Cybersecurity Pioneers: Lessons from Virginia Tech’s CISO

Interview with Virginia Tech CISO Randy Marchany exploring his career path, responsibilities, and the university’s security program, including red/blue/purple team activities, recurring threats like phishing and MFA-bypass tactics, and the growing impact of third-party software breaches. He emphasizes communication, business alignment, and practical security operations, highlights qualities he seeks in aspiring practitioners, and outlines priorities to expand awareness and counter attackers leveraging external breach data, while calling out third-party software flaws and weak vendor accountability as a major industry blind spot.