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InSecurity Podcast: Holistic Cybersecurity - Philosophy Meets Practice


“Science is what you know.
Philosophy is what you don’t know.”
~ Bertand Russell

“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.”
~ Aristotle


In this very special episode of InSecurity, host Matt Stephenson moderated a chat between SMU CISO George Finney and BlackBerry Global VP of Engineering Rich Thompson.

We covered a range of topics, but narrowed the field to the Big Ideas of Habit, neuroscience and artificial intelligence, and also behavior and technology. The notion was to consider how those things influence our approach to cybersecurity. Tune into the podcast to find out what we uncovered…


About George Finney

George Finney (@WellAwareSecure) is the CSO for SMU in Dallas, Texas, and is the author of the new book, Well Aware: Master the Nine Cybersecurity Habits to Protect Your Future plus several others. He is a Chief Information Security Officer who believes that people are the key to solving our cybersecurity challenges.

George has worked in cybersecurity for nearly 20 years and has helped startups, global telecommunications firms, and nonprofits improve their security posture. As a part of his passion for education, George has taught cybersecurity at Southern Methodist University and is the author of several cybersecurity books including No More Magic Wands: Transformative Cybersecurity Change for Everyone.

George has been recognized by Security Magazine as one of their top cybersecurity leaders in 2018 and is a part of the Texas CISO Council. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Palo Alto Networks FUEL User Group, and is an Advisory Board member for SecureWorld. George holds a Juris Doctorate from Southern Methodist University, as well as multiple cybersecurity certifications including the CISSP, CISM, and CIPP.

About Rich Thompson

Rich Thompson (@TheRichThompson) is Vice President of Sales Engineering, North America at BlackBerry. He has 25+ years of experience in security. This includes 21 years leading security efforts at the regional and national level in the retail industry, including stops at Big Lots, Toys Я Us, ESPRIT, and J Crew (shoutout to 90's fashion).

Rich spent five years leading Sales Engineering and Professional Services efforts in the enterprise software industry. He has experience in forensics, incident response, electronic discovery, information risk management and governance. Rich joined Cylance (since acquired by BlackBerry) in October 2014 in order to help Cylance in its vision of protecting every endpoint under the sun. He also has surprisingly wide-ranging musical tastes.

About Matt Stephenson

Insecurity Podcast host Matt Stephenson (@packmatt73) is the regular host of the InSecurity podcast and video series at events around the globe. Matt has spent the last 10 years in the world of data protection and cybersecurity. Since 2016, he has been with Cylance (acquired by BlackBerry in 2019) extolling the virtues of artificial intelligence and machine learning and how, when applied to network security, this cutting edge technology can wrong-foot the bad guys.

Prior to the COVID-19 shutdown, Matt was on the road over 100 days a year doing live malware demonstrations for audiences from San Diego, to DC, to London, to Abu Dhabi, to Singapore, to Sydney. He says that one of the funniest things he’s ever been a part of was blowing up a live instance of the notorious ransomware NotPetya just six hours after the news broke, in Washington DC, directly across the street from the FBI headquarters. As soon as he detonated the malware (on a VM, of course) a parade of police cars with sirens blaring roared past the building he was in. Matt is pretty sure they weren't there for him, but you never know...

Every week on the InSecurity Podcast, Matt gets to interview interesting people doing interesting things all over the world of cybersecurity and in the extended world of hacking. Sometimes, that means talking about hacking elections, or the coffee supply chain... other times, that means delving deep into the world of social manipulation or the sovereign wealth fund of a national economy.

The InSecurity podcast is about talking with the people who build, manage or wreck the systems that we have put in place to make the world go round. We hope you enjoy the show.

The InSecurity Podcast

About The InSecurity Podcast

Every week on the InSecurity Podcast, host Matt Stephenson interviews leading authorities in the security industry to gain an expert perspective on topics including risk management, security control friction, compliance issues, and building a culture of security. Each episode provides relevant insights for security practitioners and business leaders working to improve their organization’s security posture and bottom line.

Can’t get enough of Insecurity? You can find us at ThreatVector InSecurity PodcastsApple Podcasts and GooglePlay, as well as SpotifyStitcherSoundCloudI Heart Radio, and wherever you get your podcasts.

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