Tell us a little bit about yourself, and your background…
I’m Tom Schmitt, Global Director for Cybersecurity; currently leading a team spread out across India, Israel, Brazil, and the United States. I started in Government as an intelligence and counterintelligence specialist, with a heavy focus on protecting National Security data and systems, including a tour at U.S. Cyber Command in Maryland. My final assignment in Government was as a Sr. Counterintelligence SME at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
I moved full time to cyber in 2014, moving to support F500 companies as a management consultant around Threat Intelligence. I moved back home to Silicon Valley in 2016, where I helped the Shape Security team detect and stop unwanted automation at the application layer. I joined AB-InBev in 2017.
Q1: What are your main security concerns and what are you prioritising at the moment? How has the pandemic shaped them…
My main security concerns are at opposite ends of a technical spectrum – the relatively low tech things like social engineering, and the very high tech 0-days that impact the supply chain, security tools, and global digital infrastructures. The pandemic I think has mostly impacted the workforce and how we accomplish the job, while continuing to feel connected and building internal trust.
Q2: What is your advice on balancing security and digitalisation?
My advice is to build in security from the ground floor and make it a feature of digitalization. As we digitalize, we need to understand that security in an enabler, not a trade-off. That means there’s no balance to strike… they are on the same side of the scale, so to speak.
Q3: What do the next 5 years hold for your industry?
The next 5 years hold a future with “more cheers,” and I know this because we are going to build it!
Thank you to Tom for the insights shared during this interview and for their involvement in the upcoming ManuSec Europe Summit in Munich.
Keen to learn more about cyber security for the manufacturing industry?
Join us at ManuSec Europe, 22nd – 23rd March in Munich, to connect with manufacturing security leaders from across Europe as well as hearing from expert speakers including:
- Brian Padden, VP Information Security Europe and Global OT at McKesson
- Mattia Menegatto Amadori, OT Security Expert at GSK
- Francisco Luis de Andres, Security Operations (SOC) Global Manager at Beam Suntory
- Claudio Sangaletti, Senior Technical Manager, Digital Transformation at Oleifici Masturzo
- Randy Conner, CISO at Nouryon
- Dominik Merli, Professor for IT Security at Augsburg University of Applied Sciences
View the full line-up and check-out the online agenda here.
Visit: europe.manusecevent.com to learn more.
