Lois Wilson – Head of Commercial for Cyber Security

Joining us after 13 years playing an instrumental part in growing a dedicated cyber security business into a multi-million pound operation, Lois’s role as Head of Commercial for Cyber Security sees her spearhead the growth strategy of our next-generation Security Operations Centre (SOC), our 24/7 AI-enabled services and consultancy.

“I’ve had a passion for cyber security before the term was even coined,” says Lois.  

“It’s an industry that constantly throws up fresh challenges, and there is always something new to learn about keeping organisations cyber safe.  

One of the things that attracted me to ITPS was realising the Board saw the potential in creating a purpose built next-gen SOC incorporating all the latest AI and machine learning tools, supported by an expert team of analysts, rather than simply going down the acquisition route.”  

As well as setting the commercial strategy for our cyber security division, Lois’s role involves working with our pre-sales and sales teams, sitting down to help customers understand the threat landscape, and how to strengthen their defences against increasingly sophisticated attack vectors.  

“We work in a highly sensitive arena, clients don’t always want to highlight weak areas or admit to breaches and cyber security incidents, so it’s important that we do the groundwork and build the trust between us,” she says.     

“I get a lot of satisfaction from helping people to understand the threats cyber criminals pose, by advising them on how to bolster their security posture. Our SOC services act as their eyes and ears by continuously monitoring their environment, constantly on high alert to quickly detect a potential breach and stop it in its tracks.”  

How does Lois see the cyber security market developing? 

“Currently there’s a big move towards customers consolidating suppliers and looking for a single partner with multi-disciplinary teams that can give them a single pane of glass across their IT estate, and that’s what we deliver.     

Working with more than one partner muddies the waters when an incident strikes. It’s also time-consuming, when time is the one thing you don’t have. When I started out in cyber security, we could expect to see two to three new threats a week – now it’s around 64 a week. 

While our SOC uses all the latest AI tools to monitor and identify potential threats quickly and efficiently, it still needs human backup in the form of expert analysts, who can verify a decision to shut the system down, for example.  

Our people really are outstanding and being able to offer that combination of automation backed by experts such as our Head of SOC, Sarah Hibbert and her team, is where we sit apart from our competitors.” 

On a personal note, Lois counts herself lucky to work in such a fascinating and fast-moving industry.   

“Cyber criminals are constantly getting smarter and more devious in creating new attack vectors and we’re always aiming to stay one step ahead, we’re essentially transforming the hunters into the hunted, and I love the thrill of it.  

I’ve also enjoyed the move from a huge corporate to a business where I’m in an agile environment where I can really make things happen. I’ll never get bored with that.”