Leaders List interview: 60 seconds with Bruce McDougall, Black Arrow Cyber Consulting

Date: 18 Sep 2024

Karen Jones

This week’s 60-second piece is dedicated to Bruce McDougall, Director and Principal Cyber and Information Security Advisor Cyber Risk, Governance, Compliance and Training Lead at Black Arrow Cyber Consulting.

Tell Citywealth readers a bit about your role.      

I am part of a team that equips clients in senior leadership roles to be comfortable with managing their cyber risks, by giving them the impartial knowledge and support they need to govern their own cyber security. This includes boardroom upskilling workshops, cyber incident management simulations and gap analysis reports. It is about taking a complex technical subject, and converting it into business leadership language that makes sense for all the board.

What does a typical day look like for you?

I spend a lot of my day on video calls with my clients, sometimes supporting them in meetings with their IT provider or risk committees, or joining their Board meeting to present the governance papers that we have prepared together. My favourite days are when my colleagues and I are in an upskilling workshop with clients, enjoying the interaction and conversions with their leadership teams.

Tell us about some recent, interesting client instructions/requests you have received.

My colleagues and I often help our clients to investigate attempted cyber attacks that they have detected. In one particular case, although the attack was prevented by the client’s employees who were sceptical about a suspicious email, the client wanted to dig deeper to understand how they could continually improve their security. We examined the phishing email to create a video for employee training. We created a ‘sandbox’ environment to see what would happen if you clicked on the link in the email, and we saw an interesting well planned attack that included QR codes and fake websites. The incident shows the benefit of having employees who care enough to raise questions when they see a suspicious email, and how cyber attacks are developing.

What challenges do your clients face and how are you helping your clients to overcome them?

Business leaders know that cyber security is one of the biggest threats to their organisation, but often it seems to be a difficult complex subject, and so they often depend on their IT provider to take the lead in deciding what needs to be done. At a certain point, the leader realises that this is their own risk, and not for an IT provider to decide and evaluate.

When they reach that understanding, the client has the challenge of how to take command of their cyber risks as they do their financial risks for example, and bring it up to a board level. I love working with clients on this journey. It’s a genuine partnership where my colleagues and I give our clients the knowledge and expertise of a team of totally impartial specialists who are genuinely passionate about good proportionate security. We help them to get what they need from their IT provider, and to have a good solid understanding of any gaps and what to do about them.

Proportionality is key; it has to make sense for the size and profile of the business, and not be cost prohibitive or burdensome.

What is your proudest professional achievement?

A few years ago, we helped a charity to review their cyber security including how they would keep secure if they had to activate their business continuity processes. They had to do this at low cost, and be suitable for the profile of the carers that worked there. A few months later, Covid happened and suddenly everyone had to work from home. It was fortunate timing, but in this case the charity workers were able to continue caring for their members with minimal disruption which made a massive difference to the people who relied on them.

What do you consider to be the most important attributes for a leader?

Every day there are going to be new challenges, new situations that you have not experienced before. The best leaders I have worked with have found a way to stretch the team, pushing just that little bit more, to think of solutions by applying experience and insights from others.

Who do you most admire and why?

Over recent years I have had more interaction with people in the healthcare and homecare professions looking after family and others due to age and ill health. I truly admire their dedication, calmness and service, sometimes in the most stressful of situations.

Where was the last place you travelled to for work or pleasure?

We spent the weekend in Paris earlier this year; I had not been there for a few years, and noticed how it had developed. We had a great time, and found a brilliant cafe round the corner of our hotel – definitely one to go back to.

If you weren’t in this industry, what else might you be doing?

I have always been fascinated by linguistics; I would love to study it more seriously but for now I am just an armchair linguist with random interesting (I think) facts.

How do you relax after a long day?

If the weather is good, I’d like to be outside in the evening sun. Otherwise, I’ve become a Netflix addict at home.