On the Road Again with Paul Cronin

As I boarded my flight today I sat in my seat and reflected. I could never say anything more impactful, heartfelt or factual then what has been covered, shared and felt to date.

I still vividly remember the loud voices and cries of disbelief from our staff in our managed service support center. Staff came running from other parts of the building only to see the TV screens that we used for monitoring news and weather to understand the factors that might be impacting our managed client networks showing the towers being hit. We saw the pictures on the TV’s and then the monitors that we used for managing our client’s network went red as they became instantly non-accessible from the impact. All of our New York clients offices and contacts were unreachable. We in many ways were frozen and felt helpless like the millions that witnessed it. Our staff all gathered to support each other and try to comprehend what we were witnessing, but nothing made sense. I feel on that day we became closer than we had ever been as company and we know the nation did the same.

One important lesson for us as  IT provider that we can gleam from this catastrophic event of 911  is that we will always be under attack and we must be on guard for the predictable and unrecognizable threats. With the current rate of adoption in technologies and advancements in emerging technologies like IOT and AI the opportunity for a cyberattack attach from foreign state actors has never been greater. Recent cyberattacks on water distribution systems, public transportation, utilities, financial institutions and businesses of all sizes is evidence that there is a major focus on disrupting the world we call home. The threats come in ways that we have never seen before. Our roles as stewards of our Client’s IT environment requires us to educate them, prepare them and protect them from all types of enemies and forms of attacks. This is why we can’t sleep and why our Clients depend on us to protect them. -Paul Cronin CEO of Apogee IT Services