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Mary Welker

CISO, Aqua Finance, Inc.

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Do you have remote employees on your team?

Talent Management & Performance

Yes

16.4k views7 Upvotes7 Comments

Which Hyper Converged Infrastructure Product do you recommend?

Compute Storage

Dell-EMC VXRail

Nutanix

VMware

Cisco - Hyperflex

HP -HPE Simplivity

Huawei

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6.1k views3 Upvotes4 Comments

What feels like the most difficult part of starting a company?

Culture & Values

Raising funds

A good idea

A good team

High probability it fails

Other (please comment)

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8.5k views4 Upvotes11 Comments

Have you already implemented blockchain in your organization?

Disruptive & Emerging Technologies Blockchain

Yes

Planning to do

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3.4k views1 Upvote

What’s the best software development methodology for enterprise-level projects?

Technical Product Management Software Development Management Tools+1 more

Waterfall

Prototype

Rapid Application Development

Agile Scrum

Agile Kanban

Dynamic System Development

Lean Software Development

Other .. please add it down

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27.3k views9 Upvotes15 Comments

How will your spend on Amazon Web Services shift over the next year?

Financial Management

Up 20%+

Up between 5 - 20%

Up 1 - 5%

Flat

Down 1 - 5%

Down between 5 - 20%

Down 20%+

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2.6k views6 Comments

Do you implement a Password Blocklist to prevent users from using common words or phrases in their passwords?

Security & GRC Identity & Access Management (IAM)Data Privacy+3 more

Yes

Unsure

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6.1k views

What is the reporting line for Information Security in your organization?

Security Strategy & Roadmap Financial Management People & Leadership+1 more

Via the CIO/CTO

Via the CRO

Via the CFO

Our CISO reports directly to the CEO

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7.4k views4 Comments

What are the top factors that slow your adoption of IaaS cloud services (AWS, Azure, GCP, etc.)?

Cost / insufficient budget

Security concerns

Lack of in-house expertise

Performance / reliability concerns

Data control concerns

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4.2k views

If you use Amazon Web Services (AWS) at your organization, what type of compute service do you use?

People & Leadership Strategy & Architecture Cloud+14 more

EC2

EKS

ECS

Fargate

Lamda

Other

We don't use AWS

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2.9k views

What’s your personal opinion on phishing tests — should cyber professionals rethink this as a method for security awareness training, or is it a necessary practice?

Awareness & Training Security Strategy & Roadmap Testing+1 more

Mary WelkerCISO, Aqua Finance, Inc. in Finance (non-banking)2 months ago

I believe that phishing tests are absolutely a necessary practice. Unfortunately, in today's environment, employees are often the weakest link in securing an organization. We need to ensure they are educated on the critical ...read more

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428 views10 Comments

What are the telltale signs that you may be getting burnt out? And once you spot these signs, how do you take action so you don’t reach the point of burnout?

Mary WelkerCISO, Aqua Finance, Inc. in Finance (non-banking)4 months ago

I believe having varied work streams is crucial to avoid burnout. If you're stuck in a rut, doing the same thing every day, burnout is inevitable. It's also important to continually educate yourself and set personal goals. ...read more

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252 views3 Comments

What can CISOs do if they’re lacking support from the CEO or others on the executive leadership team? And how do you know if it’s time for you to move on to a new role?

Mary WelkerCISO, Aqua Finance, Inc. in Finance (non-banking)4 months ago

CISOs need to be able to speak the language of the business. They have to translate digital technical risk into terms that the CEO, Board of Directors, and executive leadership team can understand in the context of enterprise ...read more

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53 views5 Comments

What questions should a new security leader ask before starting the journey of vendor consolidation?

Vendor Management Security Strategy & Roadmap Security & GRC

Mary WelkerCISO, Aqua Finance, Inc. in Finance (non-banking)7 months ago

The "why" is broad but important. Are you addressing gaps in security? Are you adding value to the overall security? Are you going to be addressing everything that you have, or are you going to be leaving any holes ...read more

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333 views3 Comments

What strategies can you use to avoid creating a single point of failure?

Security Strategy & Roadmap Vendor Management Risk Management

Mary WelkerCISO, Aqua Finance, Inc. in Finance (non-banking)7 months ago

Vendor risk management and understanding your vendor is crucial. It's also important to understand where redundancies might be and ensure they are in place if you choose to go forward. For instance, if you're heavily ...read more

1 Reply

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309 views3 Comments

Are leaders underestimating the risk of vendor lock-in as they pursue consolidation? How do you strike the right balance to mitigate that risk?

Vendor Management Security Strategy & Roadmap Risk Management

Mary WelkerCISO, Aqua Finance, Inc. in Finance (non-banking)7 months ago

In my experience, the organizations I've been a part of have been quite aware of the risks associated with vendor lock-in. The CIOs I've interacted with understand the potential risk and are able to balance it against ...read more

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300 views3 Comments

When your organization acquires other companies, what impact does this have on your vendor consolidation journey?

Vendor Management Security Strategy & Roadmap Security & GRC

Mary WelkerCISO, Aqua Finance, Inc. in Finance (non-banking)7 months ago

When we acquire companies, we have to answer a new set of questions. We need to understand why the acquired company selected certain vendors, their strategy in terms of vendor consolidation or best of breed, and whether we ...read more

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258 views3 Comments

How can you convincingly sell the idea of vendor consolidation to skeptical stakeholders and executive leadership?

Security Strategy & Roadmap Security & GRC Vendor Management

Mary WelkerCISO, Aqua Finance, Inc. in Finance (non-banking)7 months ago

The key to selling the idea of vendor consolidation lies in effective communication. Initially, it's beneficial to secure an executive sponsor who can support the initiative. The conversation with this sponsor should ...read more

1 Reply

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175 views4 Comments

How can you give yourself as much flexibility as possible to decide when to go with best-of-breed capabilities? How do you ensure you're not sacrificing the quality of your security solutions at the altar of vendor consolidation?

Security Strategy & Roadmap Security & GRC Applications & Platforms

Mary WelkerCISO, Aqua Finance, Inc. in Finance (non-banking)7 months ago

Understanding your requirements is key. You have all the flexibility you want until you make a decision. Therefore, it's crucial to understand what you're trying to decide on and how you're going to make that ...read more

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163 views3 Comments

How are you measuring success for your vendor consolidation efforts? What metrics best reflect the impacts of consolidation?

Security Strategy & Roadmap Security & GRC Vendor Management

Mary WelkerCISO, Aqua Finance, Inc. in Finance (non-banking)7 months ago

We structure our agreements in the statement of work to include strong SLAs and well-defined deliverables over time, from a technology and time perspective. We also clearly define our expectations and deliverables. These ...read more

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161 views3 Comments

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