As a member of the Cyber Threat Alliance, I am proud to be part of a community of cybersecurity organizations that care about more than just business. We come together to contribute to something much bigger than ourselves—creating a shared defense of global cyber infrastructure. Overall, I am incredibly impressed, not only with the information and threat sharing, but especially the collaboration on threat analysis. By sharing and working together, organizations and companies around the world can better protect the digital ecosystem.
We’re primarily excited about the threat sharing forum and capabilities, specifically gathering contextual information on potential threats and their surrounding vulnerabilities and circumstances. This level of focus on contextual threat sharing is vitally useful for defenders. For us, we are able to take what we learn and collaborate on and share that information and value with our customers. The CTA is a broad organization and has access to and conversations with leading security companies across the industry. I see the role of the CTA as creating a shared ecosystem with those government entities, partners, and customers.
Today, the CTA does an effective job of identifying ransomware threat vectors and actors. As we see the increasing frequency and—even more importantly—the disruptive impact of ransomware attacks, there is an opportunity for the CTA to take a role in finding solid footing for a public-private defense partnership. How do you create a functional public-private relationship? How do we tie the security industry into conversations about ransomware defense that are happening in the public sector? Ultimately, to have an impact we all have to come together as stakeholders.
I am hopeful that in five years the CTA will be one of the premier global platforms that every cybersecurity professional organization uses to come together to create a shared defense ecosystem. I’d like to see continued focus on threat sharing, with the addition of figuring out how to share better with other orgs. There’s also an opportunity to take it to the next level—contextual threat sharing is great, and how do you add behavioral context and other layers so every organization can respond faster? These pieces would strengthen the CTA to become that premier, go-to platform I mentioned earlier.
I’m inspired when people break barriers and overcome challenges with creativity. I recently read Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin which profiles Abraham Lincoln’s cabinet. They were a distinct bunch of deeply human and massively flawed people that came together to do important work. In general, I love to learn from history and find the stories of past challenges illuminating. I also enjoy reading Will Durant— The Story of Philosophy and The Story of Civilization are great sources of fascinating lessons in history.
Outside of work, I spend time with family and make sure I take care of myself to stay healthy and recharged. I enjoy martial arts, running, reading (business, history, and science fiction), and recently took up archery. I like to always be pushing myself and doing things that are uncomfortable—it keeps the brain young.
Corey Thomas is the president and CEO of Rapid7, as well as a member of its board of directors. In 2018, he was elected to the Cyber Threat Alliance (CTA) board of directors and the Massachusetts Cybersecurity Strategy Council. He also serves on the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts board of directors, sitting on its audit and health care quality and affordability committees. He previously served on the U.S. Commerce Department’s Digital Economy Board of Advisors. Corey has extensive experience leading technology companies to the next stage of growth and innovation. Prior to joining Rapid7, Corey was VP of marketing at Parallels, Inc., a virtualization technology company; group project manager of the Microsoft Server and Tools division, steering product planning for Microsoft’s data platform; and a consultant at Deloitte Consulting. Corey received a B.E. in electrical engineering and computer science from Vanderbilt University and a MBA from Harvard Business School.