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Paul Baird, Qualys : Soft skills should be taken into consideration as well as Technical skills !
July 2022 by Marc Jacob Valentin Jangwa, Global Security Mag
At Infosecurity London, we met Paul Baird, UK Chief Technical Security Officer at Qualys.
A good thing to keep in mind, is that Paul is a former CISO from Jaguar Land Rover. 9 months ago, he joined Qualys as he wanted to move from using Qualys’ solutions to selling them.
Paul’s advice to Technical Managers, including himself, is to cherish both technical skills and soft skills when it comes to people assessment.
Global Security Mag: When did you join Qualys?
Paul Baird: I was the Global Head of Cybersecurity Operations at Jaguar Land Rover and in February 2021, I have joined Qualys as UK Chief Technical Security Officer. I was happy to use Qualy’s solutions and it is a motivating challenge to be in a position to explaining and selling them.
Moving to Qualys made me understand that not only technical skills should be at stake, but soft skills as well, when assessing technical people.
Global Security Mag: How was Infosecurity London 2022?
Paul Baird: Last Infosecurity London event, I was a customer, so this is my first time as a supplier. It is also interesting discussing with other suppliers and customers, about feedback on successes and failures.
Anyway, one day or another, every Organisation will be hacked, so, to better understand the weaknesses, it is key to discuss with others Cybersecurity professionals.
Global Security Mag: what did you present or show at this event?
Paul Baird: At last RSA Conference, Qualys launched VMDR 2.0 with TruRisk Scores and Automated Remediation Workflows. We are demonstrating the solution here at Infosecurity London.
Global Security Mag: What are the key differentiators with Qualys VMDR 2.0?
Paul Baird: There are many key differentiators.
One of the major challenges in any Vulnerability Management program is taking technical data from your VM platform and re- representing it in business context based around risk for the rest of the business to comprehend.
Showing how Vulnerability Management Detection and Response 2.0 brings more value with: Reduce Risk with Holistic Scoring, Quickly Remediate at Scale, Receive Preemptive Attack Alerts, Automate Operational Workflows.
When it comes to managing Vulnerabilities on endpoints with old operating systems, a Risk Score will be given to each of them being in DMZ or not, to allow the choice of the endpoints that should be patched in priority. A great time saving.
So, Organisations can now focus on targeted vulnerability and misconfiguration remediation rather than spending valuable time trying to understand their risk posture.
Global Security Mag: what is your message to our readers?
Paul Baird: The CISOs (Chief Information Security Officers) should take into consideration soft skills as well as technical skills, when assessing their people.
I have learned from my experiences, the right things to do and the mistakes to avoid. The CISOs should also take care of their well-being and the well-being of their people, which is a good way to detect the employees that are feeling well.
Based on the increasing Remote Work, there is a need for more taking care of workers in terms of well-being.
Last but not least, we will win against the Hackers, thanks to Qualys VMDR 2.0 !
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