When I was a young pup studying statistics, I remember reading about a study on weight loss that found three factors correlated with weight loss: weighing yourself daily, eating a good breakfast and having access to work out equipment at home. While none of these cause weight loss directly, together they indicate a passion for and dedication to a healthy lifestyle. Connections like this, where subtle observations can lead to a larger understanding, have always been an interest for me and have driven me forward in my career.
So what does weight loss have to do with information security? Opportunity for the same type of research exists within this industry as well. Organizations who think the health of their data protection is important will exhibit different habits than those who don’t. The big questions then become “what are those indicators?” and “how important are they?” This curiosity is what has led me to Bitsight, where I was excited to learn Bitsight is not only already answering those questions, but they are a core component of their business and value statement in the industry.
This past June, I joined the Data Science team at Bitsight where I will continue to focus on answering these questions and more. Before joining Bitsight, I was one of the authors and lead data analyst behind the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (DBIR). I contributed to the last four reports (2012-2015) and it was an honor to be part of some of the most exciting research (and data analysis) within the information security space at that time. The entire purpose of the research was to explore ways to support the decision makers. Where should security teams focus their time and resources? What aspects of information security require the most attention and what is just hype? I hope to continue pursuing the same types of important questions with Bitsight.
