Cyber Defense: Mike O’Malley of SenecaGlobal On The 5 Things Every American Business Leader Should Do To Shield Themselves From A Cyberattack

Use two-factor authentication — Use best practices for password protection such as two-factor authentication so that security is maximized. This method confirms users’ identities through a combination of two different factors: something they know and something they have, like using an ATM bank card which requires the correct combination of a bank card (something that the user has) and a PIN (something that the user knows).

In our uncertain and turbulent world, cyberattacks on private businesses are sadly a common tactic of hostile foreign regimes as well as criminal gangs. Cyberattacks and ransomware have crippled large multinational organizations and even governments. What does every company need to do to protect itself from a cyberattack?

In this series called “5 Things Every American Business Leader Should Do to Shield Themselves from A Cyberattack” we are talking to cybersecurity experts and chief information security officers who can share insights from their experience, with all of us.

As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mike O’Malley, SVP of Strategy, SenecaGlobal.

Mike O’Malley is the SVP of strategy at SenecaGlobal, a leading software development as a service company specializing in digital transformation. He has been in product development for 20+ years leading development, product management, marketing, and M&A in the tech space. Throughout his career, Mike has combined deep engineering knowledge with business acumen to help companies figure out what creates success in the market for a product or solution. Then he builds and coaches teams to make it happen again and again. Mike holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Illinois.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you. Can you tell us a bit about how you grew up?

I grew up on the south side of Chicago. My parents were teachers, so education was very important in our house. I studied hard, received good grades, and was lucky enough to be admitted to the engineering school at the University of Illinois to pursue my lifelong love of technology. When I wasn’t studying, I participated in Boy Scouts, eventually earning the rank of Eagle Scout, and I played a lot of basketball. These activities became the foundations for my coaching, working with teams, and a love of the outdoors.

Is there a particular story that inspired you to pursue a career in cybersecurity? We’d love to hear it.

Early in my career, I worked with a US Fortune 50 company under heavy attack from a hostile nation-state. We were experiencing outages and data exfiltration, and the security engineers said to me, “How can we stop what we can’t see?” At that moment I understood how the power of cyber security solutions helps people and that I could play an important part in helping.

You are a successful leader. Which three-character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

While I have 20+ years of business world experience, my most important leadership lessons have come from being a coach. I’ve coached boys and girls’ basketball for more than 25 years and worked with the University of Illinois men’s team in college. My leadership approach stems from a coach’s point of view: set goals, strategize with your team, be accountable and continue to grow.

Set goals: First, establish the goals and make them quantifiable. That way the scoreboard never lies. We either meet the goals or we don’t.

Strategize with your team: Next, recruit the best people to be on the team understanding that, just as in basketball, we all have different but equally valuable roles. Then set the strategy for the team, coach and mentor teammates to see what we can achieve together.

Be accountable and continue to grow: Last, use the metrics. Read the scoreboard and make adjustments. Good teams are about continual improvement. In many cases, there are numerous unknowns at the beginning, so know that you are going to make mistakes and will need to adjust. The key is to learn to adjust quickly, build good instincts or “Spidey sense” as to when to adjust course and focus everyone on continual improvement. Get 1% better every time.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

I am an innately curious person. As a lifelong learner, I truly enjoy pursuing knowledge for either personal or professional reasons. Right now, I am taking an artificial intelligence (AI) class online at Stanford that focuses on how AI can augment human intelligence to help reduce costs, manage risks, streamline operations, and accelerate growth and fuel innovation. Taking this class has already allowed me to improve my knowledge base and help companies learn new strategies to innovate with AI that improve decision making and ultimately, increase profitability.

For the benefit of our readers, can you briefly tell our readers why you are an authority about the topic of Cybersecurity?

I have been working in the engineering, security and technology industries for more than 20 years. Cultivating and growing a technology-based business requires a leader who is driven, curious and well-rounded. Throughout my career, I have combined my deep engineering knowledge with business acumen to help companies figure out how to be successful. Then, I coach and help build teams to make it happen again and again.

Ok super. Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. In order to ensure that we are all on the same page let’s begin with some simple definitions. Can you tell our readers about the different forms of cyber-attacks that we need to be cognizant of?

Cloud Security Attacks

The increase in cloud computing means that threat surfaces have grown, and bad actors have more opportunities to breach organizations than ever before. More applications in the cloud means more places for attackers to hide or breach to gain access to the network. Because the threat surface is distributed across the cloud, there are also more potential attackers posing as customers, partners and even employees.

Third-Party Apps

While cloud and third-party applications make it easier for businesses to operate, they introduce their own set of security risks. Organizations have less control over third-party apps than they would if they built them in-house. And because of this, more people and applications have access — not just employees. Third-party applications open a backdoor into the business network that organizations don’t always secure on their own.

Open-Source Vulnerabilities

Recently, high profile security vulnerabilities like the Log4J exploit woke many businesses up to the importance of responding rapidly to announced open-source security patches. The severity of the threat pushed the open-source community into fast action, something that often isn’t seen with less-publicized exploits. Unfortunately, the Log4J exploit is a symptom of a bigger problem. If nothing else, we can be sure there will be many exploits well beyond Log4J as companies keep using open-source software. These ongoing threats require constant attention.

Who has to be most concerned about a cyber-attack? Is it primarily businesses or even private individuals?

Individuals, businesses, municipalities, government, schools, nation states should all be concerned about cyber-attacks. Security affects everyone and anyone can be a target.

Who should be called first after one is aware that they are the victim of a cyber-attack? The local police? The FBI? A cybersecurity expert?

Who to call after a cyber-attack will depend upon who or what kind of organization was attacked and the type of attack. For example:

Small businesses experiencing bot attacks may call cybersecurity company to help.

Individuals who are victims of scams may call the local police department.

Organizations that are experiencing a ransomware attack should probably call the FBI and other governmental authorities.

What are the most common data security and cybersecurity mistakes you have seen companies make that make them vulnerable to ransomware attacks?

One of the biggest cybersecurity mistakes companies make is not patching vulnerabilities fast enough, this is especially true of SMBs. If companies do not patch vulnerabilities as soon as they are announced, then they are at risk for malicious hackers to launch ransomware attacks.

When vulnerabilities are made public, opportunistic attackers scan for networks that have not yet applied the patches and target those victim networks via unpatched vulnerabilities.

What would you recommend for the government or for tech leaders to do to help limit the frequency and severity of these attacks?

First, I think the government needs to understand that attacks are endemic, they will never stop, and we should continually expect them to evolve and improve. Second, the government is well known for having older technologies as well as significant complexities associated with the sharing of information across municipal, state, and federal authorities. These combined, lead to infrastructures that are older and more complicated, making them more prone to attacks. To mitigate this risk, governments must fight to streamline and standardize across boundaries and implement the best security hygiene to keep systems updated and as secure as possible. This is a tall task.

Ok, thank you. Here is the main question of our interview. What are the “5 Things Every American Business Leader Should Do to Shield Themselves from A Cyberattack” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)

Whether your company is small or large, all organizations need to make cybersecurity a priority and dedicate resources to it. It may not be necessary to hire an in-house cybersecurity team, but it’s important that someone is responsible for handling security.

As cyber-attacks continue to escalate in 2022, organizations can take steps right now to prepare and secure their businesses. It starts with back-to-basics security hygiene for all employees, processes and technology.

Install antivirus and anti-malware on your entire IT network

Cyberattacks access sensitive information, extort money from users (ransomware), and/or interrupt business operations. Therefore, it’s vital to secure your systems, networks, and applications with antivirus and antimalware security. Implementing effective cybersecurity software is particularly challenging today because of the many devices accessing the network. Not all antivirus software is created equal, so consider consulting with an expert on what might be the best solution for your company.

Use two-factor authentication

Use best practices for password protection such as two-factor authentication so that security is maximized. This method confirms users’ identities through a combination of two different factors: something they know and something they have, like using an ATM bank card which requires the correct combination of a bank card (something that the user has) and a PIN (something that the user knows).

Leverage and manage security service providers

As organizations continue to move operations to the cloud, it’s never been more important to understand third-party ecosystem vulnerabilities and the responsibilities of each party. Many companies struggle to understand the security requirements that are needed in the cloud environment. This means that they may not have conducted due diligence with regard to third-party access risk and unfortunately, have been exposed to security breaches. As these organizations wake up to these harsh realizations, they are finally understanding the shared security responsibility model. Cloud providers are focused on protecting the network infrastructure, but the responsibility for securing the hosted data, IP and applications falls on them.

Manage vulnerabilities through scanning and patching

Open-source software, like Java, is used in practically all organizations. It’s free and everybody uses it. Threat actors from all over the world are constantly trying to find ways to break into open-source applications — and they will always be successful. Why? Because businesses are overloaded, IT departments are undermanned, and people can only stay on top of so many activities. As a result, patching all applications against all known vulnerabilities is something that understandably isn’t always done in a timely manner. However, that’s how hackers get in. To minimize the attack surface, it’s important to manage vulnerabilities by identifying and applying updates to software. It’s important to have at least one allocated person that regularly checks software for available patches and updates for known breaches.

Modernize at risk applications

Legacy monolithic applications rely on older technologies and operating systems. As companies move their enterprise apps to the cloud, many are realizing that their legacy systems are obsolete and vulnerable to security breaches. To keep their applications safe as they migrate, organizations should consider refactoring their applications to take advantage of the benefits of the cloud like being able to improve data accessibility, collaborate more effectively, and run real-time transactions. They will also experience improved security protection with security features specific to the cloud like centralized security and scalability.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Follow me on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-o-malley-0032384/

This was very inspiring and informative. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this interview!