San Francisco CEO Says IS Students Should Choose Career Path Based On Ability
In the wake of what may have been the largest bank heist in history, San Francisco businesses are investing more in information security. The reported theft last month of $1 billion from 100 banks from 30 countries is the latest example why the cyber security industry is estimated to be worth $155.74 billion by 2019. One Bay Area cybersecurity company that is well on its way towards becoming a public company is ThreatMetrix, whose Chief Executive Officer, Reed Taussig, took time away from his demanding duties to offer advice to San Francisco students majoring in information security.
What is your background and education?
"After graduating from the University of Arizona with an economics degree, I began my career as a salesperson, working my way up to VP of Sales and Services at Unify Corporation in 1987. Later, I joined Gupta Corporation as VP of Sales, Marketing and Services, adding a new dimension - marketing - to my career. In 1994 I founded inquiry.com, one of the first B2B internet companies in the world, which we sold in 1997. I joined ThreatMetrix in 2008 as president and CEO."
Can you describe what services ThreatMetrix offers?
"ThreatMetrix is a provider of cloud-based fraud management solutions for companies with large online customer bases, such as leading e-commerce companies and financial institutions. ThreatMetrix has more than 3,500 customers and analyzes over one billion transactions per month across our global shared intelligence network, which helps our customers identify both good customers and bad actors. Every ThreatMetrix customer provides anonymized data to the system and benefits from that by receiving information about consumers as they interact across our network. ThreatMetrix can be thought of as a means to 'crowdsource' identity authentication of online consumers."
What career advice can you share with information security students?
"Be truthful with yourself, take responsibility and do what you like to do because you will do that best. People often choose a career path based on perceived status rather than innate ability. For example, many people want to move into management as they believe it will provide them greater decision-making power and status among their peers. Unfortunately, many managers avoid making clear decisions and are ineffective communicators. The best managers are people who enjoy their job and feel comfortable in their role."
Randy Yagi is a freelance writer covering all things San Francisco. In 2012, he was awarded a Media Fellowship from Stanford University. His work can be found on Examiner.com Examiner.com.
