Business
A profile of some African American professionals involved in Cyber Security
We profile a broad array of public, private and non-profit sector digital guardians of our increasingly electronically connected and interdependent world.
These men and women include an attorney specializing in data security and privacy; the CIO of a worldwide international audit, financial advisory, tax and consulting firm with 182,000 employees; an assurance expert at a leading defense and technology company; a trio from a leading aerospace company; a security director for the nation’s largest pharmaceutical distributor; and a man considered one of the five top IT security luminaries who protects Georgia’s colleges, universities and public libraries. Their skills and backgrounds vary, but they are united in their cyber security advice to all: stay vigilant.
Linda Gooden – Executive Vice President, Information Systems & Global Solutions – Lockheed Martin
Much of what Lockheed Martin, a US$46 billion aerospace and defense company does in information technology security is classified. Linda Gooden, the leader of Lockheed’s US$10 billion Information Systems and Global Solutions (IS&GS) division, which includes cyber security, is proud of what she can divulge.
Michael G. Mathias – Chief Information Officer – Aetna Information Services
As the information technology chief at Aetna Information Services – a company serving 36.3 million people, Michael Mathias must be vigilant about preparation against individual or organized cyber attacks at any level. He blocks cyber-attacks by understanding threats and their objectives, expediting incident responses, improving how risks are prioritized and focusing on relevant internal and external information. Aetna Information Services picks and monitors the cyber smoke alarms, as well as watches for fire.
Bruce C. Carver – V.P. Business Services & CIO – Cummins Inc.
Cummins, Inc. is a US$1 billion designer, maker, distributor and servicer of engines and related technologies.
Its CIO, Bruce Carver declined to speak specifically about threats, but said that intellectual property theft is predominant. To prevent it, new IT leaders need layered expertise that includes networking, computing platforms, application development, associated business processes, and program management skills, combined with accounting, finance, economics, statistics, and management acumen.