Tell us about yourself!

I’ve spent the last 25-plus years in the end user computing space — the world of connecting end users to their applications and data. My teenage hobby of computers has turned into my career, with my initial education in aeronautics. Whether it was seeing “WarGames” when it first came out, “hacking” Apple IIc’s, or taking apart the family Tandy 1000 to learn how it worked, I’ve always been into computing devices. I live in Raleigh, North Carolina, am an avid motorcycle rider, am learning to box, and have more books than I could probably read in my lifetime.

What does endpoint security look like right now?

Endpoint security is increasing in complexity. While traditional endpoint protection solutions work well on physical desktops, protection is more problematic with virtual desktops and on mobile platforms. User endpoint management (UEM) solutions can help with policy and device control, but because of platform disparities, software updates, and the ever-changing device landscape, they can cause problems with user access, reducing employee productivity and satisfaction. Endpoint detection and response (EDR) is evolving into extended detection and response (XDR) to reflect the need that effective detection and response requires telemetry beyond just the traditional endpoint. This is all increasing complexity and still leaves out the security difficulties introduced by bring-your-own-device (BYOD), an all-remote or hybrid workforce, apps and data being delivered from traditional and cloud data centers, and the proliferation of internet-of-things (IoT) and industrial-internet-of-things (IIoT) devices within the enterprise.

You make it sound like an insurmountable problem …

I regularly use the phrase, “If you build a better mousetrap, someone will build a better mouse.” Once one obstacle is overcome, a new one will emerge. For example, while businesses were slowly adapting to hybrid work policies and expanding BYOD, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, immediately transforming the idea of hybrid work into a 100% remote workforce. In 2022, chief information security officers are still picking up the pieces from the remote workforce and the security problems that it introduced. On the plus side, more organizations are seeing the value in remote or hybrid work and the benefits that can be realized from it. Solutions such as Zero Trust network access (ZTNA) have emerged to enable this transformation.

Someone built a better mouse, so companies need to work on better mousetraps.

What Topics Will You Be Covering At Forrester?

I’m looking forward to covering the endpoint security space, including PCs, mobile devices, IoT, BYOD, and maybe even virtual desktop infrastructure.