McAfee VP On Why All Employees Should Work To Keep Companies Safe

If you’ve bought a computer, chances are you’ve purchased an anti-virus protection program like McAfee to keep your machine safe. McAfee, founded in 1987, helps against cyber attacks at home and at work. The firm is one world’s top independent cybersecurity companies, and recently became a standalone company this year.

Candace Worley, Vice President and Chief Technical Strategist at McAfee, talked to International Business Times about the company and gave an important tip to employers and employees regarding cybersecurity.

What is the biggest cybersecurity challenge for McAfee?

Our challenges are not unlike those of our competitors. This industry is highly dynamic and it requires vendors to constantly improve their products, shift their portfolio and steady themselves for the next wave of new attacks. Predicting the next attack, how it will be perpetrated and proactively building detection and blocking for it is a never-ending challenge for cyber vendors.

What is the most important thing companies should work with their employees on when it comes to their firm’s cybersecurity?

Education, education, education. Educating employees on the fact that the cybersecurity of their company is the responsibility of every single employee not just the IT department. The attacks come too often, are too sophisticated and use too many vectors of attack for the IT department to keep ahead of them. If every employee takes ownership of corporate security by being careful about clicking on links, not opening emails from people they don’t know, only downloading applications from known and trusted sites, etc. the risk of a cyber incident in their company would be reduced exponentially. Employees are the frontline in the fight against cybercrime.

If you had to give only one cybersecurity advice to an ordinary citizen what would it be?

A local power company has a great ad campaign targeted at citizens on the topic of downed power lines. The slogan they chose was “Don’t Touch It”. My slogan for ordinary citizens is “Don’t Click On It.” If you don’t know the person that sent you an email or you were not expecting an email on that topic, Don’t Click On It. If you receive a link from someone in an email or a text or via some other medium, Don’t Click On It. Go to your browser and type in the URL. It may take you a moment longer but it may also save all the data on your laptop from malware infection or ransomware.

McAfee is a big name when it comes to cybersecurity. How has the company held its reputation over the years?

McAfee’s focus is on serving our customers. When the core of your culture is focused on improving the safety and security of consumers and corporations it’s easy for employees to execute on a customer first charter, regardless of what is changing within the company or in the industry as a whole. McAfee solutions are built on a foundation of industry and customer understanding—When you put customers first in everything you do your brand continues to be recognized as a hallmark of the industry.