No Shirt. No Security. No Merger.

Sure, we’d like to merge with your company but geez, have you looked at your security posture lately? Uggh. I don’t know if I could be seen in public with your kind let alone acquire your type.

We’re wary as to who wants to enter our digital home on this week’s episode of CISO/Security Vendor Relationship Podcast.


This show, like all the previous ones is hosted by me, David Spark (@dspark), founder of Spark Media Solutions and Mike Johnson. Our guest this week is Mark Eggleston (@meggleston), vp, chief information security and privacy officer, Health Partners Plans.

Thanks to this week’s sponsor, Praetorian

As a professional services company, Praetorian helps enterprise customers solve complex cybersecurity problems. We are the security experts.

Got feedback? Join the conversation on LinkedIn.

On this week’s episode

How CISOs are digesting the latest security news

Good cybersecurity hygiene is critical not just to mitigate breaches but also the valuation of a company, especially during a merger or acquisition. Itzik Kotler, co-founder and CTO of Safe Breach, notes that back in 2016 the Verizon acquisition price of Yahoo was lowered nearly $350 million after Yahoo disclosed data breaches that had happened up to two years earlier. Kotler said, “The problem is cybersecurity risk from mergers and acquisitions perspective should not be about what has happened, but about what vulnerabilities are being introduced and what could happen as a result.”

Why is everybody talking about this now?

An interesting question on Quora asked, “Do you regret working in cybersecurity?” Do our CISOs ever regret? Why do people regret?

“What’s Worse?!”

We have a challenge that pits securing old and new technology.

Ask a CISO

Eric Rindo just graduated with his MS in Cybersecurity. He has a certification, but zero experience. He’s looking for his first InfoSec opportunity. For a CISO, what’s attractive about a candidate like Eric?

What do you think of this pitch?

What happens when you pitch something CISOs already have?

Got feedback? Join the conversation on LinkedIn.

David Spark
David Spark is the founder of CISO Series where he produces and co-hosts many of the shows. Spark is a veteran tech journalist having appeared in dozens of media outlets for almost three decades.