Today’s guest is Max Martina, President of Cambridge Leadership Associates. Max and Steve talk about why understanding human behavior is key to cyber resilience, leadership and authority, and the leadership challenges that come with remote and hybrid work. Max also shares his thoughts on how AI is impacting the day-to-day of the C-suite.

Key Takeaways:

1. Security failures often begin long before a breach occurs.
2. Hybrid or remote workforces come with challenges both when it comes to managing teams, but also maintaining relationships on the executive level.
3. When it comes to leadership, the human component is still necessary.

1. How CISOs can learn to communicate effectively across all levels in the organization (2:46)
2. How CISOs best manage hybrid or remote teams (7:29)
3. How AI will affect the day-to-day work of the C-suite (14:23)

1. “Part of what the CISOs have to do is actually engage stakeholders across all the levels of the business, including potentially in, in many cases the board.” - Max Martina
2. “Leadership is disappointing people at a rate that they can sustain.” - Max Martina
3. “One of the challenges that particularly confronts CISOs is that success is no breach. There's very little positive evidence that a CISO can report to and say, ‘See, look at this funding. It's been effective.’ Effective work by a CISO means that there are no security issues.” - Max Martina
4. “Unfortunately, at least at this point, AI has not shown the ability to resolve competing commitments. It might provide directional analysis. It might provide insight that shapes strategy, but the competing commitments that exist in the fractions of the C-suite are frankly still human.” - Max Martina
5. “Just hitting your numbers is no longer sufficient. You have to build the adaptive capacity within an organization to respond to these complexities at a rate that we've never had to do before.” - Max Martina

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From the Information Security Forum, the leading authority on cyber, information security, and risk management.

In this week’s episode, Steve returns to Business Matters with Juliette Foster. He explains why attacks on critical infrastructure are on the rise, what real cyber resilience looks like, and how do-it-yourself hackers are changing the threat landscape. Steve and Juliette also discuss whether UK organizations should invest or hold back in this time of slow economic growth.

Key Takeaways:

1. Critical infrastructure are targets because they play important societal roles, and an attack will often trigger a quick response.
2. Focus for leaders of critical national infrastructure organizations must shift from prevention to recovery.
3. Crime-as-a-service and DIY hackers are changing the threat landscape.

1. The government’s role in protecting critical infrastructure (5:33)
2. Investing in cyber resilience during a time of slow economic growth (9:22)
3. The concept of the “virtual trusted insider" (24:55)

1. “A lot of industries really are operating with still fairly dated infrastructure, which is then being connected straight into the internet. So that's a good pathway for a malicious actor.” - Steve Durbin
2. “We're talking about really fast-moving, fast-changing, emerging technologies that are going to be really having a very firm, strong impact on the way that businesses operate, and boards have to do a better job of catching up to understand the risk.” - Steve Durbin
3. “I think the gold standard, Juliette, would be-- and it's very simple, actually-- it's about understanding your key data, making sure that your crown jewels are protected. It's about understanding your key processes, making sure that you know what they are and the operational impact of those. And then it's about practice and rehearsal.”

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From the Information Security Forum, the leading authority on cyber, information security, and risk management.

Today, Steve speaks with Will Vogt, expert on Chinese tech policy. The two discuss China’s approach to technology, how it can impact western businesses, and the country’s investments in tech infrastructure in emerging markets in Africa and Latin America. Will also gives his thoughts on how business leaders best can understand tech developments in China in the coming years.

Key Takeaways:

1. China is moving toward a more centralized, collectivist internet.
2. Understanding Chinese cultural norms is helpful when looking to do business with Chinese corporations.
3. If you are looking to expand into emerging markets, expect various nation states and private actors to be operating there.

1. The Chinese state’s relationship between technology, security, control, and culture (7:58)
2. China and AI (9:47)
3. How Chinese tech and infrastructure is spreading to emerging markets (18:39)

1. “There's a real risk there that comes from any sort of social, economic, or political revolution, and that is something that has global impacts now because a China that melts down has a lot of externalities involved, and I think that's just something that those stakeholders who are engaged with China, it's important to keep that in mind, not only for global stability, but also to understand the counterpart's point of view.” - Will Vogt
2. “In certain contexts, what we might call a bug or hallucination in an AI platform can also be viewed as a potential mechanism for propaganda or for establishing a national narrative.” - Will Vogt
3. “China is changing rapidly. I really want to reiterate to de-emphasize the conversations about chips and even about regional issues in East Asia. So I would say you need to look outward. And it's worth having a better understanding of what markets are being emphasized by China, because that will tell you a lot.” - Will Vogt

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From the Information Security Forum, the leading authority on cyber, information security, and risk management.