“Nice to meet you, John,” Pedro said and shook the man’s hand. “This is Belinda’s meeting. I’m just eavesdropping.”
“I’m glad you could join us. Please take a seat.” John waved a hand at the chairs in front of his desk.
Immediately, Belinda guided the conversation through all the topics she wished to discuss for the meeting. She noticed Pedro making notes on his pad of paper as she jotted items to remember on her tablet. Pleased with the progress by the end, Belinda opened the conversation up to John’s questions.
He asked several questions about funding and supply issues before glancing at Pedro. “May I ask you what you’re looking for?”
Pedro glanced at Belinda and asked, “Do you have anything else you’d like to follow up on first?”
When she shook her head, Pedro continued, “Every company has their own challenges. It could be something as confounding as employees who open risky emails or something as complex as a coding error that may have been around for years. I’ll dive into everything but would love to know your greatest cybersecurity concern.”
“To be honest, the newest computers coming in are scary fast. That’s great for time efficiency, but I wonder how many employees are clicking on random messages that pop up without taking the time to read them completely. I’ll give you an example that happened to me. I was in the middle of saving a spreadsheet for the monthly budget. Normally a message pops up to ask if I wish to leave the application after I’ve finished saving. I almost clicked it automatically, but the word accessible caught my eye. When I stopped to read it completely, the computer was asking for permission to make this file accessible to various people in the department. Probing deeper, I found a name I didn’t recognize. It was a consultant who’d installed our virus system on the new laptop I’d just been given.”
“I remember you reporting that last week. We implemented a new policy to remove permissions granted to a contractor before we assign a computer to an Edgewater employee. In addition, all the computers that consultant worked on were recalled and extraneous names were removed,” Belinda commented.
“I knew you’d taken care of it thoroughly,” John confirmed. “It got me thinking, if I hadn’t noticed and dug, would anyone else have? Many departments are working overtime. Would someone have taken the time I did to check something out or report it? Or would they have been too busy?”
“Unfortunately, that rushed click is often how a hacker gets inside. They could target a million employees at a million different companies to try to get one person to grant them access. Thank you, John, for suggesting processing messages as a target to lock down. It sounds like you, Belinda, and the technicians handled the situation perfectly.”
“Yes. I was very pleased with the response my concern was given. It definitely opened my eyes to threats I hadn’t considered. While I’ve got you here, Belinda, let me ask you…” John opened his laptop and accessed a list of questions he’d created before the meeting. Quickly, he addressed the remaining items on his list and jotted notes.
When Belinda and Pedro stood to leave, John followed them to the doorway. “Thank you for meeting with me. I appreciated an update on the plans for technology in general and a taste of what cybersecurity will address.”
“Our pleasure, John. Thank you for your time,” Belinda said as she stepped into the hallway and advanced a few steps for Pedro to exit and join her.
“So, do you think there are any advantages for you to continue to tag along?” Belinda asked.
“Yes. Other than the obvious issue that you dealt with efficiently, I also picked up on several other risk factors. He started his computer without using any login or biometrics like his fingerprint. Anyone could have pulled up his files if the rest of it was unprotected.”
Belinda turned her notes to show him she’d jotted down the same idea. “Great minds,” she said sarcastically.
When they stepped into the empty elevator to descend to the ground floor, Pedro warned, “Enough, Little girl. We need to work together.”
“What are you going to do? Spank me again?” Belinda laughed, feeling like a fool.
“I understood your reaction to these combined meetings. I would have been angry as well to see a newcomer’s name pop up in my meetings. We’ve figured out how to make this a positive rather than a negative. Enough with being deliberately confrontational.”
He held her gaze for several long seconds before adding, “And yes.”
The door opened before she could respond. By the time they’d finished the last morning meeting, Belinda’s anger had dissipated completely. Pedro was allowing her to run her meetings and only asking questions if time allowed. Part of her wanted to stay snarly. Of course he’s playing nice. I made him. The other half realized he wasn’t responsible for the mistake and had taken steps to create a positive result. And I’ve learned important things as well today.
Pedro excused himself at lunchtime to visit the human relations department. They had urgent paperwork for him to complete. Belinda ate a solitary meal at her desk and had to admit she missed him.