Please introduce yourself and tell us a little about your journey in cybersecurity …
My name is Andrea Szeiler and I am the Global CISO for Transcom World Wide. I have spent the last 17 years in the transaction processing industry and fell in love with information security somewhere in 2005.
Prior to that, I was a pure IT fellow, although I did visit the “dark side” for a short time when I built up and led the consultancy division of BlackCell, a security solution provider in Hungary. I have some voluntary based activities as well, I am the President of the WITSEC – Women in IT Security, Board member of the ISACA Budapest Chapter and ISC2 Hungarian Chapter. I am almost 50 years old, and a proud mother of two sons.
What are your main security concerns and what are you prioritising at the moment?
Security concerns have continuously changed in the past, however at different levels.
The work at home approach together with the pandemic situation has changed the game in the Contact Center Solution market. What was not possible in the past for some of our clients is now an urgent need with expanded demand on security. The risk landscape has also changed, where some trivial controls from the past are not applicable anymore. The cybercriminals are targeting the work-at-home workforce now where they are “alone”, not in a workplace where colleagues may be able to help in person.
What have been the biggest challenges around COVID-19 for your organisation? And, how are you addressing them?
2020 was an extraordinary year, we saw it only in movies and never expected it to happen in real life. Even though we were prepared for a business continuity event in case of an emergency, this was much more than that. We have had to move tens of thousands of employees within days to varied work at home solutions along with managing our clients’ requirements and their changing expectations.
We have had to change our strategy to follow this evolution into our new reality. Introducing (and securing) the “new norm”. I am proud of my organisation because we accomplished this exercise extremely effectively and improved our position on the market.
What is your advice on balancing security and digitalisation?
I think the key is the appropriate planning and involvement of security and compliance at each and every stage of project delivery. Digitalisation is the future and security’s role is to support not block the changes.
I advise all security leaders to be the compass to these changes. If you drive them, you would have all the tools in your hand to deliver a secure and compliant solution.
What do the next 5 years hold for your industry?
I think future contact centres will change in several ways. But their essence will remain. The increased need for security and compliance is here now and will increase in the future.
The excellent digital customer experience will not work without appropriate protection. We are handling sensitive information in some cases, trust is vital at the customer’s side. Security is a real enabler and more required than ever.
Join Andrea in the European segment of Cyber World Congress on 2nd March 2021 for the Case Study: ‘Work At Home, Our Journey to Zero Trust’ at 10:10 GMT! She’ll be joined by speakers like James Hamon (CISO, Financial Ombudsman Service), Bjørn R. Watne (SVP & CISO, Storebrand), Maciej Szot (Global Information Security Director, Eurofins) and Ardie Kleijn (CISO, Transavia) at the event, so be sure to register for FREE* with code TRANSCOM at https://world.cyberseries.io/register/
(*Offer open to end-users only. Vendors & consultants save 10% off a Vendor-Delegate pass when using code SECURE10 at checkout!)
