Company
vSEC applies decades of security experience to create, assess and improve security programs for large, medium and small organizations. We provide guidance to boards, senior executives and security officers, using our business and security knowledge to help them identify and better manage their organization’s security priorities.
Who We Are
Michael has over 20 years experience in the information and cyber security field and has helped large, medium and small organizations implement security programs. He is a former Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), was Information Security Officer for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and was Information Security Director for the Americas for UBS. He is an active member of InfraGard, the High Tech Crime Consortium and the Chicago Electronic Crimes Taskforce. He is a founding member of the Midwest CISO organization and an Advisory Board Member of the Digital Privacy Alliance.
Mike has technical certifications including CISSP, C|CISO, ITIL, IAM and CISA, and has experience working with ISO 27000, PCI, FISMA, SOX, HIPAA and NIST security frameworks. Mike is a frequent speaker at conferences, and is an Adjunct Professor at DePaul University where he teaches Systems Auditing and Information Security.
John Falck, vSEC Founding Partner
John has 20+ years experience as a business and technology executive, ranging from multi-national financial / technology firms including UBS and CME to start-ups such as secure messaging company Wickr. He has worked as an independent business consultant helping clients develop and execute business and technology strategies. John is a speaker at conferences, and co-authored “Information and Cyber Security for the Futures Industry” (2017) and “How to Hedge Against Cyber Security Risks” (2018).
VSO profiles
vSEC works with multiple security experts to provide client services. These affiliated VSOs are current and former CISOs, technology executives and other security and security policy specialists. VSO certifications include CISM, CRISC, CGEIT, CISA, GIAC and IAPP – and that is from just one person. These VSOs are available for long-term Virtual CISO advisory relationships for vSEC customers, and share their technical and professional expertise with others on the vSEC team.
vSEC has established relationships with multiple specialized security services providers, both individuals (as described above) and companies, including those which provide expert level penetration testing, security awareness training, and security operations tools and services.
For More Information & Query make a Call
January 2020. vSEC provided a briefing profile distributed by NIBA to all US futures markets participants regarding the CFTC’s request for information about industry issues with the Cloud Hopper security breach of cloud providers.
Mike Phillips’ presentation at the MarketsWiki Education Series. Mike talks about his career, the information security industry, and how to protect yourself.
Information and Cyber Security for the Futures Industry – A Perspective by VSEC, LLC, was written at the suggestion of John Lothian, who included a link to it in his daily newsletter and website http://www.johnlothiannews.com. (If you are not familiar with it, Lothian is the single best source for news and insights about the global derivatives business.)
The paper starts with a view of information and cyber security regulations for the futures industry, then gives a perspective on general issues for executives and board members managing information and cyber security programs. These topics, which should be helpful to executives in any field, describing Risk Assessments, Penetration Tests, Training Programs and Vendor Reviews, as well as an explanation of the role of virtual Chief Information Security Officers.
Our goal is to teach executives how to ask the right questions and to provide the right oversight to implement effective security programs, which starts with helping them understand the key actions and decisions a program requires. We hope you find the paper informative. There is a link to the paper at the bottom of the Lothian news post, or a direct link here:
Stout Consulting, Spring-Summer 2018 Journal,
vSEC article
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Information and Cyber Security for the Futures Industry A Perspective by VSEC, LLC
October 12, 2017
Business and regulatory requirements for information and cyber security are changing rapidly.
In the futures industry, FCMs, prop traders, brokers, CTAs, CPOs and certain vendors may be
impacted by NFA, CFTC and SEC regulations, international, US and state laws, and accepted
‘best practice’ security measures. The topic is complicated, important and urgent. At VSEC,
LLC our experience is that most firms do not have the information and cybersecurity protections
appropriate for their business,
