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Q&A with Kathy Wang, Chief Security Officer at Discord, on Raising the Bar on Security

Q&A with Kathy Wang, Chief Security Officer at Discord, on Raising the Bar on Security

Cloud Control by Gomboc AI
January 30, 2024

Kathy Wang, Chief Security Officer at Discord

Raising the Bar on Security

Hi again fellow cyber enthusiasts ✌️ This week, we're thrilled to introduce you to Kathy Wang - former CISO at Discord, GitLab, and Very Good Security, Kathy brings her battle-tested wisdom to right to your inbox 🚀

In this interview, we dissect the nuances of cloud security, explore strategies for building rockstar security teams, and peek into the startup world through Kathy's experienced lens. This isn’t just an interview; it's a cybersecurity masterclass. Happy reading👇

P.S. Was this email forwarded to you? If so, sign up to receive Cloud Control interviews delivered to your email each week here.

Question 1 💭

Let’s start with a brief background on you. What are some recent wins you’ve had in your role? What challenges in the industry are you most focused on currently? What’s got your attention lately?

Answer 1 🎯

As a CISO, I’ve always focused on how to incrementally raise the bar on security at a cloud-native organization. When a CISO can properly assess, understand the organization’s risks, and build a consensus-driven roadmap for what’s next, that’s considered a good win. The advent of generative AI capabilities recently has presented both challenges and opportunities for CISOs, and has my attention.

Question 2 💭

When building strategic security roadmaps, what are important things to consider for companies at the size and structure of Discord? How does it shift the way you think about cloud?

Answer 2 🎯

Regardless of the size or structure of the company, each has unique risks and challenges. The key is to guide the security team to work in tandem with cross-functional organizations such as engineering, product, finance, etc. so that a comprehensive risk assessment process is developed. This risk assessment must also include cloud infrastructure in terms of visibility in how all of the services and applications are deployed, as well as accesses.

Question 3 💭

As someone deeply involved in building security teams, what specific qualities and skills do you look for when hiring security professionals? What skill sets and technologies are needed for the industry in the next few years?

Answer 3 🎯

Security is highly operational, and it’s good to hire people who have a strong tendency to exhibit bias to action. In every company I’ve been at, security teams are responsible for helping the rest of the company understand security risks, so I also look for people who are willing to communicate those risks. People who are willing to be strong advocates while building consensus will be successful in security roles. These skill sets will apply even in the next few years - I don’t see this changing.

❝

Security is highly operational, and it’s good to hire people who have a strong tendency to exhibit bias to action.

Kathy Wang

Question 4 💭

Building highly effective security teams is a complex task. What unconventional approaches or strategies have you employed to differentiate your teams and attract top talent, especially when competing with other companies for skilled professionals?

Answer 4 🎯

It is still difficult to find and hire great security professionals. That’s why it’s important to have strategies on not just hiring top talent, but retaining top talent. I’ve found that the best people really value transparency. If prioritized well, transparency will empower security teams to achieve great outcomes, which will then help to attract and retain top talent.

In order to continuously improve or raise the bar on security, it is critical for security teams to avoid operating in a silo. In the past, my teams have been transparent to the rest of the company on our roadmaps and goals, even documenting these items where everyone can view and provide feedback. In this way, we achieve better collaboration from other teams in the organization.

Kathy wang

Question 5 💭

Establishing feedback loops is essential for continuous improvement. In your experience, where do you see communication silos or gaps in feedback loops most often? How do these pose challenges further down the line?

Answer 5 🎯

Read the Full Q&A on Gomboc.ai

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