| | June - 2020ENTERPRISE SECURITY8rior to becoming a CISO, I served in the California National Guard and U.S. Army as an Information Assurance professional and Brigade Signal Officer. The lessons and experiences that shaped my career were not learned through technical training or through my various technical management roles. Instead the lessons I learned from leading missions in Afghanistan and the basic combat arms knowledge imparted to me when I was a newly minted Lieutenant have been far more impactful on my career as a successful cybersecurity professional. When I attended Officer Candidate School, I had to learn and understand an important acronym, OAKOC, which stands for Observation and Fields of Fire, Avenues of Approach, Key and Decisive Terrain, Obstacles, and Cover and Concealment. Battles are won or lost over a commander's understanding of these principles. One such example is the story of an English King and his stunning military victory over a larger and better prepared enemy. In the fall of 1415, an English army under the Command of Henry V was attempting to withdraw from France having suffered a loss of half of its 11,000 men to disease and battle injuries incurred while laying siege to Harfleur in Normandy. On the march Northeast to rendezvous with his fleet, Henry's Army was blocked by a mass of 20,000 French Soldiers at Agincourt. His army of archers, men-at-arms and knights were exhausted and greatly outnumbered, and Henry could not take his army back because more French forces would be waiting to his rear. Henry knew his army would not make its way to the rendezvous.After making an assessment of the enemy and his own forces, he made an observation of the local terrain, then maneuvered his archers into defensive positions along the high ground overlooking the area. Determining his men were ready, Henry engaged the enemy. When the French army advanced they were constrained by the terrain and English defensive positions making it easy for Henry's archers to act with devastating impact. The French suffered a loss of half of their forces while the English only lost 400 men. It was Henry's understanding of the terrain, the adversary, and his army that won the day. How does a battle that took place over 500 years ago relate to today's Cybersecurity strategies? Simply put, Cyberspace is a modern battlefield and the adversary is leveraging every possible angle to exploit access to an organization's systems and data. Like Henry V, a CISO PBattlefield Principles for Cybersecurity LeadersBy Jake Margolis, CISO, Metropolitan Water District of Southern CaliforniaIn My Opinion
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