Needless to say,
IoT security issues have become a major problem given more and more devices now reside on the Internet. Ensuring products are toughened against cyber threats has therefore become a top priority for solutions providers.
One example is
Gallagher Security, who now has a new GM for UK and Europe, Richard Huison.
Today, devices, including those related to security, are connected to the Internet at an exponential rate. While this has provided convenience and more integration, risks of cyberattacks have also become more real. The
2016 DDoS attacks serve as a vivid example.
According to Huison, Gallagher is suited to counter cyber threats as a long-term CPNI-approved supplier to the Home Office and critical national infrastructure clients such as the National Grid.
“The cost of a power outage on the Grid is 1 million pounds per minute so they have to be absolutely sure of their cyber resilience and that everything they plug on to their network is secure,” he said. “That’s a real challenge in an era where kettles and other household appliances are becoming increasingly WiFi-connected, so a hacker switching them all on at the same time could bring down the Grid.”
He cites the recent decision to limit Chinese giant Huawei’s involvement in 5G in the U.K. as evidence of how seriously the government takes the threat and wonders if mass network failures at mobile providers Vodafone and O2 Telefonica have a more sinister cause.
“Given the cost to businesses and nation states of falling prey, we have to be sure that security is increasingly baked in to everything we put on our networks,” he said.
Huison replaces Dave Bentley at Gallagher, which employs 1,100 people across the world. Bentley, who now runs a holiday camp in France, was the first on site in the U.K. at customers like Severn Trent Water, EDF, United Utilities and National Grid, which has evolved to be Gallagher’s largest UK client and its biggest worldwide for perimeter, covering a total of 700 sites via different channel partners via the Gallagher Command Center in two Alarm Receiving Centers.
Huison’s career in the security industry started with a government contractor making voice and data cryptos and scramblers for the military and government departments. The technology was also adopted by banks and utilities to make secure financial transactions over a non-secure infrastructure. He spent 14 years at Dublin-based ACT, expanding the Vanderbilt Industries brand. That followed three years with French security manufacturer CDVi.
“Richard is a strong natural authentic leader with great drive and ambition for the future. We are delighted to have Richard taking on this GM role,” said Kahl Betham, Gallagher’s global security boss.