One great example of this has been my interactions with Shamane Tan from Australia. Tan is an inspiring, passionate leader who offers global insights and perspectives that are very helpful and different than many others. She goes out of her way to interact with diverse groups from around the globe on a wide range of topics that impact the worldwide cybersecurity industry and technology leaders from varied backgrounds, experiences and cultures.
Shamane Tan’s LinkedIn profile describes her as an “Executive Advisor, APAC | Author, International Industry Speaker, Panel Moderator and Influencer.” After completing her education in Singapore, Tan worked for Eames Consulting Group as a senior infrastructure consultant. She moved to become a principal consultant and cybersecurity specialist for Naviro in Sydney, Australia, from 2015 to 2018.
Tan is best known for becoming the founder of “Cyber Risk Meetup” in 2017. Cyber Risk Meetup is now in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Singapore.
Tan is now an executive advisor for Privasec. She works with the C-Suite and other executives to examine various approaches in uplifting the corporate and individuals' security posture in this cyber age. While managing APAC relations, she has successfully enabled businesses in Australia and Singapore, as well as enterprises and agencies to be well-equipped in key cyber-risk aspects.
She is quoted in media around the world, and is especially well-known in Asia. For example, this recent article from the Khmer Times, on how Cambodian businesses can get the basics right on cybersecurity, quotes Tan. “Get the basics right first. This is not a complicated answer,” she says when asked how companies can best prepare for cyberattacks, “With digital transformation, and the speed at which IT has been evolving, it can be easy for chief information security officers (CISOs) to lose sight of the fundamentals.”
Tanwas also selected as the "One to Watch" by CSO magazine in their CSO Publisher's Award in the summer of 2019.
As I interacted with Tan online, I was asked to contribute some of my cybermanagement experiences regarding state governments in an online interview. That interaction led to several of my stories being included in her interesting and insightful new book, which came out in July 2019. The book offers best practices and fascinating stories from all over the world.
This YouTube video offers part one of an interview with Tan.
What's Inside?
Tan’s new book is titled: Cyber Risk Leaders: Global C-Suite Insights — Leadership and Influence in the Cyber Age.
In a time of an ever changing digital landscape, our industry leaders find that they are playing catch up. Cyber Risk Leaders is a book like no other. This handbook is a laborious product of careful selection and compilation of the best stories and wisdom from over thirty C-executives. Shamane spent several years speaking to CxOs from different industries, and all over the world, from Australia, to Singapore, Israel, the US and the UK, to bring different aspects of successful leadership to life in this book. For those who are interested in learning from your top industry leaders, or if you are an aspiring or a current CISO, this book is gold for your career. It’s the go-to book and your CISO kit for the season.
You can order your copy now at www.cyberriskleaders.com, and soon digital and paper copies will be available at Amazon.com.
What I really like about this book are the breadth and depth of topics and range of stories under each heading. Tan often ends sections with a “You did what” set of stories to illustrate her advice and tips from others. Some of these were mistakes people made and how CISOs and other cyberleaders overcame and learned from those mistakes.
For example (This is just a sampling of topics covered in the book):
Chapter Two — All CISOs Are Not Equal
Chapter Three — IT CISOs vs. Business CISOs
Chapter Five — The Good CISO (Part I) — offering 15 great tips with descriptions on what is needed.
Chapter Eight — CISO and the Business (Part I)
- Dealing With Power
- The Art of Business Language
- CISO Techniques
- Power, Money and Influence
- More Money Please
- Understanding the Board
- Networking
Chapter Eleven — The Daily CISO: BAU Survival (Part I)
Chapter Twelve — The Daily CISO: BAU Survival (Part II)
- Let the Vendor Speak
- The Resource Problem
- Finding the Right People
- Safeguarding Culture
- Building the Right Culture
- Invest in Your People
- It’s Audit Time
- You Did What?
- The CISO Dilemma
- The Evolution of Privacy
- Always Behind the Game
- You Did What?
Here are a few of the reviews that are in the front of Tan’s book:
“This large and diverse group paints an interesting narrative of the state of play in enterprise cyber risk.” Foreword by M.K. Palmore, Retired FBI Assistant Special Agent in Charge, FBI San Francisco Cyber Branch
“With experience and insight, Shamane has written a really useful book for existing and aspiring CISOs. I loved her unique voice, highly readable style, and wholeheartedly recommend this book.” CEO, Cyber Security Capital (UK)
“She has explored many topics long considered on the fringe of traditional security with great storytelling and insights from industry leaders.” CISO, Telstra APAC
Final Thoughts
I especially like the way Tan ends the book with a great story about how hackers are like mice getting into a house.
I don’t want to spoil the funny and practical advice, so you’ll need to buy the book to see the many reasons why hackers can be like mice.
And even if you don’t buy the book, I encourage readers in Australia and Singapore to attend a Cyber Risk Meetup meeting near you.
For others around the world, I encourage you to follow Tan's example and attend more cyberindustry networking events or start a cybermeeting in your city.
