Dawn Morrissey - A Cybersecurity Leader Building Bridges and Bolstering Defenses
Critical Stats
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawnmorrissey/
Started their cybersecurity journey in: 1999
Most passionate about: Being a cybersecurity resource for everyone, not just cybersecurity product buyers. I want to help everyone in the cybersecurity industry by being a resource for everything from awareness, compliance, and regulations to training, education, job search, and career development.
Favorite zero-day: Not a zero-day, but deep fakes generated by AI.
Favorite song: I’m a huge music buff, so this is hard. I might have to go with Going to California by Led Zeppelin.
Introduction
For over 24 years, Dawn Morrissey has been the CEO and Founder of Data Connectors, a company that promotes the collaboration between cybersecurity professionals and solution providers in the cybersecurity community. She is a pioneer in the cybersecurity event industry, being the first to launch an entirely virtual, interactive, and hybrid summit platform and bring back in-person events to cities across North America.
Dawn has a strong track record of creating and hosting successful cybersecurity conferences in 50 major cities annually and fostering diversity and inclusion in her team and the industry. She is passionate about advancing the cybersecurity field and empowering the professionals who protect our digital assets.
Dawn is a mover-and-shaker
We selected Dawn because she is a mover and shaker! Not only does she help the community by hosting conferences designed to share critical information, but she also strives to connect people with one another both at and outside of those events. She is constantly aspiring to build connections among industry leaders. Those connections are pivotal in addressing gaps in cybersecurity, sharing trends, and staying ahead of the threat.
Without further ado, we asked Dawn our standard set of 5 questions to rule them all, and here are her responses:
Five questions to rule them all!
1. What is the biggest problem we are dealing with in cybersecurity?
The biggest cybersecurity challenge we face as a society is establishing a viable defense against highly organized and well-funded nation-state groups. Their long-term targeted attacks will devastate our systems and operations at the highest levels.
2. How can we address the threat from nation-state actors?
We can address them through awareness, training, and education. This must occur at all levels of society, from individual citizens and academic institutions to large and small companies to the US Government; everyone must be conscious of the threat.
3. What are three actions a CEO can take to protect their company from cyberattacks?
Ensure you have awareness training and exercises in place for your entire workforce.
Have the right security solutions in place that are specific to your business operations. Every organization is different and requires different solutions; one size does not fit all.
Assure you regularly update and monitor all your systems, especially those most critical for your operations.
4. What are the best resources for learning more about cybersecurity?
It is hard to top networking events, like the kind Data Connectors offer, for education and to stay current on the different cybersecurity solutions available from providers! US government agencies such as CISA, HSI, FBI, and USSS all have informative websites and programs for organizations and individuals. These agencies are dialed into nation-state-level threats and have free resources and information on the latest attacks and what’s being done about them. Also, NIST is a great resource for standards and guidelines.
5. What is one piece of advice for those wanting to pursue a cybersecurity career?
The best piece of advice that I hear from cybersecurity executives regularly is that it isn’t always about certifications, degrees, and training; it’s more important than ever to have soft skills in the industry.
Aside from building your soft skills, it would help if you got out there and…
Network with cyber experts - Connect with experts on LinkedIn or at networking events.
Stay informed on cyber trends - Read blogs like decodingCyber or listen to podcasts.
Get hands-on experience dealing with cyber matters - Reach out to those who do it in your organization and see how you can get involved. Let them know you want to help, and they might have opportunities for you to volunteer your time.
What better way to pursue a career than to immerse yourself in it?
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