The long-term impact of cyberattacks

The unforeseen impact of cyberattacks

Firewalls. Phishing scams. Viruses. There are a myriad of terms that come to mind when thinking about cybersecurity. But there’s one important word that may not make the top of your list: human.

In this episode of the Resilient podcast, Vanessa Pegueros explores how cybersecurity expands beyond technology—there’s a human element involved. As the cyberattack landscape expands—due most recently to the COVID-19 pandemic—cyber professionals are vigilantly guarding their organizations against threats day in, day out, working in a constant state of high alert. This stress and anxiety, or cybersecurity burnout, may have long-term effects on a person’s mental health and well-being—and potentially impact the way an organization responds to a crisis.

Vanessa brings to light this often unmentioned issue for those on the front lines and shares how organizations can better prepare their teams for when crises occur. She also discusses the need for businesses to secure today’s new COVID-19–induced virtual working reality, balancing the right mix of resilience, flexibility, and security.

As a leader of color, Vanessa hopes to continue opening doors for women and minorities by being a model of successful leadership. Throughout her career, she’s learned that you must listen and be open to making mistakes in order to be an effective leader. She views her leadership role as that of a coordinator and supporter, striving to know her teams personally and helping them reach their end goals.

My role is to put the right team together with the right set of diverse skill sets [and] the right set of diverse perspectives to provide some clear goals on where we need to go; to get to know my team members as human beings and what motivates them and what makes them happy; and to provide the resources to [help] them achieve. My job is not to tell them how to get to the goal. My job is to make it possible for them to get to the goal.

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Resilient is an award-winning podcast series that features authentic, engaging, and thought-provoking conversations with leaders. Hear interviews and personal stories about how CEOs, senior executives, government officials, board members, and people outside of the business world embrace complexity to lead, navigate, and disrupt to accelerate performance. And discover what they learned about resilience amid risk, crisis, and disruption.

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