02-13-20 - Is Diversity the Enemy of Speed?

Is Diversity the Enemy of Speed?

February 13, 2020

CISO | Security Vendor Relationship Series

This week's episode of Defense in Depth

Lack of Diversity in Cybersecurity

Lack of Diversity in Cybersecurity

 On this episode of Defense in Depth:

Co-host Allan Alford and our guest is Christopher Zell, vp, head of information security, The Wendy's Company, discussed:

  • Discussion is based on a quote by one PayPal co-founder, Max Levchin, who said, "The notion that diversity in an early team is important or good is completely wrong. You should try to make the early team as non-diverse as possible."

  • There is diversity of people and there's diversity of opinions. Those two often go together, but they don't have to.

  • While appalling, there is some truth to Levchin's statement. When everyone thinks the same you don't have conflict and can move quickly.

  • But lack of diversity of opinion means you don't see the full picture and that can make you susceptible to unforeseen vulnerabilities.

  • If you don't know what problems you're facing, you should want diversity.

  • Minorities often face different and more struggles than those who never have to suffer diversity issues. They've been hardened and that should make them an even more attractive candidate.

  • Start building your diverse network now. When it comes time to hire diversity and you don't have that network already in place, you're going to have a very difficult time.

Thanks to this week's sponsor, Electronic Frontier Foundation

Electronic Frontier Foundation
Michael Piacente, Hitch Partners on handling oneself during a breach

Live recording of CISO/Security Vendor Relationship Podcast at BsidesSF on 2/23/20

In a little over a week, Sunday, February 23rd, 2020, come see me and Mike Johnson do a live recording of CISO/Security Vendor Relationship Podcast with our guest Olivia Rose, CISO, Mailchimp. Go ahead and register for BsidesSF. It's only $50 to attend. And then make sure you put our live audience recording on your schedule. We begin recording at 3:30 PM.Check out the video!MORE LIVE SHOWS!Tuesday, 3/3/20 in New York City at Rise-NYC - 5:30 PMJoining me will be guest co-host JJ Agha, vp, head of InfoSec, WeWork along with a special guest. This will be done in conjunction with NY Information Security Meetup Group that has over 5,000+ members. Small fee to attend since space is limited. REGISTER.Thursday, 3/5/20 in Boston at athenahealth - 6:00 PMMy special guest cohost will be Taylor Lehmann, CISO, athenahealth, and our guest will be Marnie Wilking, global head of security & technology risk management at Wayfair. REGISTER.

Peter Liebert, California State Guard on not incident is malicious

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