AI-Driven Cyber Threats to Retail & Brand Global Supply Chains & Digital Assets
About the Event
Optimal's David Schick and Jonathan Feeney will host a virtual meeting for clients with John Watters, Chairman & CEO of iCounter.
In the last 18 months notable attacks have occurred at Coca-Cola / Fairlife, Target, Kering, Harrods, The North Face, LVMH, Under Armour, United Natural Foods, Chanel, and dozens more.
When cyber-attacks / data breaches occur, we see (1) topline costs (customers lose confidence), (2) actual costs associated with the fix, and (3) time and competitive costs of the fix and winning customers and vendors back.
We note exponential growth in the cyber risks to supply chain due to AI enabled adversaries. In our latest Optimal Thought Leaders meeting, we will discuss the evolution of these risks over the last decade, what the next 5 years will look like, what managements must be doing to deal with the asymmetry, and how investors should think about best and worst positioned companies.
As retail becomes increasingly dependent on payment providers, logistics partners, SaaS platforms, suppliers, and e-commerce technologies, attackers are exploiting the entire ecosystem as one interconnected attack surface. With 48% of breaches involving third parties and incidents capable of disrupting operations for weeks, traditional questionnaires and periodic risk assessments are no longer enough.
About John Watters
John is the Chairman and CEO of iCOUNTER, pioneering the creation of the rapidly emerging cyber risk intelligence industry. Previously, John served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Mandiant, where after FireEye’s acquisition of iSIGHT Partners in 2016, Watters led iSIGHT Partners’ merger with Mandiant (previously acquired by FireEye), eventual divestiture of FireEye, and subsequent acquisition by Google in 2022.
He founded and led iSIGHT Partners as Chairman and CEO, growing it into a global cyber intelligence leader before its acquisition by FireEye. Before iSIGHT, John acquired and led iDEFENSE, one of the earliest cyber intelligence firms, playing a formative role in the development of the modern cyber intelligence and zero-day discovery market until its acquisition by Verisign in 2005. Prior to joining the cybersecurity industry, John held a variety of leadership roles in the investment industry as Chairman and CEO Dorset Capital Corporation, Founder/CEO of EFO Holdings, and Vice President at Bankers Trust.
In addition to his operating role at iCOUNTER, John is Executive Chairman of Apollo Information Systems and an active board member and venture partner with leading cybersecurity investment firms. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Santa Clara University.
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