By Scott Briscoe
We’ll call him the prescient Mr. Gundry. In an article for Security Management’s Security Technology supplement entitled Building the Control Room of Tomorrow, Dan Gundry wrote: “Enterprise organizations relay on their SOC [Security Operations Center] for business operations. In times of an emergency, and as risks become more severe, a complete situational picture is necessary.”
Gundry is director of national control room sales at Vistacom, and he will be speaking on a panel at GSX+ on Monday, 21 September on The GSOC of the Future: What’s Next?
If ever there was a time of heightened emergency and severe risk for global organizations, 2020 defines it, giving organizations with high-functioning global security operations centers, or GSOCs, a chance to shine. Asurion, a leading provider of insurance, warranty, and support services for electronics, has offices on five continents. The company was featured in a write-up in the Nashville Business Journal early on in the pandemic. Very early on, as in 6 March. In the article, Kevin Wilson, senior director of global security for Asurion, is quoted: “Our differentiator is we have these security operation centers on both sides of the world that covers this on a 24-hour basis that gives us a level of awareness some might not have. Adhering to guidelines so that you don’t underreact or overreact has been key.” As was the information backbone that was able to be mined because the company had established SOCs and used them in their risk mitigation strategies.
Wilson is one of the panelists in the GSX+ discussion, along with Rob Hile, general manager at GC&E Systems in Florida, and Ryan Schonfeld, founder and CEO of RAS Watch.
For even more on operations center and the pandemic, and because you can never add too many letters to existing acronyms, be sure check out this article on Microsoft’s VGSOC (the “V” is for virtual), now COVID-19 tested and approved.