Super Cyber Fridays!
Join us TOMORROW, Friday [10-18-24], for "Hacking the Hype of Zero Trust"

Join us Friday, October 18, 2024, for “Hacking the Hype of Zero Trust: An hour of critical thinking about what are the identity and access functions that are helping us achieve this security nirvana.”

It all begins at 1 PM ET/10 AM PT on Friday, October 18th, 2024 with guests Rob Allen, chief product officer, ThreatLocker and Antony Symonds, Head of Group IT Operations, Westland Horticulture Ltd. We'll have fun conversation and games, plus at the end of the hour (2 PM ET/11 AM PT) we'll do our meetup.

Register

Thanks to our Super Cyber Friday sponsor, ThreatLocker

Defense in Depth
Will We Ever Go Back From WFH?

We see increasing evidence that no in-office perks are enough to entice employees to return to the office full-time. If hybrid work is the new reality, do we need to change our security approach? 

Check out this post for the discussion that is the basis of our conversation on this week’s episode co-hosted by me, David Spark, the producer of CISO Series, and Geoff Belknap. Joining us is Joe Lewis, CISO, CDC.

Don’t underestimate the quality of life benefits

One thing that in-office perks can’t compete with is quality of life. No matter how many snacks and comfy chairs you bring, it can’t compete with the cost of living. "Living in the cities that are typically tech hubs has become incredibly cost-prohibitive. Beyond that, my life is immensely better and less stressful living in a place where I can quickly and easily get outdoors. And it significantly improves my performance. The chances that the best people for your team all live in one geographical area are meager. You will not get the most talent-dense team without remote work, period," said Alex McGlothlin of FloQast. Organizations that see remote work as a necessary benefit for employees and as a talent acquisition strategy will have an advantage.

We’re still learning

While remote work has been available, mass work-from-home culture is still emerging. We used it to survive the early days of a pandemic, but that doesn’t mean we know best practices. "We're collectively going through a learning curve to rediscover what teams need to thrive and what firms require to strengthen and perpetuate valued and differentiated aspects of their culture. This is an odd contrast with some of the ‘butts in seats’ impulses that we also read about," said Steven Doll of Capital One. This could lead to longer-term protections for remote work; as Jacob Ivester of GitLab said, "Office availability should probably start being seen as an ‘immutable characteristic’ by those in charge of hiring and firing, like age, gender, disability status, or race. If that person can be hired for the role and is the best candidate, they should be."

What is the case for return-to-office?

There’s a perception that return-to-office initiatives come from managers going off old instincts rather than any actual productivity data. "Glad someone is trying to use data to make decisions about this rather than ‘we feel like people are more productive in the office.’ No one cares about management’s ‘feelings’ if workers know there’s a better way and can find it elsewhere," said Becca Chambers of ControlUp. Ryan Saul of Streem pointed out that it is incumbent on leadership to optimize to these new ways of working, saying, "The smart CEO takes in information and evolves their business to the new environment, not one who tries to make the environment fit their pre-conceived notions of how a business should be run."

Moving past gimmicks

Companies trying to go hybrid lose the plot with return-to-office. While some workers always have a legitimate need to be in the office, adding a few flex desks won’t change an employee’s calculus. It will be seen as another sop to get them to do what they don’t want. 

"Did he have to do this hybrid work experiment? Didn't the bean bag chairs, gourmet coffee, catered food, massage, etc, from high-tech companies teach us anything? People see through gimmicks. I think it's clear what people value: personal time and space," said QT Le of First Citizens Bank.

Thanks to our other unwitting contributors, Robert R of Certification Technology Associates LLC and Jonathan Harrop of Citi.

Please listen to the full episode on your favorite podcast app or over on our blog, where you can read the full transcript. If you’re not already subscribed to the Defense in Depth podcast, please go ahead and subscribe now.

Listen to the full episode.

Thanks to our podcast sponsor, SpyCloud

Subscribe
Subscribe to Defense in Depth podcast

Please subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Pocket Casts, RSS, or just type "Defense in Depth" into your favorite podcast app.

LIVE!
Cyber Security Headlines - Week in Review

Make sure you register on YouTube to join the LIVE "Week In Review" this Friday for Cyber Security Headlines with CISO Series reporter Richard Stroffolino. We do it this and every Friday at 3:30 PM ET/12:30 PM PT for a short 20-minute discussion of the week's cyber news. Our guest will be Steve Person, CISO, Cambia Health.

Thanks to our Cyber Security Headlines sponsor, Conveyor

Cyber chatter from around the web...
Jump in on these conversations

"Do you feel imposter syndrome even working your job in cybersecurity?" (More here)

"What are common certification and skill needs in cybersecurity" (More here)

"Entering this field with no experience, just certs. What are the best sites for practice and skills?" (More here)

Coming Up On Super Cyber Friday...
Coming up in the weeks ahead on Super Cyber Friday we have:

• [10-18-24] Hacking the Hype of Zero Trust

• [11-01-24] Hacking Your Cyber Brand

 Save your spot and register for them all now!

Thank you!
Thank you for supporting CISO Series and all our programming

We love all kinds of support: listening, watching, contributions, What's Worse?! scenarios, telling your friends, sharing in social media, and most of all we love our sponsors!

Everything is available at cisoseries.com.

Interested in sponsorship, contact me, David Spark.