The Hitchhiker’s Guide to IT: Vendor Management and Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity has many facets, and not everyone is familiar with the ins and outs of it. What’s more, it may surprise people to learn that much of cybersecurity does not directly involve technology. As tech advances, new ways to address cybersecurity needs with the help of vendor management emerges. How do these advancements come together and help the world of cybersecurity?

On this episode of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to IT, host Michelle Dawn Mooney talks with Thomas Johnson, National Leader of Cybersecurity at BDO Digital, about vendors and cybersecurity. Johnson admits, “I’m accused of talking about cybersecurity that has nothing to do with technology”, which includes his college teaching job, where he teaches non-technical things like “making sure that people don’t click on links”. But he says non-technical aspects are important in the cyber community.

Mooney and Johnson also talk about:

1. How you should not put everything in cybersecurity on the vendors
2. Staying responsible as a consumer and IT provider
3. Understanding and learning to work with the cloud

On the topic of vendor management, Johnson said, “I think it’s a super critical component, especially when organizations are looking at migrating workloads to The Cloud or using a service provider to be able to provide services, IT services, to the organization.” Johnson also warns not to rely solely on the vendors and promotes a responsible way of using vendors. He knows it can be tempting to leave everything up to vendors, but just like not clicking on links, being responsible is a non-technical component to cybersecurity that is just as vital to the job.

Thomas Johnson has worked in the technology field for over three decades, going from Information Technology Manager at MB Financial, to VP/Managing Director at Aqueity, to most recently being the National Leader in Cybersecurity at BDO Digital.