The_CEO_Magazine_ANZ_-_December_2016

Name Sean Duca

Company Palo Alto

Networks

Position Vice President &

Regional Chief Security Officer

for Asia–Pacific

HQ California, US

EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW

Defeating

the bad guys

Palo Alto Networks is informing business leaders about

the importance of cybersecurity vigilance while arming

organisations with the tools they need to tackle threats.

IMAGES SCOTT EHLER

O

n the sporting field, when you block and tackle someone to the

ground they will typically get up, dust themselves off and come

back with a different manoeuvre the next time they need to force

themselves through the human blockade. The same analogy can

be applied to the cybersecurity world. The hackers and other ‘bad

guys’ are not going to give up if they can’t get through one barrier, such as legacy

security technology — they’re going to keep trying until they eventually force

their way through.

“Most people tend to think that they are safe and secure if they use antivirus

and have a firewall sitting at the front door of their organisation,” Sean Duca,

the Vice President and Regional Chief Security Officer of Palo Alto Networks

explains. “That may have worked once upon a time but unfortunately the

hackers of the world have become a lot smarter than that.

“In my role with Palo Alto Networks I spend roughly 90 per cent of my time

out talking to organisations across Asia–Pacific, to share and impart all of

the best-practice experience I have learned from what I have seen other

organisations do; what has and has not worked. We look at the situation

and think about how we can learn from what others have done and then