After more than ten years of working at KubeNet, the time has come for Mike Hughes to move on. We are very sorry to see him go, but we are proud of how much he has developed in that time, and we are pleased that he has found his niche in cyber security.
We had a chat with Mike about his time with us and found out more about his new role in the cyber security.
Can you talk a bit about your journey at KubeNet?
I first joined as a Technical Specialist over ten years ago. I later became a Support Desk Team Leader – there has been a great amount of variety in this role, mainly in telecoms and networking and then into cyber security.
KubeNet have sponsored me on an ongoing basis with training and currently I’m undertaking a Open University course in Cyber Security – I am now in my third year. This in addition to my CEH (Certified and Ethical Hacking) and Cisco CCNA CyberOps, which has allowed me to take a deeper dive into my new specialised cyber security role.
What do you enjoy about cyber security?
The challenge of learning something that can help protect businesses and offer that extra bit of wisdom for a partner. What you learn is that people think cyber security is this magical term and they don’t really understand it – I like helping people to understand the responsibility they have to protect their businesses from cyber threats.
I enjoy cyber security analysis & forensics, figuring out the best ways to give businesses the best and up to date advice.
Businesses get bamboozled by all the Cyber Security buzz words. It becomes difficult for a business to make a solid decision when they have all that to fight through. KubeNet can act as the security consultant that simplifies that process and helps them to make to a more informed decision. They also manage the implementation and ongoing monitoring of the service.
Have you noticed businesses enquiring about cyber security more since working from home?
People were frantic at the beginning, getting everyone set up at home. Next they asked questions like: is my cyber security up to date? KubeNet implemented a few solutions to help businesses identify what they needed through vulnerability scanning.
Most didn’t have the necessary tools to protect them from threats and this left staff wide open to vulnerabilities. Employees were using personal devices for work, with no protections in place.
Businesses need to be asking themselves questions like: Are people downloading sensitive documents to a personal computer? Has our IT been as diligent as they can be? Have we put the necessary budget aside to protect us from these threats?
I have seen some cases where business have come to us after losing three figure sums due to ransomware and phishing attacks and detail phone system fraud. There is no 100% fool proof silver bullet but KubeNet security solutions can make you a lot more secure and the fact its fully managed and monitored gives Kube’s customers peace of mind.
What is next for your career?
I am joining the cyber security team for a great public sector organisation. The only reason why I managed to secure this new role is down to Kube and that is for two reasons. One – the experience of working with a fast-paced telecommunications provider and the technology I’ve been able to get to know inside out. Secondly, the introduction to cyber security and the experience of working with cyber security.
What will you miss most about KubeNet?
Kube has been home for eleven years. There is a real sense of family working at Kube.
If you work hard and do your absolute best, then you will be rewarded. That has been the reality from day one. You build up your reputation, work hard and develop.
I have worked with Julie and Fraser, and the rest of the team, for a long time. Kube has been a part of me for a long time and leaving has been a difficult decision – however they are delighted at the way the company has focused itself on cyber security services to the market, and they wish me well in the next stage in my career which provides a different working and learning environment.
In the penultimate episode of Line of Duty, Steve Arnott gave a shout out to the force’s cyber security team. Do you think you could uncover the LOD threats in Season 6?
Well, Fraser (KubeNet Director) hopes that I will put my cyber analysis training to good use and finally tell everyone the true identity of ‘H’ – so watch this space!
