It’s nearly 2019, and what it takes for CIOs and other technology executives to be successful looks a lot different than it did as recently as say, 2014. Recently, I was quoted by two major technology news outlets about the role of technology executives in the success of their organizations:

By now, you’ve probably heard about the Starwood Hotel breach. In November, Marriott, the world’s largest hotel chain, confirmed that as many as 500 million people who made reservations at one of its Starwood properties could have had their personal information—including names, mailing addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, passport and credit card info—stolen by Chinese hackers. Peter Aiken, associate professor of information systems at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business, calls the attack “the biggest threat to U.S. national security that we have ever faced” from a data breach.

At the recent TEDxHartford event, Kelser Vice President of Professional Services Matt Kozloski spoke about cybersecurity. His goal -- and our goal as a Cybersecurity-as-a-Service provider -- is to change the way the we think about cybersecurity, so that it becomes part of our habits. Watch the video and enjoy some choice quotes below.

Each organization has its own approach to cybersecurity—some of them better than others. While many small businesses take a proactive role by working with third-party managed security service providers, others are content to employ “security through obscurity,” hoping that there will always be a bigger, more appealing target. Unfortunately, every business is a potential target for cyber criminals.

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – Last month, Hospital for Special Care (HSC) kicked off its new Center for Cognitive Health with a reception at the hospital's New Britain campus. Kelser Corporation presented a check for $25,500 to support the new initiative raised at the 2018 Kelser Charity Challenge golf tournament held in September.

The amount of information in the world today is almost unfathomable, and it’s increasing at a blistering pace. Analysts estimate that 90 percent of data in existence was created only in the last two years. What’s more, research group IDC predicts that by 2025, the world will be creating 163 zettabytes (163 trillion gigabytes) of data every year.

From Hurricane Irene in 2011 to the “blizzard of 2013” that dumped two feet of snow across much of the state, Connecticut has seen its fair share of extreme weather. Not only do these natural disasters disrupt people’s daily lives and prevent them from coming into work, they also disable or damage critical business infrastructure and utilities such as power, electricity, and heating.

With news of another cyber attack in the headlines every other week, it’s hardly surprising that businesses of all sizes and industries are growing more and more concerned. 68 percent of organizations believe that they are “very vulnerable” or “extremely vulnerable” to a data breach.