By Ben Heisler
Despite ice and snow threatening the roadways, the PMI Atlanta Technology Forum had an exciting February meeting with guest speaker John A. Salguero speaking on the topic "Can a Creative Mind Defeat a Criminal Mind in Cyber-warfare?” The meeting also had a special greeting from Nagendra Roy of Aptude, who are hosting a Hadoop Jump Start in Atlanta for PMPs and C-Level executives in March.
Following networking among technology and project management professionals, the main presentation was by John A. Salguero, Chair of PMI Atlanta Athens Committee and who has experience in leadership and on the ground when it comes to technology. He brought his experience to share about how to be more mindful of computer security. After CNBC dubbed 2014 as the “Year of the Hack,” with over 1 billion records compromised worldwide, Salguero pressed the attendees with how important it is to keep information assets safe and how information technology security starts with human security.
Salguero opened with a startling fact about security breaches: only 7% of breaches are due to hard/software issues and a staggering 93% are from people, largely stemming from laziness and arrogance. These two qualities, either the belief that no one would be able to get in past the protection (arrogance) or seeking convenience over security (laziness), have often led to information assets being breached or compromised. As businesses are not going to close off our connection to the world through the internet, we have to work together within our companies to build a more secure culture. Following these billion breaches and Sony being stung earlier this year due to electronic malfeasants, we have to increase our protection because the commodity of data is only growing in value as the black hat or hacktivist hacker’s target of choice.
So how do we get there? Salguero’s presentation pointed that it begins with project management professionals and other thought leaders and influencers to promote policy and culture. This can be achieved by working hand-in-hand or moving professionals from the IT world to the business leadership position where they can bring expertise and knowledge to banish ignorance and arrogance. Thought leaders can also bring accurate risk assessments to what safeguards need to be in place on sensitive data, and choose which safeguards are going to be most effective given the company culture. Salguero also pressed upon the group that despite biometrics and more frequent encryption, security starts and ends with the actions of the people in the company.
In addition to the insightful keynote from Salguero, the February Tech Forum enjoyed a brief greeting from Nagendra Roy of Aptude. Roy gave a brief overview of the merits of his company, which includes a focus on quality control and working with many powerful names in the tech industry. Roy continued to offer PMPs and C-level executives a complimentary Hadoop jump start event on March 18. For more information, visit aptude.com/it/hadoop-jump-start-training-atl.
We hope you’ll join us for the next Tech Forum meeting on March 24. The keynote speaker and topic is to be determined, but keep an eye on the PMI Atlanta calendar for updates.