My Cyber Why — Episode 5: Chris Veltsos aka Dr. InfoSec

Welcome to the fifth episode of “My Cyber Why” — a glimpse into the life and work of experts from around the world who have dedicated themselves to protecting cyberspace.

Small businesses are often unaware of the cyber risks they face. (Source: Getty Images)

There’s no shortage of scary headlines about the latest hacks and malware releases. But what doesn’t make the headlines are the inspiring stories of the people who work every day to make the cyber world a safer place. These are their stories and cybersecurity is their passion.

Today’s guest is Christophe Veltsos, a.k.a. Dr. InfoSec.

Chris is the Graduate Program Director for the Professional Science Masters degree in Information Security and Risk Management and a faculty member at Minnesota State University, Mankato. Chris has done extensive research into ways to increase communication between the security and risk technical teams and corporate execs, C-Suites, and Boards. He has authored over 100 blogs on security for the SecurityIntelligence site and co-authored the books Take Back Control of your Cybersecurity Now and The #CyberAvengers Playbook (2017).

My Cyber Why with Dr. InfoSec

In each episode guests answer four questions:

1. Who are you?

2. What do you do in cyber?

3. Why do you do it?

4. How can people get involved or learn more?

This interview is chock full of cyber goodness! But for the TL;DR audience, as always — highlights in the Timestamps below.

Timestamps

[:42] Welcome Chris!

[1:30] How France’s Minitel sparked Chris’ interest in CompSci in the 1980s

[2:10] Malware on a Faculty PC? Pivoting to Cyber with additional schooling and certifications

[4:16] Professor, author, consultant, founder of the MSU ISRM Masters — what doesn’t Chris do?

[5:28] “Minnesota nice” and unique cyber challenges for small businesses

[8:15] Improving communication and reach by “stealing” from marketing, psychology, and other disciplines

[9:50] Chris’ Cyber Why

[12:21] Bridging the gap when engaging the business in cyberrisk — reference to research from Cyentia Institute Cyber Balance Sheet

[14:52] KRIs (Key Risk Indicators) that matter to the business

[17:23] Chris’s closing advice for securing small business and BEC (Business Email Compromise) awareness

Should Chris write a book with his wife that brings together the cyber and business viewpoints? Clap below!

Also, fun news — we’ve been getting questions about future guests for the series — if there’s someone you’d like to see interviewed reach out to me on LinkedIn or Twitter, or leave a comment here!