Thought Leaders in Cyber Security: Andrew McLennan, President, North America of Inside Secure (Part 1)

I am still digging into the issue of vastly enhanced exposure to cyber security threats with the advent of Internet of Things. Here we discuss that and other issues.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to yourself as well as Inside Secure.

Andrew McLennan: I currently serve as the President of US for Inside Secure. Inside Secure is a public company headquartered in France. We basically focus very strongly on embedded security and in particular, security elements and software security. My own particular expertise is in the area of software security, which is quite hot in the payments industry and finance in general.

Sramana Mitra: Talk to me a bit about the broader trends in your space and how does what you are doing align with those trends?

Andrew McLennan: In our space of embedded security, that encompasses a variety of different verticals. Probably the two which are hottest in terms of business right now are Internet of Things and payment. We play in both of those spaces in a variety of different ways. If we deal with payment, the trend in payment right now is driven by consumer adoption by some of the OEM pays like ApplePay. There is also the host card bank direct. We play quite strongly in that space by providing security in software, which allows people to make payments. You can probably launch a payment app within 10 weeks.

On the Internet of Things (IoT), we supply a variety of security chips. We also provide hardware IP for devices so that they can take their own devices. We also provide software to IoT companies. Normally, a great example of that would be the car industry right now where they’re building new consumer features. Of course, security is not the primary concern. Their primary concern is driving the market. Sometimes, there are errors made and that’s where we play. We come in as the outside security experts who can help solve those errors across that spectrum from hardware to software.

Sramana Mitra: Your business, however, is providing security for specific chipsets that are going into functions such as payments and Internet of Things?

Andrew McLennan: Yes, Inside Secure does that. It’s not just chips. For example, you can create a payment app and have it certified by Visa and Mastercard. That will have absolutely no hardware security whatsoever. It’ll all be in software.

This segment is part 1 in the series : Thought Leaders in Cyber Security: Andrew McLennan, President, North America of Inside Secure
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