On this episode of CISO STRESSED, Elizabeth Wharton SCYTHE Chief of Staff is joined by Nick Andersen, CISO for Public Sector at Lumen Technologies and Nonresident Senior Fellow with the Cyber Statecraft Initiative at the Atlantic Council. Wharton and Andersen discuss the unpacking of Biden’s latest Executive Order with the Atlantic Council, and the importance of collaboration and sharing within the CISO role.
Andersen shares his experience unpacking the most recent thirty-page executive order from the Biden Administration.
Andersen unpacked the executive order with the Atlantic Council people encapsulating the S Bomb initiatives that NTIA has been working on for a couple of years, to EDR Requirements, instant response playbooks, and cloud requirements there is a lot to unpack.
Nick Andersen is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for Public Sector at Lumen Technologies and a Nonresident Senior Fellow with the Cyber Statecraft Initiative at the Atlantic Council.
Andersen served previously as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) at the U.S. Department of Energy. He was appointed to lead DOE’s national effort to secure U.S. energy infrastructure against all hazards, reduce impacts from disruptive events, and assist industry with restoration activities. He personally led all Department of Energy efforts to build resilience to cybersecurity threats and mitigate risks within the critical infrastructure community and championed new policy initiatives to safeguard the lifeline services the underpin our national security, economic successes, and the health and safety of the American public. CESER works closely with the electricity and oil and natural gas industries; other Federal agencies; State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial (SLTT) communities; and DOE’s national laboratories to advance national energy security and prepare for, respond to, and recover from evolving threats and events to critical infrastructure.
Prior to joining the Department of Energy, Nick Andersen served in the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as the Federal Cybersecurity Lead and Senior Cybersecurity Advisor to the Federal Chief Information Officer, where he led the OMB Cyber Team and was responsible for government-wide cybersecurity policy development and compliance of shared federal security services.
Andersen previously served as CISO for the State of Vermont, where he was appointed to lead State efforts pertaining to the security and protection of data, security compliance activities, risk reduction, security operations, and threat intelligence.
Prior to this, Andersen was a senior executive and senior intelligence officer serving as the Chief Information Officer for Navy Intelligence and was the Head of the Office of Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Systems and Technologies at the U.S. Coast Guard. He has served on active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps, managing intelligence mission systems in Iraq, Europe, and Africa; and has led cybersecurity and technology programs worldwide with several leading and emerging companies.
Andersen holds a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology Management and a Master of Science in Information Security and Assurance. He has received awards from the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Coast Guard, and Intelligence Community. He received the Government Information Security Leadership Award from (ISC)2 in 2018 and was named a Top 10 CISO to Watch in 2021 by WashingtonExec.
SCYTHE provides an advanced attack emulation platform for the enterprise and cybersecurity consulting market. The SCYTHE platform enables Red, Blue, and Purple teams to build and emulate real-world adversarial campaigns in a matter of minutes. Customers are in turn enabled to validate the risk posture and exposure of their business and employees and the performance of enterprise security teams and existing security solutions. Based in Arlington, VA, the company is privately held and is funded by Gula Tech Adventures, Paladin Capital, Evolution Equity, and private industry investors.