Published on: October 20, 2024
SafetyDetectives recently had the pleasure of interviewing Christophe Foulon, Founder and Coach at CPF Coaching. With a career that began in IT helpdesk support, Christophe discovered early on his passion for guiding individuals and businesses toward safe and efficient technology use. Over the years, he transitioned into cybersecurity, where he recognized the need for strategic mentorship, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses. This realization led to the creation of CPF Coaching, which provides Fractional Executive Advisory Services (vCISO) to help businesses develop strong security strategies and mature their programs.
Can you share a bit about your background and how CPF Coaching came to be?
I started my career as an IT Helpdesk analyst and quickly found that I liked helping people and businesses do things safely and efficiently using technology. Security was an integral part of all of the roles and responsibilities, and eventually, I worked my way into cybersecurity and got my first security role. I found that there were not many defined routes into cybersecurity, and people with a variety of different skills and competencies that are transferable from other industries could use them in security with the right mindset.
Now, CPF Coaching is focused on providing Fractional Executive Advisory Services (vCISO) for small and medium-sized businesses through small enterprises. Many of these have technical staff in place but need strategic advisory to drive security strategy and maturity in their program.
What inspired you to focus on coaching and mentoring in the cybersecurity industry?
Throughout my career, many people have come to me for career growth and advice. When I got my first security role, I worked with Renee Small, a recruiter, to form the Breaking into Cybersecurity Podcast. After recording for a couple of years, I found that many paths had similar approaches and techniques, which led me to write books on the topic. This also led to helping to coach others and supporting the Whole Cyber Human Initiative 501.3c, which is focused on helping veterans and others transition into cybersecurity.
What do you find are the most common challenges your clients face when starting out in cybersecurity?
Awareness is at the root of many challenges in business and cybersecurity. Understanding what you need to do to manage the various risks in and around your business risk profile, like regulatory requirements and protecting your information, processes, and services, is at the core of generating revenue for the business.
After they become aware of the risks, it helps them make risk-based decisions on the things they can mitigate and that are economically or technically feasible for the organization.
What are the key skills you believe aspiring cybersecurity professionals should focus on in today’s landscape?
The landscape is continuously evolving, which means that we, as professionals, must always keep up with those changes. It is not practical to master everything, but having a fundamental understanding of what it does and how it interacts with business processes is always helpful. Acknowledging that you might not know everything leaves room to learn, network with others who might have that niche specialty, and collaborate with others, whether technical or non-technical, to come up with solutions.
What emerging trends or technologies in cybersecurity should professionals be aware of and preparing for?
While there is a lot of hype around AI technologies, you need to fundamentally understand what inputs, processing, and outputs you would expect from AI before you can start using it fully. That being said, Something-As-A-Service and the use of third-party vendors or cloud service providers to outsource solutions become the native option for many new businesses. Professional understanding of the shared responsibility model and ensuring they understand how to protect their data adequately and where it lives.
What makes CPF Coaching unique compared to other career coaching services in cybersecurity?
While coaching is in the name, CPF Coaching is focused on enabling businesses to use technology safely and minimize risk in the process. In essence, I coach businesses, technology, and other leaders on using technology safely to achieve their business functions.