Cyber Savvy: Creating a Recipe for Data Defense With K-MAC’s CIO

Welcome to the third edition of Cyber Savvy, a blog series exploring the expert insights of cybersecurity professionals. For each installment, we engage with a diverse array of security leaders to glean new perspectives on the constantly evolving threat landscape. Through these interviews, we aim to delve into their unique career journeys, uncovering firsthand insights into the challenges they've faced and the victories they've achieved.

In this article, we chatted with Roger Morris, Chief Information Officer (CIO) of K-MAC Enterprises, Inc., to learn about his experience protecting popular restaurant brands, including Taco Bell, Whataburger, and 7 Brew. Here’s what he had to share.

What are your biggest security concerns/challenges as a CIO?

A: There are many concerns when it comes to security. While security companies are heavily involved in finding ways to stop the existing threats, our biggest challenge is determining what’s in place to stop the next “unknown’ type of threat.

What new challenges do you anticipate in the coming year?

A: Our organization just recently migrated from in-house servers to cloud-based services. Our team is trying to find our responsibilities in keeping our cloud data secure, and how much we need to depend on the service company to protect our data.

How is your team adapting to the evolving threat landscape?

A: Keeping a measure of our attacks helps us direct resources to the more critical areas.

What do you consider your most important success metric?

A: Preparedness and our ability to stay one step ahead of bad actors.

What are your three biggest goals for the coming year?

A: 1) Implementing a continued training method to educate our employees on security best practices, 2) Researching upcoming security measures, and 3) Keeping the right people in place for a secure environment.

What new trends in cybersecurity excite you right now?

A: AI seems to be the future of generating algorithms to help keep cybersecurity under control.

Are there any security leaders besides yourself that you look to for guidance?

A: I’m always tapping into the knowledge of the security team that we use for cloud services.

What advice do you have for other CIOs or aspiring CIOs?

A: Always keep yourself educated on the current and upcoming information for cyber security.

Want to learn more from Roger? You can connect with him here.

In our upcoming Cyber Savvy segment, we'll be conversing with yet another security expert to explore their perspectives on the constantly shifting threat environment. Whether you're a seasoned CISO, an aspiring security analyst, or simply curious about industry insights, this is an opportunity you won't want to overlook.

Want to be featured yourself? Contact us here and we’ll be in touch!