Yearly, Cisco selects leaders who exemplify the fervour, tenacity, and data required to be a cybersecurity defender. We’re delighted to announce the Cybersecurity Defender of 2024 for the EMEA area: Stuart Perkins, Operations Chief for the Cyber Prevents group at Vodafone.
From Networks to Cybersecurity
A graduate of London College, Stuart’s profession started on the Royal Air Power as an Engineering Officer. After serving, Stuart moved to the non-public sector, the place he specialised in managing totally different applied sciences and technical groups. At Vodafone, a number one telecommunications firm headquartered in the UK, Stuart is accountable for the Community and Telco Platforms that present safety on the perimeter of the Vodafone property. Stuart leads a group of 100 staff throughout Europe and India and is the lead for Operational Finest Apply throughout the Cyber Stop group.
“You’re on the aspect of doing the fitting factor.”
– Stuart Perkins.
With a background in constructing and configuring networks and understanding and securing these networks, Stuart has been fascinated by exploring the massive quantity of information obtainable in cybersecurity. Discovering out extra about menace actors and what they’re doing by way of the a number of instruments he makes use of, piques Stuart’s curiosity. Nonetheless, what issues most to Stuart about cybersecurity is that “you’re on the aspect of doing the fitting factor, making a distinction, and stopping folks with malevolent intent from being profitable,” he stated.
The community by no means lies.
Stuart is devoted to including worth and enhancing experiences for colleagues and clients who depend on Vodafone to conduct enterprise securely. Stuart’s group manages to safe tens of hundreds of units internally and lots of thousand units inside their enterprise house. On condition that Vodafone is thwarting tens to a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of threats relying on the day, Stuart is energized by his collaboration with Cisco and with the ability to analyze information to get detailed perception into menace actors.
“Utilizing the MITRE assault Framework, we’ve really been in a position to map from Cisco’s intelligence what these numerous assaults try to do and the place they match into the framework,” he stated. Stuart finds this work “distinctive and groundbreaking” for each Vodafone and Cisco in that “we’re utilizing the perimeter of our infrastructure as a sensor to grasp what persons are making an attempt to do in opposition to us and what their targets are and begin to take a look at areas the place we have to bolster the defenses.”
Given Stuart’s community background, what excites him about partnering with Cisco is Cisco’s historical past of community functionality. In a latest name with Cisco colleagues, an concept that notably struck Stuart was that the community by no means lies. “Cisco is giving me perception to see the site visitors flows throughout our infrastructure. Utilizing the MITRE mapping helps us shortly assess and act on any alerts, while our blocking actions are nice, we all know that some cyber assaults shall be profitable. Our mission is to guard clients, colleagues, and society from this kind of legal exercise,” he stated.
Stuart’s dedication to infrastructure safety is mirrored in Vodafone’s use of the MITRE ATT&CK framework and Cisco Safety options. By leveraging these instruments, Vodafone is ready to block tens of thousands and thousands of malicious makes an attempt each day. This stage of safety effectiveness protects Vodafone’s programs and enhances the shopper expertise by guaranteeing that points are handled promptly.
Empowering the following technology of cybersecurity defenders
Stuart’s ardour for his work extends to empowering his group members to turn out to be the following technology of cybersecurity defenders. As there’s a important cohort of early-in-career contributors beginning their careers at Vodafone, it’s essential to Stuart that his staff have ample coaching alternatives and attention-grabbing issues to work on in each community tooling and reporting. The group can also be enthusiastic about an upcoming Cyber Vary coaching with Cisco Talos’s Menace Intelligence group.
One thing Stuart is proudest of is the transformation of his group turning into extra proactive about their platforms and extra curious in regards to the data gleaned from alerts. This focus and collaboration have led to much less time on calls due to the group’s due diligence.
The group of colleagues at Vodafone who’ve labored intently with Stuart are so happy with this achievement, they suppose it’s very effectively deserved. His mission focus and the expertise he makes use of to educate others are so vital to us.
Congratulations, Stuart! All of us profit out of your contributions to the sphere.
Keen about cybersecurity?
Should you, too, are making a distinction in cybersecurity with Cisco, be thought-about for our subsequent Cybersecurity Defender of the Yr award.
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