ISJ Influencer 2022: Brian Tuskan, Chief Security Officer, Sr. Director, Microsoft

Physical security has reached an inflection point where its dependency on the cloud and strong integration with information technology and cybersecurity teams is critical.

Gone are the days when the physical security team could manage their own technology hardware, software and infrastructure. As the complex technology landscape continues to evolve, we, as physical security leaders, need to focus on core security operations and services. 

At Microsoft, the Global Physical Security Team relies heavily on strategic partnerships with IT engineering and software solution development teams. As physical security subject matter experts, we provide precise requirements for our needs and let the technology gurus deliver the solutions. 

We have spent several years identifying technology requirements and services, then partnered with the Microsoft Digital Security team to build and host all our information in a secure data lake. Our physical security team is now empowered with the following data-driven solutions:

Security Intelligence Platform (SIP): 

• A centralised location where data can be stored, aggregated and enriched. Business intelligence, geospatial analytics and other platforms connect to a single source of truth and can provide actionable insights for data-driven operations
• Empowering our organisation with content management, simplified UIs, workflow automation, intelligent applications and reporting
• Utilising geospatial analysis to provide context and situational awareness for security-related incidents that impact the enterprise

The cloud data lake which hosts our SIP is a centralised location storing a myriad of internal and external security-related data, from asset management, events data, operations data and open-source data. The value of the central platform ensures:

• Scalability and automation
• Speeds up analysis of data
• Improves data management and data integrity
• Enhances compliance tracking
• Eases governance
• Increases the agility of the organisation

As a result of the data lake and SIP, we now leverage the power of AI and machine learning to review years of security reports, intelligence and open-source information to quickly identify trends and risk profiles. Our security operators and analysts receive near real time data to make more informed critical life-safety decisions. Focusing on physical security operations while leveraging seamless technology solutions will help us do our jobs.

The convergence of logical and physical security teams will continue not as combined organisations but more as a strategic partnership where physical and logical security capabilities are role-specific optimising talent.

Bio

Brian Tuskan has over 30 years of experience in law enforcement and the private security sector. He is the Chief Security Officer, Sr. Director for Global Security Operations in the Microsoft Global Workplace Services Organization, responsible for the physical security of all of Microsoft’s global corporate locations.

Brian spent 12 years in law enforcement with the City of Redmond Police (Washington) and the Honolulu Police Department as a patrol officer, SWAT, ATV officer and detective.