The vital protection cyber security gives to a Modern Workplace solution needs to be agile and constantly evolving to keep up with ever-increasing outside threats. That is why we have a full-time cyber security expert – Sam King.
We wanted to give you a better understanding of the people we have behind the screens of IT Champion, so we asked some key people ten questions to help uncover the personalities, experience and knowledge that powers our success.
Today is about getting to know our cyber security analyst.
Tell us about your role at IT Champion
My role as a cyber security analyst within IT Champion is to identify potential vulnerabilities or threats to our client’s networks and IT infrastructures by using the necessary software to detect, stop and protect from unauthorised access or malicious behaviour and document detections, so future breaches can be efficiently mitigated. I also provide expert support and analysis for clients seeking to improve their overall cyber security resilience, reduce their attack risks and gain Cyber Essentials accreditation.
How long have you worked for IT Champion
I’ve been working at IT Champion for just over two and a half years.
What does a typical day look like
The typical day as a cyber security analyst revolves around incident monitoring and handling. I work with powerful technologies that allow me to see and review security risks and incidents in near real-time, and in the case of modern workplaces, I can remotely respond to and fix many of these incidents. The rest of my time is spent supporting the wider team and clients to improve their security postures.
What got you into IT and particularly your expertise in Security?
A generalised interest in PC hardware and gaming lead me to study IT at college, where I was introduced to a wider range of computing topics. This naturally resulted in me attending University and obtaining a degree in Computer Science. My degree provided the opportunity to complete a year’s placement working in industry between my penultimate and final years after many applications and interviews, I was offered a position at Lockheed Martin, a large defence contractor. During my time there, I was introduced to enterprise-level cyber security and steered my career path in that direction.
What is the next step in organisational security?
The industry is moving away from legacy anti-malware solutions and embracing Next-Generation protection services such as Endpoint Protection and Response (EDR) and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM). These solutions are designed to be centrally managed with visibility over the whole organisation rather than individual endpoints/devices.
In the time you’ve been developing Modern Workplace solutions for small to medium businesses what development has made the largest impact on an organisation?
Bringing enterprise-grade security technologies into small and medium-sized environments. Smaller organisations were often priced out of using the best security solutions available, now Microsoft’s leading security infrastructure is available within business licensing and allowing modern workplaces to benefit from enhanced security features.
When thinking about the rapid changes in office life where do you think is technology best placed to enable secure working and employee productivity?
Centrally managed cloud-based security systems allow organisations to monitor and action security incidents on devices around the world as if they were in the same office. This gives organisations the peace of mind that their systems are protected even when hybrid working practices are used.
Where can a Modern Workplace solution impact the most (cost, time, productivity, resilience)?
Resilience. Resiliency is key, especially for the security aspects of a modern workplace environment. Utilising the available technologies enables us to effectively remediate security incidents and move away from legacy physical server environments, reducing the impact of common attack types.
What’s next in the development of a modern workplace – what new features are just around the corner?
Collaboration Security for Microsoft Teams – Microsoft Teams is being brought further into the existing security ecosystems. Currently, Teams is protected from malicious links and attachments if you have Business premium licensing. With teams taking a more central role in how organisations transfer critical information an update is coming to bring the full feature set that customers use to protect their email environments to Microsoft Teams.
What’s the one piece of advice you would give to an organisation unsure where to start when creating and implementing a modern workplace solution?
Ensure you take into consideration how any change within your environment changes your security posture. Does the change in the way you work reduce or increase the risks faced by the organisation?
