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Malcolm Harkins
Chief Security & Trust Officer, HiddenLayer
Malcolm Harkins is the Chief Security & Trust Officer at HiddenLayer, a position he has held since October 2023.15 He is a seasoned security leader with more than two decades of experience in information security and risk management roles at top technology companies.14
Career Highlights
- Previously served as Chief Security and Trust Officer at Cylance and Epiphany Systems23
- Held the position of Vice President and Chief Security and Privacy Officer (CSPO) at Intel Corporation24
- Named Top Chief Security and Trust Officer by Cyber Defense Magazine earlier in 20231
Expertise and Contributions
- Focuses on enabling business growth through trusted infrastructure, systems, and risk mitigation strategies5
- Testified before the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation14
- Fellow with the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology, providing cybersecurity expertise to government bodies14
- Author of multiple books on risk management, information security, and IT14
- Received awards from RSA Conference, ISC2, Computerworld, and the Security Advisor Alliance16
Education
- Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of California at Irvine16
- MBA in Finance and Accounting from the University of California at Davis16
At HiddenLayer, Harkins is responsible for protecting enterprise and critical AI systems, focusing on detecting suspicious activity and preventing attacks on AI assets.1
Highlights
Just a few more days till I do this Gartner webinar! https://lnkd.in/gjCka84k. So excited to have this discussion and share my perspectives on what it takes to be in your #idealstate and how I try to cultivate that with my I Believe, I Belong, I Matter™ framework. Join me if you can for this discussion. #ciso #cso #protect2enable
About 8 years ago after I had left Intel Corporation to become the Chief Security & Trust Officer for Cylance Inc., I remember a prominent (not to be named) #ciso at a large CISO Summit (gathering of many of the Fortune 500) come up and ask me how things were going while I was talking with a few peers/friends. The inquiry then became a bit snarky when they started asking me how it felt to be a #vendor. I was puzzled and asked what they meant: "well you know you're a vendor now - you have a revenue target you have to meet, and you get rewarded based on sales". Speaking to me like I was a second-class citizen - when just a few weeks earlier that CISO would have been buddy buddy with me because I was at Intel. That CISO while not at a security vendor was in an F500 for profit organization - I said "you're a vendor - what's your problem?" They insisted they were not a vendor and had nothing to do with sales and no responsibilities related to that or anything with marketing. And that they were not rewarded based on sales or profit. "Really?" I said. "You have no stock options? You don't get a quarterly or annual bonus that is based on company results?" They scoffed at my response saying it was "different".
This is one of the problems I have always seen with many CISOs - they see their role purely as security and not helping the business achieve its overall goals which includes revenue, gross margin, net income, ect. And many of those CISO's want a seat at the table, they want the seven-figure income but they don't really want the responsibilities associated with every other corporate executive - doing your job and growing the business. Hopefully this quote in the article is wrong "84% of CISOs have been dragged into sales-related engagements". CISO's should not be dragged into sales engagements - they should be running to help the sales & marketing teams - to grow the business and demonstrating the need for proper #cybersecurity & #privacy. I know many CISOs who embrace this approach and don't shy away from #sales & #marketing but in my opinion - all of us need to run to help our sales and marketing teams. #ciso #cso #protect2enable
