When asked about my job at - say - at a birthday party, or other social event and I tell them, people pause for a few seconds, then, usually with a puzzled expression ask, but what exactly does a Virtual Security Officer do? . Often, people confuse my role with that of a physical' security officer who might be responsible for securing access to buildings and other sites. My job is quite different; and although more people are now aware of it, I thought I'd explain what I do in a little more detail and make the importance of it clearer.
Information Security Information security (or cybersecurity) is the security of information, basically all virtual information or data, stored on premises, on devices such as laptops, phones, iPads, connected devices, and in the cloud. This can be all sorts of information, from personal details of your employees, log in details to your bank account, customer details recorded by a customer service employee, sensitive information about a new development, all the way to, government secrets.
When this information is being created and stored in an environment where its security is not considered, this can have serious consequences. Personal information can be leaked and fall into the hands of people with bad intentions; leading to data breaches and abuse of personal information and payment information. Not forgetting the implications for organisations, for instance, when their systems are taken hostage in return for a high ransom. Occasionally, the hacker leaks (distributes) information to the public, pressuring organisations into paying the ransom. In this scenario, I refer to the hacker as the person that has arranged access to data, usually by breaking into the system without consent, and is requesting ransom to return access to the system owners.
A hacker (sometimes known as a pen tester, short for penetration tester), is not always a bad guy . To give you a better understanding, I will explain the difference between the white hat' hackers and black hat' hackers.
White hat hackers work together with organisations to test their security provisions, to fix any issues and improve their overall defences. These are otherwise known as ethical hackers - as they clearly work on the right side of the law. Black hat hackers, conversely, exploit weaknesses in systems to gain access to data and systems for various reasons, such as financial gain, political influence, revenge and so on definitely not ethical in any way!
Being the victim of an information security incident can lead to long term reputational damage for organisations. In addition, it can be costly restoring the business operations - if you haven't been taking proper care of your information security and get caught, you're probably going to pay a large fine for infringing privacy laws such as GDPR.
Increasing number of organisations aim to protect their crown jewels Luckily, organisations are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of their organisation's information security posture. Organisations can protect their information security assets in various ways:
Having a strong firewall and anti-virus protection
Operating with zero trust and providing access only to people that should have access (on a need-to-know basis) by regulating the identity and access management
Complete and timely patch-management
Security information and event management (SIEM)
Regularly (pen) testing the security of the web application and infrastructure security
Creating a human firewall through awareness programs for employees
The starting point, in my opinion, is good Governance, Risk and Compliance, and developing a plan for the organisation's information security throughout.
I can imagine that the terminology can be confusing, but in summary and essence, it is about defining your starting point drafting a plan for the information security of your organisation, executing it, testing it, adjusting where necessary based on the tests, and monitoring whether the implemented information security activities are executed in alignment with your plan (governance). However, it is utmost important that the laws and regulations are considered and are borne by the organisation. This is where compliance comes in play, and where internal and external auditors come to the rescue - to check if your organisation is cohering with applicable standards and regulations and whether you are in control of your organisation.
What the Virtual Security Officer can mean to your organisation?
Now that you have an idea about information security and what organisations can do to improve their security posture, you're probably curious what role a Virtual Security Officer has in the process.
The Virtual Security Officer views the information security organisation from a people, process and technology perspective and aims to ensure the availability, integrity and confidentiality of information and systems. The Virtual Security Officer aims to improve the organisation's security maturity, and thereby advises and provides guidance to the management and/or board regarding information security. As a result, processes will be clearer and better structured, documentation will be complete and up to date, sufficient thoughts are put into the handling of incidents and privacy breaches; and everything will be recorded in a governance that is reviewed regularly.
The Virtual Security Officer will be aware of internal and external risks and handles these according to the best risk management strategy for your organisation. The rapidly changing information security landscape and increasing threats and threat actors, makes organisations more anxious and aware of information security every day not always voluntarily, sometimes as the result of a (targeted) attack.
Organisations shou
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
When asked about my job at - say - at a birthday party, or other social event and I tell them, people pause for a few seconds, then, usually with a puzzled expression ask, but what exactly does a Virtual Security Officer do? . Often, people confuse my role with that of a physical' security officer who might be responsible for securing access to buildings and other sites. My job is quite different; and although more people are now aware of it, I thought I'd explain what I do in a little more detail and make the importance of it clearer. 
