 This is Think Tech Hawaii, Community Matters here. Hey Aloha and welcome back to the Think Tech Hawaii studios. Andrew Lanning here, the security guy. We're going to be having Brian Tuscan join us today for another episode of Security Matters Hawaii. Brian is the Chief Security Officer for Microsoft. Kind of newly appointed. He's been in there since Q4. And we are remote today. We had a little bit of a technical glitch there with our audio before we got started. I'm sorry, we will give you the full episode today so please stay with us. Hey Brian, Aloha, thanks for joining us today. Aloha Andrew, thanks for having me on. Right on man, sorry we're starting to get started a little bit late, I know you're a busy guy. You know what, you've done always kept Hawaii in your heart and came back and given a lot of presentations over the years to different groups here and I appreciate that. So thanks again for joining us here today. For the audience that hasn't been involved with some of them, could you go ahead and just give them, you know, as much as you want to share about sort of your background and how it led to the office that you hold today. Sure. So I'm a local boy. I grew up in Hawaii, mainly on the windward side, Kailua, Kaneohe, Omanalo. My early start to my career was in law enforcement. So I was with the Honolulu Police Department. I got in when I was 23. I loved the job. It was one of the most fulfilling opportunities I had from a career perspective and I had a great time. Put in four and a half years and I had an opportunity to lateral over to the Great Pacific Northwest just outside of Seattle. A small city called Redmond that Redmond Washington so I was working for the Redmond Police Department. They had this small computer company in their backyard called Microsoft. I was somewhat technical in my top days and working for Redmond Police. They were very progressive. Our chief Steve Harris was progressive. We always had the latest greatest technology and tools. So as a detective for the city of Redmond, I was the one always called to do the case investigations where Microsoft was a victim of some sort of crime. And I got to know a lot of people here and opportunity popped up. 18 years ago and I've been here ever since the trajectory for my career path, leaving law enforcement coming to the private sector. The transition was pretty smooth because I was ready to take on a big challenge. I love the corporation, love Microsoft. I saw they were doing a lot of amazing things. I was always into technology and innovation and to do that in a security perspective. It was like a dream job. So over the 18 years, I held a lot of roles and responsibilities all in physical security. So I just want to note that the audience out there as the CSO, it's all physical security. We have Brett Arsenal, who's the corporate vice president, chief information security officer. He heads up the whole cyber and network security. So I just wanted to say what I'm talking about is specific to the physical side. So from investigations, which was my core background and experience, moved my way up, had the operations and then I pulled in a technology system integration and consulting type of work. I've been doing that for years and October 1st, I was given the helm to run the organization as the chief security officer and I'm just having a blast. That's awesome. I know Mike still having a blast out there too. Mike Howard, your predecessor, he still does a lot of promoting leadership type stuff out there. So I'll still follow him. I'm glad to see him still active. It looks like he's having fun. You're having fun. So for someone like me with a much smaller view of the world, try to give our audience a sense of what you're looking at to have so much fun. Because when I think of global enterprise, I don't know if everyone like myself is boggled by the source of numbers of places and people that you take responsibility for on a day to day basis. Well, sure. The footprint or the scale of our corporation is humongous. So we operate in 190 countries. Wow. And we have about 135,000 full-time employees. If you throw contractors in there, it's another 90 plus thousand. And operating in almost every country on the planet, it creates some challenges. But if you look at deploying a security program from the operations, the investigations, systems, tools, you have to look at it from an enterprise mindset, meaning will it work across the enterprise? And I'll just plug Microsoft's network. I mean, I work for Microsoft, but everything is built on our platform from our OS to the cloud. So all the tools and technologies, third-party tools, it all sits and integrates and stitches well within the platform. So when you say enterprise, whatever we deploy here in Redmond, it will work at Beijing or we're working at Kuwait. It will work in all of our locations from whether it's access control, digital video, software solutions. It has to scale. So if you're running a smaller operation, no matter how small, you just got to ensure what you have is it scalable and because a portfolio can grow. I've had many discussions with local security professionals in Hawaii, always had a good experience working with the professionals there. They know what they're doing. It's just if you're getting into the industry, always look at it. I'm going to spend money on hardware and infrastructure. It's very expensive. Ensure that it's scalable. Ensure that it's been around for a while. Ensure that they have 247 support because you can go to these events that have security technology and the usual suspects. And you can have companies that were there one year and the next year they're gone. So really understand the partners that you bring in to help you and that's really key, finding strategic partners to help you deploy. Yeah. I know that you've, you know, we've had many discussions over the years where you've been able to sample a lot of different types of tools in an environment and seeing what scales and what doesn't, what will work for particular applications and what won't. Do you still get hands down on some of that stuff? I know you're, you know, you probably got some different roles today. So how are you, I guess, overseeing that stuff that you were so passionate about all those years? You have a team, a broader team? How's that working for you these days, I guess, would be the question? Yeah, that's a great question. And actually, from the pre-meetaking over, the way we've managed security was very traditional in the sense where not only the security group, the physical security group would have an operational team, but there was also technology component to that. And I owned that technology component for years where we had system integration, security consulting, technology development, incubation, innovation, all that stuff. But as many of the security professionals on the call know today, you can, you may lose focus on what your core life safety objectives are if you're busy out tinkering with technology. So the reorganization, the group that I'm in, it's a group combined with Microsoft's real estate and facilities team. So the combined is now called real estate and security. My boss, who heads up all of real estate and securities, Michael Ford, and his vision is security operations is its own functioning pillar. So that would include field-side security, regional security management, virtual operations centers, risk and resiliency. Then you have the investigative part, we have intelligence, threat management, background screening, core investigations, then executive protection, protective intelligence. All of the core services that you would find in many big corporations, and we peeled out all of the technology piece. So if you look at the technology as an overarching umbrella, you have systems, integration, consulting, technology. So that went to a shared service organization, and then the future-looking aspects moved to a peer organization of mine called the Center of Innovation. So the Center of Innovation is run by Mike Foynes. You may know Mike, he's a senior director, heads the Center of Innovation. His job is purely focused on where is the future, not only for security, but for real estate and environments. And so where we headed, if you think of a lot of organizations, sometimes securities within the real estate function, a lot of times it's separate. The reason why it makes so much sense to combine the efforts is in the technology space. So when you look at an environment, whether it's an IoT device that's connected to an HVAC or low voltage connector to something that's on a facility, and there's a security IoT device. Why don't you just combine that strategy together? So you have Center of Innovation that looks at the future of where we're going to head. And then you have a shared services peer organization group. So you know Mike Faddis who used to work for me in the systems group. He's in the shared services group. He ensures that we have the right technology in place so my operators can focus on operations and not tinkering around with technology. And now, if you're a geek or a nerd like me that loves technology, that doesn't mean I'm out of the loop in innovation. My team, they can focus on their core, which is life safety, high value asset protection, and they can come up with the requirements. The Center of Innovation will look at the requirements and say, okay, the industry says this is where we're headed, such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, robotics. So if you go out there today, meaning the Center of Innovation, program project managers, technologists, can find us the best technology, know that it works in our environment, and then they can give us areas so we can pilot, we can test something out, and it will always lead whatever we do to an enterprise release so we can do it anywhere in the world in our portfolio. That's amazing. So as a technical geek, I think I'd be submitting 50 requests a day. How do you sort of prioritize, as it come from your team, like, hey, here's what we really need to do, and you'll kind of send that technology request in? So that's a great question. The huge influx of really smart people working in the security industry, they have all kinds of ideas. If you count the countless environments where you have conferences and events and speakers, and you go out and you spread your team out, and they'll all come back, like you said, with 50 ideas. I saw this, I saw that. So how we tackled that, there was a group that I owned that moved over to the Center of Innovation, and we called it Strategic Project Management Office, the PMO. We brought in a strategic consultant Accenture to come in, and what they were able to do was build a PMO model. So we're not bringing on any new technology until it's completely vetted by a review process to ensure whatever we're bringing into the table. First, it sits on our platform. It's scalable and extensible on our cloud. We do a deep dive on the company. We do research and review and assessments on current clients that they have. If it's a new technology, we'll pilot it, but we'll ensure that the company is going to be around for a while if it's that innovative. And you have to go through this huge vetting process, but you won't waste a lot of money by deploying something and finding out it doesn't work. So that's, we came up with a really cool PMO model, and it works beautifully. And now that's rolled out, not just only for security, but all for real estate systems integration work. We're trying to roll that out for the environment. That's awesome. We're going to talk about that changing environment because I know there's a little minor construction project up there. First, we're going to take a break for about one minute, pay a couple of bills, and we'll be right back with Brian Tusken. This is Think Tech Hawaii, raising public awareness. Hello, hi, and mabuhay. My name is Amy Ortega Anderson, inviting you to join us every Tuesday here on Pinoy Power Hawaii. With Think Tech Hawaii, we come to your home at 12 noon every Tuesday. We invite you to listen, watch, for our mission of empowerment. We aim to enrich, enlighten, educate, entertain, and we hope to empower. Again, maraming, salamat po, mabuhay, and aloha. Hey, aloha, and welcome back to Security Matters Hawaii. We're talking with Microsoft's new CSO, Brian Tusken. Brian's been up there about 18 years, and he was just kind of taking us through the way that they're structured to deliver the services that they deliver out of his department today. And you talked a little bit about real estate, and I've definitely seen some presentations, Brian, on the, I think there's a new campus. I don't know if it's a program or a redesign, but take us a little bit through what you guys expect to see out of the new campus that I guess is under construction currently, and maybe set me wrong if I'm not too sure where that program's at currently. Yes, so Microsoft is building a brand new campus. You could just type it to YouTube, Microsoft's new campus. You can see a very short video that will go through what it will look like. We're using existing campus land. We just had a demolition of building two, one of the original buildings. Wow. And when they raise all of those buildings, it's going to be replaced with, I believe, 18 brand new buildings. There's going to be a sound transit train that will connect from Seattle and then other nearby cities, which will allow, I would say people that want to live the big city feel an environment, but they can come work in Redmond, catch the train and drop you right off in the campus. We have a shuttle system, and they can get around. You don't even need a car and head back to Seattle or live up north or south of Santa Coma or every area. And the project will take, I believe, three to five years. You'll have some of the buildings done in three years. It's a multi-billion dollar project, and you can just Google it on Bing and you'll see all the details. Google it on Bing. So as the guy in charge of the spaces and the bodies that are sort of going to be occupying that space, it seemed pretty open to me, the plan that I saw, the platform. What's your vision for sort of securing those folks in that open environment? It seemed like you'll have maybe not necessarily a door that everyone had to walk through to enter the campus, for example. They climbed off the train, they're there, and they may be an employee, maybe not. Where will you start to put your controls in place to sort of keep that community of workforce safe and secure from the general public? Or is there a feeling of just opening it up? You know how Hawaii is. Everything's really open out here on the campuses here. So what's your sort of vision for putting that together? Well, the vision ultimately for the real estate and security team is to create the most connected, accessible, sustainable and secure environment. You take those four beacons of the large star, and then how do you design a modern campus so it's not just the same old, same old. And that's where my point is being the center of innovation are working to look at areas that will make it accessible, secure, but in a different way. We would love to get rid of badges. Yeah. The old school where you have a badge using some sort of biometric two factor authentication we call frictionless environments and access using smart cameras, using the cloud that can detect who you are. People know you use an iPhone it's facial recognition and open it up for you so you don't even need a password. Same with Windows Hello, Windows Hello will let you access your your computer, just by your face. So imagine that being used in a camera if you come up on a door. They see your face, it will allow you in if it sees somebody behind you they don't recognize you the door won't open. If you have a visitor that comes in through an app you can authenticate through identity management some biometric that you have on there and and there there are companies working on identity management using blockchain so you can have a trusted identity. And just imagine you come visit us. Andrew Landings could come in a visit he has the app he signs in some sort of biometric authenticates who you are you walk into the lobby. The lobby will already recognize who you are I get a text that you're in the lobby, it may even just say through a wayfinder on your phone or some sort of wearable. Hey, just go to the store, it will open. And it will show you where to go. So wow, we just what where we think the future is headed where we're ready to improve for concepts for what I'm talking about. And we just envision that the future is going to look this way. And then, of course, you know, you and you and I are longer in the tooth. We understand how old school technology is but look, look at all the millennials and the digital natives that are coming up. They grew up with technology, and they have a different expectation. The gig economy, the people that just don't really need an office. So we have to prepare for this new gig economy and the way of doing different work differently. And how do you have a good employee experience with connected accessible sustainable and secure. Wow, is will the idea be that the the new campus development that the technology that you build there you will scale to the other facilities out across the globe as well. So that you'll you know as you implement maybe like frictionless access control on campus you'll be able to roll that to perhaps the stores or to the other facilities that you have where you have people physically on site on on a on a smaller campus perhaps but in a facility. Absolutely, we're looking at our campus and a brand new campus is being built in Herzlia, Israel, Singapore, China. So so we have the vision to roll it out beyond just red men and eventually rolling out globally. Now of course you have to understand their countries that have higher privacy EU where there's certain things you may not be able to use such as facial recognition but there are other forms of biometrics that will allow you to do the same thing. And it's a big project. Yeah, and we work with me the guinea pigs tested it out. And we're going to share our findings with the industry. We, I think the legacy that I want to have here for the many years I hope to stay as a steward of this position as a CSO would be to be innovative using technology to help make the world a safer place. And in easier access because right now the industry every security professional out there knows it. It's been the same old same old for the last 50 years. Yeah. Yeah, I think that we've all struggled also with that that whole problem of it's really difficult to move the needle and I would I think there's a bit of been a bit of vision lacking I think there's been a bit of technology lacking. But I also think that the manufacturers haven't really done their job to push things forward. Maybe, you know, I don't have visibility on all the investment capital they sunk into the things that we purchase and use and maybe they need 50 years to get paid back. It doesn't seem like it should take that long to me. What what I guess let me ask you this what how many opportunities come your folks way to sort of be that test bed that are that are valid you know I mean I'm sure you get a thousand requests but how many of them in your estimation filter their way up and say hey these these 10 out of a thousand are really worth looking at and we can afford to spend the time maybe doing some beta testing or whatever. That's a great question and I spent a lot of time money with the one offs and we were just I wouldn't say spinning our wheels but it's really hard. So he developed strategic partnerships with with big corporations. One of one of the companies that we have a strategic partnership with is with Johnson Controls. Oh awesome. Johnson Controls has R&D Group in Israel and Israel they're they're the startup nation is a book called startup nation and they just know how to start up these companies. So Johnson Control will do all the vetting of 800 some odd new companies that come out and they'll boil it down to top 10 and then they'll share it with us because it's already bedded it's already tested and then we can come in and say okay this is this is what we'd like to see. So it's having strategic partners like Johnson Control but also a secure toss now secure toss. A lot of people especially in Hawaii they probably just look at them as they're they're the man guarding at the airport and physical security man guarding right just guarding. They're very innovative company. I had the pleasure of going to Malmö Sweden to visit their CEO and executives and they have an innovation center there which blew me away. Wow. In the work that they're doing in Western Europe Northern Europe where they stitch technology into guarding services that is completely blows the change of the paradigm on physical security guarding. So give me an example if you have a guard showing up for a glass breakage they show up somebody threw a brick through it. Well since the guards there they also have experience in to getting a glass repair to come in or they know how to do low voltage wire repair or what Not I mean it's more than just a security guard service and save money you can replace in Europe it's really really different how they use private security they augment the police department there. So I'm not sure if the US is ready for that but they will augment the police department where cops will even show up. So strategic partners with the big companies secured us Johnson control. That's how you can. I would say that a lot of technology so you're not just out spinning your wheels wasting your time and you can have a scalable solution for for our industry. Awesome Brian but we've got a couple of minutes why don't you give us maybe a closing statement there from you know you've taken over. What do you think the future holds what's the best advice you can give for. The enterprises maybe are the groups they're going to serve under you. What's the best way that they can understand what what the future is from from your vision and the way that they can participate in it and not be those those guys that are still you know deploying the stuff that's 50 years old and is on the way out the door. Well I would say you have to have a growth mindset. Meaning you have to be open to do ideas. Looking at doing things differently. Ask but verify trust with verify also don't just have someone tell you OK this thing is going to change how you do business while show me. I always ask new suppliers or solution providers when they pitch something to me. I always ask who's your biggest enterprise customer like who is about as big as us and then give me their name because I want to talk to them. I might try team down to look at it and vet it. And I'm all for innovation. If somebody's really new and starting off if they don't they want me to be the first client. It's really going to be hard to to get out of the gate on that. But get it back to the growth mindset. Trying to change the industry for the better and sharing. We're probably one of the most transparent companies of sharing because a lot of people are our customers. So our customers make they own or less. They sit in our cloud. They're using our products. So anyone that is a customer of ours you're a friend of ours that if you want to see how we're doing stuff. Just give. Reach out to me. I'm on LinkedIn. I get back when people ping me. I might not directly call you back but I might have somebody from my team. So just look look me up. Brian Tusken on LinkedIn and let's connect. Yeah I think the sharing is so important. And there's a lot of folks I think that don't have that mindset. And I think sharing is is really important for growth especially in the security space because we all have people we love and care about. And I for one really appreciate what Microsoft's done over the years. I've been been paying attention as you know. But give Brian a shout. Give Microsoft a shout. You are you are a part of the ecosystem. And we'd like you to participate because security matters. Thank you.