MICHELLE LIAO
OUT OF THE SHADOWS: HOW CYBERSECURITY HAS TAKEN CENTRE STAGE IN THE AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS ARENA by Michelle Liao, A/NZ Channel and Distribution Manager at WatchGuard Technologies
The pandemic has invigorated the cybersecurity sector
CYBER SHAKE-UP
and made it a more appealing place to work.
The pandemic has shaken things up in the cybersecurity sector, albeit in ways that, to folks who
What a difference a couple of years can make. When
do not work in the space every day, may not seem
a globally momentous event takes place—think
quite so dramatic as its wider impacts.
World Wars I and II and the September 11 attacks—it inevitably becomes an indelible time marker, splitting
I am fortunate to have worked in cybersecurity since
history into two parts: before and after.
2016 and I have observed big changes since 2020. Prior to Covid, cybersecurity was very much a niche
So it has been with Covid-19. The biggest health crisis
subsector of the broader ICT industry.
since the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 has triggered
118
significant economic and societal changes, including
Yes, businesses and organisations knew they needed
a rethink about the reliance on global supply chains by
to take steps to protect their systems and data from
businesses and governments, and the normalisation
compromise and attack, but senior decisionmakers
of hybrid and remote working.
typically did not get overly exercised about the
W O M E N I N S E C U R I T Y M A G A Z I N E
N O V E M B E R • D E C E M B E R 2022