Ed Covert: Reducing Risk Trumps Constant Patching

In this episode we speak with Ed Covert, who is the Head of Cyber Risk Engineering at Bowhead Specialty Underwriters. Ed started in the mid-1990s working for the US military in IT support work, eventually evolving into a cyber role. We get into how he “made the jump” into the cyber vulnerability world by leaving the safety of the federal government, the professional industry that he had always known. 

Other topics discussed:

• How his wealth of experience has prepared him well for his current role
• Importance of asking why your company may need a particular security tool or technology
• Why reducing a risk in the first place is a better strategy than constantly patching previous vulnerabilities
• Where to place cyber vulnerabilities on the list of priorities
• Understanding your data and how that determines what tools you need
• How to match the skill sets of employees and what your company needs, and whether degrees are a must
• Knowing how your business makes money and cybersecurity enables profits
• Where the world of security fixes and patches is headed