This is the first update of 2020 in our longstanding Expert Insight on cyber/IT threats and security series, with Sean Slattery, the Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Caribbean Solutions Lab. Sean updates us on global and regional trends, and shares tips on how to keep our personal devices safer, critical recommendations for organisations; along with giving us a sneak peak of security solutions that will soon be available for the consumer market.

 

This episode is also available in Apple iTunes, Google Play Music and on Stitcher!

Over the past several years, the Average Joe has had to get familiar with terms, such as network security, IT security, cybersecurity. With virtually all of us owning or having access to digital devices, and using them both in our personal and professional lives, increasingly, the responsibility for keeping our devices, networks and information safe is no longer the sole remit of some arbitrary third party software application we picked up somewhere.

To be clear, the threats to our devices, networks and information are numerous, sophisticated and continually evolving, and the outcome, when successful,  can be extremely lucrative. As a result, we, in our personal lives, along with those who are IT professionals managing company networks, not only need to be vigilant, but also informed – on how the threat landscape is changing and the trends that are emerging – in order to adjust our security posture accordingly.

To that end, this episode is our first update of 2020 in our longstanding Expert Insight on cyber/IT threats and security series, where we invite security experts, to share their views and knowledge – their insights – on network intrusions and security, generally, and in the Caribbean region.

Sean Slattery

Today’s guest is no stranger to our Expert Insight series, and he was also on the Podcast last year.  We are thrilled to welcome back Sean Slattery, the Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Caribbean Solutions Lab, a cybersecurity service provider that helps businesses throughout the Caribbean and North America to defend and protect themselves from cyber threats.

Sean is based in the Cayman Islands, and has spent over a decade focusing primarily on cybersecurity, and has been closely affiliated with global computer security software company, McAfee.

Our conversation with Sean covered a broad range of topics, with the discussion, as appropriate sharing insights and advice pertinent to organisations and devices in the home. Some of the specific questions posed to Sean included the following:

  1. Can you give us a quick recap of what have been the most prevalent types of incidents in the Caribbean region?
  2. Are ransomware incidents still as huge a threat?
  3. Phishing has been around for several years. What are your thoughts, and what have you been observing with regard to phishing?
  4. There seems to be a growing concern about the security of the cloud. Is this true, and what would be the nature or form of the threat?
  5. As we become excited about smart devices and the Internet of Things, what are some of security requirements needed, and what are potential areas of concerns?
  6. How useful is Multi-Factor Authentication as a means of strengthen security, and are there additional or other measures we ought to consider?
  7. There have been reports of a growing demand for cyber security professionals, which is likely to widen into the future. Do you agree, and why might that be the case?
  8. After all of what we have discussed, are there any new and emerging threats of which we should be more aware, or any final pieces of advice of which you would like us to take heed?

 

We would love to hear from you!

Do leave us a comment either here beneath this article, or on our Facebook or LinkedIn pages, or via Twitter, @ICTPulse.

 

Select links

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Image credits:  NSWC Crane Corporate Communications; S Slattery

Music credit:  Ray Holman

—————-