you do everything; manifestation requires action
8. Redefine perfection – Aim for "your version of good enough" and avoid comparison traps
9. Make decisions boldly – Perfectionism can paralyze so, commit then course-correct as needed
10. Be present and intentional – Your mindset shapes your path, own where you are and where you're going
11. Embrace the Rule of Thirds – Expect a mix of good, bad, and in-between days every day; perspective is power
12. Leadership is earned – Experience builds wisdom and every challenge is part of your leadership journey
13. Be passionately curious – Immerse yourself in your craft; know your domain inside and out
14. Value relationships – Networking is a tool, but authentic connections drive success
15. Seek mentorship – Great leaders don't go it alone; wisdom is often shared, not found in isolation
16. Tell your story well – Craft a compelling narrative with clarity and authenticity to win hearts and minds
17. Back confidence with knowledge – Deep understanding of your field and markets builds credibility
18. Embrace feedback – Listening and acting on input is a mark of maturity and resilience
19. Adopt innovation early – Leveraging AI and emerging tools isn't optional, it's progress
20. Stay grounded in self-awareness – Adapt with purpose, stay true to your values, and lead with intent

Every journey is both personal and professional. The key is balancing ambition with reflection and knowing when to push forward, when to pause, and how to grow with clarity and conviction.

Life's a journey, not a direct flight — growth happens between takeoff and landing. So keep flying, learning, and adjusting your course along the way.

2025 Leadership Summit

AAA Leadership Summit was an extraordinary event organized by our L&D team, featuring impactful keynotes from board members, officer-led speakers, and associate-driven presentations. The sessions sparked reflection, inspiration, and provided valuable networking opportunities across all levels of the organization.

One lead with laughter, highlighting how humor , when used appropriately, can demonstrate confidence, build rapport, and increase engagement. Storytelling techniques such as the "rule of three" (premise, point of view, and the twist) were emphasized as powerful tools for communication. For example: I asked for a coffee, a donut, and a raise. The rhythm and structure reinforce memorability and impact.

If humor isn't your strength, the question becomes, what is your superpower? When identified and consistently applied, it enables you to articulate your value, sharpen your focus, and build trust and influence. Coupled with other key leadership practices, these insights can make you indispensable within your organization:

• Pursue an organization that motivates you and aligns with your core interests
• Ensure the culture you operate in reflects your beliefs, as misalignment can limit your potential.
• Set realistic short-term goals to build momentum through progress and achievements.
• Recognize the power of networking as it should always remain top of mind.
• Learn from setbacks by recovering quickly, comfort in asking for help, and applying lessons learned.
• Know when to stay and make an impact, and when it's time to seek other opportunities that better fit your passions and values.
• Be confident even when it feels uncomfortable, as discomfort drives growth.
• Surround yourself with leaders who both challenge and support you on your journey.
• Establish boundaries to balance organizational demands with personal well-being.
• Lead with intention as authentic leadership inspires and sustains long-term success.

No summit these days would be complete without a discussion on AI. Its promise is no longer theoretical. The value is emerging now through company-approved platforms such as Microsoft Copilot or enterprise-class OpenAI licenses. AI can deliver actionable insights, drive automation, spark innovation, and improve efficiency. When aligned with business strategy, clearly defined objectives, and targeted use cases, AI transforms from concept to tangible results with measurable business impact. With this opportunity comes responsibility. AI without guardrails risks inconsistency, hallucinations, and ethical challenges.

Ask AI to generate your professional bio, then evaluate the accuracy of the output. This illustrates both its potential and the critical need for oversight.

Blending collaboration, innovation, and community impact, the Summit highlighted new ways forward and included a putt-putt activity that raised support for the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Orlando.

CTEM: Visibility with Context Turns to Mobilization

Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) is a strategic, cyclical framework designed to continuously identify, assess, prioritize, validate, and remediate cybersecurity exposures across an organization's digital and physical assets. It represents a shift from reactive vulnerability management to a proactive, business-aligned approach to cyber risk reduction. The systematic process in unison with business culture and risk tolerance, mitigating cyber risk and exposure becomes the forefront in cyber security resilience. 

 

1.     Continuous Visibility & Proactive Exposure Management

CTEM enables real-time, ongoing monitoring of exposures and eliminates blind spots between periodic scans. This continuous visibility reduces dwell time and enhances the organization's ability to detect and respond to threats before they escalate. Clear focus on scoping including asset inventory, access management, segmentation, and overall process integration is fundamental to a successful CTEM deployment. Rather than treating all vulnerabilities equally, CTEM focuses on exposures that are both exploitable and impactful to critical business assets. This ensures that remediation efforts are aligned with business risk, reducing mean time to respond (MTTR) and optimizing operational costs.

2.     Validation of Real-World Risk Validation and Strategic Improvements

CTEM incorporates attack path simulations and breach-and-attack testing to validate which exposures are truly exploitable with protection or mitigating controls that are factored in the analysis. This evidence-based approach informs remediation strategies and ensures that security controls are effective in real-world scenarios. By translating technical exposure data into business risk definition and relevant KPIs, CTEM empowers leadership to track ROI, demonstrate compliance readiness, and align security investments with enterprise goals.

3.     Risk Management, Compliance Support & Governance 

A priority risk-driven culture and heightened awareness are essential to strengthening an organization's cybersecurity maturity and overall resilience. Success is grounded in strong collaboration between leadership, data stewards, and technology teams, working together to align strategy, governance, and execution. CTEM supports continuous audit readiness by aligning with frameworks such as NIST 800-53, ISO 27001, PCI-DSS, and HIPAA. It provides structured documentation and reporting capabilities that streamline governance processes. Incorporated into and Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and practices, allow contextual interpretation and mobilization for remedy and resolution.

4.    Speedy Incident Response

Platform integration such as SIEM (Security Incident and Event Management), XDR (Extended Detection and Response), SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response), and ITSM (IT Service Management), alongside CTEM enables automated and coordinated responses to validated threats. Reducing response times and ensuring consistent playbook execution is the name of the cyber threat exposure management game. According to Gartner, organizations leveraging CTEM have seen up to a 3% reduction in overall exposure. When combined with foundational layered security controls and a strong Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA), CTEM enhances security operations, minimizes blast radius, and strengthens incident and breach response capabilities.

5.     AI at the Center of Cybersecurity Nervous System

AI supplements intelligence layer in CTEM to continuously analyzing vast telemetry from application logs, network traffic, cloud activity, and identity signals. These factors uncover hidden or emerging exposures and predictive analytics can simulate attacker behavior to assess likelihood and impact of breaches. Coupled with embedded process, this can enable smarter prioritization of remediation efforts. CTEM platforms that leverage AI models trained on real-world threat intelligence can provide lens into score exposures based on exploitability, business impact, and attack feasibility.

While agentic AI and automated patching promise faster decision-making, typical implementations today focus on decision support rather than full automation. Strategic partnerships can enhance AI-driven analytics, including predictive capabilities. However, caution is warranted: the accuracy of AI insights depends heavily on data quality, and correction detection, rejection, and positive matching remain a concern. Of course, with a conservative and privacy in mind, analytics and large language models (LLMs) are best deployed in-house, with a measured, data-driven approach.

 

Strong cybersecurity practices and maturity advancement are directly tied to executive commitment and organization-wide risk awareness. When technology is effectively leveraged, business stakeholders are aligned, and collaboration is prioritized, organizations become more secure and resilient. Our ability to adapt to evolving threats in combination of strategic use of technologies like AI, it translates visibility into action, drives measurable gains for our brand, our members, and our customers.

Cyber Threats and Strategic Defense Practices

FutureCon Conference Tampa 2025 

At the Crossroads of Innovation and Risk – for Resilience

The digital world stands at a pivotal crossroads. Organizations are accelerating innovation with technologies including AI, IoT, and cloud-native services. However, the cyber threat landscape is growing increasingly complex and sophisticated. State-sponsored campaigns, deepfake-driven social engineering, and intricate supply chain attacks are examples of the evolving tactics reshaping today's threat matrix. These challenges not only demand more than reactive controls, but a strategic defense posture grounded in collaboration, education, and resilience.

 

During the recent FutureCon Conference, CISOs and cybersecurity leaders convened to explore how enterprises can adapt to this evolving trends. A moderated panel of industry experts shared their insights across six core themes: Security Awareness, Threat Collaboration, Penetration Testing, Emerging Technology, Compliance, and Security Posture Management. The conversations highlighted not just tactical approaches but the cultural and structural evolution necessary to facilitate organizational resilience.

 

Security Awareness – Building Culture from Within

One of the most critical pillars of cybersecurity maturity is awareness. The traditional training is no longer sufficient and requires creativity and innovation. CISOs emphasized that awareness must be treated as a dynamic program. Programs should be designed to engage employees meaningfully, with training that resonates and evolves to threat matrix. Automation can help scale efforts across small and large enterprises alike, but it must be purpose-built to align with organizational goals.

 

Establishing internal champions or liaisons can establish trusted communication channels that reinforce awareness across departmental levels. Campaign-style promotion of the security agenda that builds familiarity, ownership, and accountability is key. Gamification emerged as an effective tactic to sustain interest and knowledge retention. Ultimately, the success of any security awareness is directly integrated with business context and its ability to drive lasting behavioral change.

 

Threat Intelligence: Power in Collaboration

Cyber threat intelligence programs differ widely in size, funding, and scope, but the value is amplified with collaboration. The panel underscored the need to break down silos and share actionable intelligence across sectors. An industry quote referenced, "not keeping information to yourself but sharing so the adversary doesn't win…"

 

A few themes echoed including the financial sector's model with more than 7,000 firms across 70 countries actively participating in threat-sharing initiatives. Smaller, informal cybersecurity networks or conference also play a vital role in enabling candid discussions and practical knowledge exchange. In addition, recognition was given to researchers and security firms whose public disclosures advance the effort of collaboration and shedding light on emerging threats. It's a reminder that collective vigilance remains one of our strongest assets.

 

Penetration-Testing: Turning the Lens Inward

Penetration testing and red teaming have become indispensable tools for identifying vulnerabilities before adversaries can exploit them. However, not all testing is equal. Effective efforts require thoughtful scoping that considers the organization's business objectives, unique risk profile, and infrastructure. Panelists agreed that annual certifications are no longer adequate on their own. Instead, assessments must be ongoing, internal team and department partnership, and tied to real-world scenarios.

 

An increasingly valuable approach is the use of internal red teams since they have deep knowledge of the organization's systems and can more effectively simulate attacks and probe weaknesses. The design of teams and "break-glass" situations are high-risk, high-impact scenarios given privileged accounts and authorizations. When testing resilience is paired with remediation and lessons learned, it transforms exposure into strength.

 

Emerging Technology: Innovation and Exposure

Emerging technologies present both new opportunities and new risks. From AI-generated deepfakes to unseen attack vectors in IoT and contingencies with legacy systems, CISOs are challenged with legacy and expanding exposures. Deepfakes, once speculative, are now actively being used in fraud and impersonation campaigns. The expansion of digital footprint require organizations need to sharpen their detection and response capabilities.

 

Legacy software remains a prime target due to unpatched vulnerabilities and long update cycles. Prevalent in various sections including our very own energy and critical infrastructure. The rise of IoT compounds the challenge, with incidents and breaches of 16 billion devices in 2023 and projected to 29 billion by 2027. Sources cited included, nearly one-third of breaches now stem from IoT-related issues, with buffer overflows and denial-of-service attacks among the most prevalent. Moreover, in the retail sector, breaches cost more than $20 billion in 2024, with an average breach cost rising by 123% annually.

 

CISOs discussed the importance of shoring up systems and applications with strong perimeter controls, enforcing least-privilege access, and leveraging AI-driven tools that can detect misconfigurations and physical security weaknesses more quickly. As the line between cyber and physical threats continues to blur, staying ahead of technology risks requires continual adaptation and investment.

 

Compliance: Foundation for Resilience

While often perceived as a box-ticking exercise, compliance serves as the bedrock for risk management and business alignment. The panel emphasized that understanding the organization's regulatory landscape whether financial, healthcare, or international, is an essential first step. Compliance may not always keep pace with cutting-edge security practices, but it does establish a baseline that holds organizations accountable.

 

CISOs shared how aligning compliance efforts with business objectives drive investment in tools and processes that improve both security posture and maturity. It was noted that third-party and supply chain risks are increasingly governed by compliance frameworks, particularly in regulated industries. Additionally, cyber insurance policies are now more closely tied to the strength of an organization's compliance and risk quantification processes.

 

Ultimately, building resilient compliance structures requires a capable, diverse internal team that understands technology, business, and regulatory intersections. The goal is not just to meet minimum standards, but to operationalize compliance in a way that supports long-term security and resilience.

 

Cloud Security Posture: A Maturity Journey

As enterprises continue migrating to the cloud, managing cloud security posture has become a strategic imperative. Visibility is the essential starting point otherwise even the best controls can fail. CISOs highlighted the importance of Zero Trust architecture as a fundamental baseline in modern environments.

 

However, challenges arise when organizations simply take the lift-and-shift approach to legacy systems into the cloud. This approach merely transfers old vulnerabilities into new environments shits technical debt proportionally. Instead, panelists urged leaders to take advantage of native cloud capabilities, such as policy enforcement, threat detection, and role-based access controls, and segmentation.

 

Managed services was mentioned as accelerators for supplementing safeguards and delivering operational efficiency. To that end, success hinges on purpose built cloud environments from design and conversion through continuous monitoring and governance. Meeting business needs in the cloud isn't just about availability but integrity and sustainable of operations.

 

Summary: Shared Action for a Shared Threat

The panel reinforced a central focus that cybersecurity is no longer just the responsibility of Information Technology but a strategic enterprise function. Across all six focus areas during this discussion, one theme remained constant, the path of resilience is commingled in collaboration, alignment, and intentional action. Whether addressing legacy vulnerabilities, refining cloud postures, or building effective awareness programs, organizations must evolve as rapidly as the threats they face. As the digital world advances, so must our collective ability to defend it. 

Be an Animal - Elevate Your Relationship

The Animal Wheel Model of Behavior is metaphorical framework that illustrates personality and behavioral styles through the lens of associated animals archetypes. While the model encompasses a range of animals, Evy Poumpouras' inspiring keynote at Gartner's SRM summit represented four distinct animals and linked them to general human behavior and physiology. 

Evy highlighted four central archetypes: the Lion, T-Rex, Monkey, and Mouse. Each representing unique behaviors and traits, strengths, and potential challenges. These animal personas offer a relatable and insightful approach to understanding how individuals respond to situations, communicate, and make decisions, both personally and professionally.

Each of the archetypes offers an opportunity and challenge that is essential in any stimulation awareness success, recognizing our own tendencies and learning from others. Key takeaways and insights incorporated in the instinctual behavior and intentional action.

The Lion – Commanding with Confidence

The lion's core traits and behavioral style center around natural leadership, assertiveness, and decisive. Lions are often seen as courageous and strong-willed, typically setting the agenda and driving forward with purpose. However, this powerful precence can also come with challenges since lions can be impatient, dogmatic, or ridged in their approach. When two lions share the space, tension and conflict can easily arise due to completing dominance. 

To be an effective leader, strength must be complemented by strong listening skills and emotional intelligence. Building trust, repour, and genuine connection is essential. Dismissing those with varying viewpoints can limit perspectives and hinder growth. Often, alternative voices offer valuable balance and insight that even strong leaders can learn to benefit from.

The Mouse – Quiet Strength in Observation

Conversely, a mouse embodies thoughtfulness, modesty, conflict-aversion, and keen observation. While these qualities are valuable, they can also lead to struggles with assertiveness, resulting in overly passivity, hesitation, and the risk of being overlooked or unheard. Often, the lack of voicing opinions stems from a desire to avoid being wrong or to shield oneself from potential judgement.

Yet, the mouse's quiet approach is a strength since one remains patient and attentive, reading the room, assessing dynamics, and gathering insights before making a move. This deliberate behavior is a powerful asset when timed to provide subtle influence that matters the most. 

The T-Rex – Power Without Pause

The T-Rex personality is charactered by directness, forcefulness, and display of dominance when aligned with self-awareness. While this quick thinking and action-oriented behavior can convey command, it can also veer into aggressiveness, punitive, and portray sarcasm. The tendencies can single lack of empathy and dismissive attitude towards collaboration, and ultimately damage trust, morale, and stifle creativity. 

If seeking input from others is not part of your repertoire or if you have a tendency to interrupt or shut people down, you could be intentionally burning bridges. Hence, if that is your intent, then be honest about it however, recognize that true leadership also requires listening, adapting, and building other up.

The Monkey – Energy with a Need for Focus

The fourth animal is the monkey which is known for their enthusiasm, curiosity, and sociable nature. Monkeys bring energy, levity, ability to ease tension, and often forming connections with ease.

However, the impulsive tendencies can be lead to distraction, a lack of focus, and challenges with follow through. This portrays the impression of being unreliable if not grounded. The key to channeling this charisma is leading with intention. Avoiding stereotypical over-the-top salesperson with over pitched substance so instead strive for authentic and balance engagement.

Life is ultimately about balance and demonstrating the right behavior at the right moment, whether that in workplace environments, meetings, or everyday interactions. Your response can set you apart and earn the respect that should be cultivated instead of demanded or taken for granted. Along the journey, having a clear sense of mission and purpose helps ground your beliefs and sustain your pursuit of meaningful goals. Understanding the dynamics behind the these four behavioral archetypes enables us to stay focused and avoid distractions or derailing from our goal. As the old adage goes, leave your ego at the door. This mindset enables clear thinking, sustained attention, and decisive leadership while nurturing relationships that matter most.

Concluding with an intriguing quote from Evy's presentation, "if you're easily offended, then you're easily manipulated."