Martin Fink is Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer and Director of Hewlett Packard Labs, the company’s exploratory and advanced research group. In advance of 2016, we asked him about the state of the information security industry and what he thinks about its future.
RSAC: What excites you the most about working in the info security industry?
Fink: I’m often amazed at how quickly technology evolves. But security is evolving at an even more rapid pace. So, you have to think strategically about what’s going to happen three or four years down the road. And it’s complex, because it’s hugely asymmetric and impacts every layer of the technology stack. It impacts every aspect of our business and daily life. It has implications for governance and policy. It’s an incredibly challenging problem. And, from my perspective, the best part is that the solutions these problems require absolute bleeding edge technology: How do we build security into the fabric of our stack? How do we detect, respond and hunt in real time?
RSAC: What would you like to see change/happen in the industry over the next 12 months?
Fink: By every statistic, we are arguably losing the battle with the adversary. I’d like to see some evidence in the next 12 months that we have turned a corner on getting ahead of the adversary.
RSAC: What info security goals would you like to accomplish in the next three years?
Fink: I’d love to see some of the terrifically promising research going on at HPE in the hands of our customers and really helping us not only turn that corner but really get ahead of the adversaries. I’m looking forward to sharing some of this will RSA attendees.
RSAC: Why do you think RSA Conference is important for info security professionals to attend?
Fink: It’s a great place collect a lot of schwag. Seriously though, it’s the largest gathering of security professionals on the planet.
RSAC: Why is 25 years of RSA Conference a significant milestone?
Fink: I tend to date the advent of enterprise security with the Morris Worm and the subsequent establishment of the first Computer Emergency Response Team in 1988, just a few years before the first RSA Conference. But the RSA conference has been an important meeting place for security professionals since that time.
RSAC: How do you think the industry can come together even better to share ideas and innovations?
Fink: We have to be more open. I realize there are all sorts of barriers—business, legal, and technical—to sharing information and ideas, but we have to do a better job of coordinating in order to defeat the adversary. The adversaries are sharing ideas and information better than we are.
RSAC: Explain what your session will be about at RSA Conference 2016 in three words.
Fink: I don’t know how to write it in three words, but I want to give everyone a glimpse into how HPE is investing in new technologies to improve security in every layer, every interaction and every process.
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