TERANET
“ Richter helped us identify where we sat , as well as where we needed to go ”
BRENDA MCCULLOCH
TITLE : CISO
INDUSTRY : INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & SERVICES
LOCATION : CANADA
BRENDA MCCULLOCH CISO , TERANET
“ But I agree that cyberattacks do continuously get more sophisticated and advanced . Teranet understands that , and in order to stay current , we have to continuously invest in our security and that our practise can ' t stagnate .”
Ultimately , it ' s not the high flying glamorous side of being a tech genius that ’ s going to prevent a company from data haemorrhaging in an attack , says McCulloch , but the meat and potatoes of the job .
“ We know that security hygiene , as well as operations , are not exciting . But they are very important . Because of competing new initiatives , we know that we have to inject additional resources to support them and not rely on repurposing existing resources that are dedicated to the hygiene of the operational activity .”
Digital transformation The rush towards digital transformation has been instrumental , McCulloch says , in opening up companies to cyberattacks , whole populations have shifted to online operations , and that is causing a massive vulnerability .
“ Last year , there were more vulnerabilities reported than in any other year ,” she says . “ People are online more than ever before , and there are so many more digitized services . Even our kids are online . Literally , everyone is online . That inherently will have risks associated with it .
EXECUTIVE BIO
Brenda McCulloch is a proven security professional with over 20 years of experience and is the CISO of Teranet . Under her thoughtful leadership , Teranet has undergone an ambitious modernization of its security program . In a short period of time , she expanded Teranet ’ s security practice and capabilities , led critical security initiatives and programs to fruition , and effectively led the integration of new solutions and processes .
Brenda has a demonstrable track record in delivering forward thinking security strategy and programs in her previous roles as the Director of Information Security at IIROC and Senior Manager at Deloitte .
Brenda is an alumni of the University of Toronto and holds various leadership and security certifications .