About

Hi, I’m Kevin McLaughlin. Thanks for stopping by.

I’ve spent more than 39 years working in federal law enforcement, corporate IT, and cybersecurity, and I’m a U.S. Army veteran. Early on I worked cyber investigations, SWAT, and counterterrorism. I was an investigator for Mastercard/Visa and a Director at Kennedy Space Center. On the corporate side, I was an IT and senior information security manager at Procter & Gamble, CISO and CTO at the University of Cincinnati, a senior cybersecurity manager at Whirlpool, and Vice President of Global Security, Risk and Compliance and Deputy CISO at Stryker. Along the way I’ve built security programs from scratch, investigated more than 800 cyber cases, and served as incident commander for a global security operations center. I also spent a lot of years teaching as a university adjunct, starting back in 1992.

These days I run Northspur Cybersecurity, my own firm. We provide executive cybersecurity advisory, cyber risk, compliance, and transformation services. We help leaders strengthen their security programs, build effective teams, manage risk, and turn complex cybersecurity challenges into practical, cost-effective business solutions. I care about every corner of this field, but the part I’m most passionate about is the people side of it: culture, keeping good talent, and leadership. Tools and frameworks matter, but it’s people who make a security program work.

That’s a lot of what you’ll find here. I write about leadership, holding on to good people, security operations, and handling risk in a practical way, and I’ve put together a series of short Cybersecurity Leadership videos too.

I’ve also written two books, both published by CRC Press. Cybersecurity Operations and Fusion Centers is about building and running a SOC. Securing Talent: Building and Retaining High-Performance Cybersecurity Teams is about building teams that good people want to stay on.

For those who like the details, I hold a PhD in Information Assurance, an MS in Computer Science, and a BS in Management of Information Systems. My certifications include CISM, CISSP, CRISC, PMP, ITIL Master, GIAC Security Leadership (GSLC), and C|CISO.

If you’d like to know more about the books, take a look at my Books page. You can also find me on LinkedIn, and if you’d like to talk, drop me a note through my Contact page. I’m always glad to hear from folks.