Meet Behind-the-Scenes Superheroes of Cybersecurity

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Most of us will never meet the superheroes who are protecting individuals, organizations, and nations from cyber criminals. Leonard McDowell invests in a few of them, including the remarkable teams at Stamus Networks and XQ whose innovation is keeping data safe across industries, devices, and platforms. And they’re doing it more affordably and with less hassle than ever.

Fast Company recently featured another #cybersecurity hero. Microsoft’s corporate VP for customer security and trust, Tom Burt, is among the 2022 Most Creative People in Business.

Tom leads Microsoft’s efforts to protect its customers from cyberattacks, which encompasses individual users, corporations, and governments. His team’s effort to secure data includes protection from individual thieves and fraudsters, as well as the most formidable digital foes: hackers backed by powerful governments such as the Russia-linked groups that launched cyberattacks in Ukraine this past spring.

Burt led efforts to thwart attacks on Ukraine by appealing to the U.S. court system to quickly seize and take down seven internet domain names used to command and control malware. He did so by deploying a legal process that his team has used against Russian hackers since 2016. They used the same technique to assist Microsoft’s take-down of more than 100 servers linked to a Russian-speaking ransomware group prior to the 2020 U.S. elections.

In coordination with U.S. and Ukrainian governments, Tom’s team worked alongside nations and private companies around the world over the course of several years to advocate for a Digital Geneva Convention that would create standards for how countries are able to conduct cyber-warfare.

The mark of excellence in this field is to never know they’re there, yet take it from us, these innovators’ brilliant minds are focused and committed to shutting down cybercrime at every level.

If you would like to set up an inquiry call to learn how our partners might have solutions to your data security questions and potential gaps, contact Frank Leonard.