- It's lunch time,
and this is Brad Anderson's Lunch Break.
Two of my favorite things about Microsoft
are the smart people that constantly visit campus,
and the great fleet of shuttles.
Wherever I can, I try to take advantage
of both of these things,
and grab lunch with some of
the tech industry's best and brightest.
(sunny music)
This week, I'll wrap up my conversation with
Mauricio Guerra, the chief Information Security Officer
at Dow Chemical.
(sunny music)
So I heard this amazing story about the founder of
Dow Chemical, Henry Dow.
- Mm-hmm.
- He came with this idea to use electrolysis
to basically separate chemicals,
but the financial backers thought that was a crazy idea,
and actually fired him!
- Mm-hmm.
- So, he turned around and used that technology
to create Dow Chemical, and the rest is history.
So what technology do you think organizations
are not using enough of, to keep their company safe?
- I don't want to say that it's a particular technology
but that will be different,
say, pointing to technology A, or B, or C.
What I would like to stress, is the need to have a
comprehensive cyber security program.
Understanding that cyber security is not installing,
implementing a couple of firewalls here,
and this, and that, and that.
It's making sure that from the executive level down,
the companies understand, and properly manage the risk.
And it sounds obvious, or too simplistic, what I'm saying,
but what I'm seeing, the industries, that there might be
a better opportunity for companies to take a more,
more, more structured approach into cyber.
- Kind of a footnote in history, you know,
Henry Dow actually went back and bought the company
that fired him.
So, words of wisdom, be Henry Dow.
- Oh, okay.
(laughing)
(jazzy music)
When we see winning innovation, that will bring
big challenges for people that are in
like we will be dealing with way more automation,
we'll be dealing with more data,
more devices,
more connectivity - it's more complex
- More clouds, more complexity, huge complexity.
And normally when you drive innovation
is when you bring risk.
And I'm not implying that's a negative,
that's the way it is. - That's reality.
- That the reality.
New stuff, new challenges
then we either need to adjust our security poster
or figure it out how to mitigate risk.
To summarize my point,
yes it's a bigger challenge.
Not only managing the well known threats,
but also enabling those capabilities
that companies like Dow will be using to drive innovation
and being more and more and more competitive.
I mean better leveraging IT tools.
(sunny music)
- A big part of Mauricio's job is evaluating
the security aspects of what IT wants to deploy.
- Mmhm.
- So how do you challenge the partners
that you're working with
to make sure that they're delivering the right balance
of value and security?
- At the end of the day, there is not a perfect solution.
They need judgment, different perspective.
So it is all about helping businesses
making educated decisions.
By educate I mean informed decisions
- Yeah, sure.
- Personally, I spent a lot of time on visiting companies,
participating in industry forums that gives me
good feel on where the industry is going.
But, at the end of the day, there is judgment.
Judgment, but then, you need to establish a strong network
and be credible with the businesses.
- Yeah, so you have to have all this signal coming into you
so that you're constantly being aware
of what the innovations are,
what the attacks are,
and then you have to help synthesize that
and share it with all the leadership.
- Exactly.
(light upbeat music)
- This has been awesome.
- For so long, I mean have you heard before:
You know I'd use a cost center, who's heard that?
- It's definitely transitioning but I've heard that
- And there's been so many times right?
If you see it and if you view it as an investment
it pays back dividends ten fold.
(light upbeat music)