Seven years ago I wrote an article entitled “The Future of Security, or “Why I just joined Unisys.”  The key premise of that article was addressing some of the biggest security challenges in the world with advanced emerging technologies, and I’m proud to say we were very successful in bringing the most advanced micro-segmentation products to critically important clients that form a great basis for today’s zero-trust methodologies.  And as the overall threat environment has evolved over the years, so too has emerging technology and where it’s emerging from. To wit, I was fortunate to also help lead the development of the White House’s NSTAC National Cyber Moonshot, which focuses on key emerging security technology areas of AI, quantum, and communications to make the Internet safe for critical infrastructure by the end of this decade.

It is addressing this need - accelerating these emerging technologies to meet the needs of critical infrastructure protection - that has driven me to now step down from my Chief Trust Officer role and form a unique consulting company called Infrastructure>Forward.  IF helps emerging AI, quantum, and communications companies accelerate their growth by helping them connect their capabilities directly with the communities that need them the most.  These communities include Government, academia, and large-scale companies that make up the 17 critical infrastructure sectors. While I’ve already started taking on advisory clients in these areas, I’m very excited to have joined the board of directors of Secured Communications Inc, makers of Mercury Workspace.

Mercury Workspace gives enterprises a secure choice for their online collaborations (UCC) with remote employees, trusted partners, important clients, and evolving ecosystems. Their platform is built upon the latest encryption standard of MLS, which defends against a current threat of 'steal now, decrypt later' that is being weaponized by adversaries around the globe and aimed at companies in all of the 17 critical infrastructure sectors as well as governments around the world.

Mercury Workspace provides everything an organization needs for online collaboration including voice, video, conferencing, messaging, and shared files, but with enterprise controlled end-to-end encryption and positive identification. No more worries about your private and sensitive information being monitored and monetized by your collaboration providers, no more worries about someone stealing your data or 'zoom-bombing' your meeting, and no more worries that your most sensitive conversations are the least protected in your enterprise.

I'm excited to roll up my sleeves with my fellow board members to provide governance to and help advise this great group of security leaders in the best way to accelerate their platform to be the go-to service when privacy and security are important in an online collaboration.

Throughout my career I’ve remained very focused on ensuring that the changes in the way we compute, communicate, decision, and defend are done in a way that contributes to the overall privacy, safety and security of the civilized world. This decade is ushering in artificial intelligence and machine learning, quantum compute and encryption, advanced communications, and entirely new ways to defend this new infrastructure. Much of this change will come from innovative emerging companies like Secured Communications that need to be part of the fabric of this new global infrastructure. I joined the Secured Communications board of directors because they are a critical part of the future of security.

Tom@InfrastructureForward.com