Sign In

Malcolm Harkins

Board Member, Advisor, Mentor/Coach at Protect to Enable

Malcolm Harkins is a seasoned cybersecurity professional who was appointed as the Chief Security and Trust Officer at Cymatic in July 2019.4 He has over two decades of experience in information security leadership roles at various top technology companies.13

Prior to joining Cymatic, Harkins held notable positions including:

  • Chief Security and Trust Officer at Cylance2
  • Vice President and Chief Security and Privacy Officer (CSPO) at Intel Corporation2
  • Chief Security and Trust Officer at HiddenLayer (appointed in October 2023)13

Harkins has received several accolades throughout his career, including:

  • Named Top Chief Security and Trust Officer by Cyber Defense Magazine in 20233
  • 2010 RSA Conference Award for Excellence in the field of Security Practices5
  • 2012 Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leader Award5
  • (ISC)2 2012 Americas Information Security Leadership Award5

He is also an independent board member and advisor to several organizations, including TrustMAPP, Cyvatar, and the Cyber Risk Alliance.13 Harkins has authored multiple books on risk management, information security, and IT.3 He holds a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of California at Irvine and an MBA in finance and accounting from the University of California at Davis.135

Highlights

Mar 29 · linkedin

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

Aug 14 · linkedin

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

Related Questions

What are some of Malcolm Harkins' most notable achievements in the field of cybersecurity?
How has Malcolm Harkins contributed to the development of AI security practices?
What are the key challenges Malcolm Harkins has faced in his roles at Intel and Cylance?
How does Malcolm Harkins' approach to cybersecurity differ from other industry leaders?
What are some of the books Malcolm Harkins has authored on cybersecurity and risk management?
Malcolm Harkins
Malcolm Harkins, photo 1
Malcolm Harkins, photo 2
Add to my network

Location

Sacramento, California, United States