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Cybersecurity leaders at delivery giant
and cruise company Carnival are dealing with a tight economy by consolidating tech vendors and rethinking financial strategies.
After seeing his budget double in the past five years, FedEx Global Chief Information Officer Gene Sun faces a new reality in which decreased package shipping globally has led to a drop in revenue and layoffs at the company. Cost-cutting measures continue companywide.
“This year, probably, my budget is flat or slightly down. That’s the forecast we’re preparing ourselves for,” he said, speaking at the virtual WSJ Pro Cybersecurity Forum on Wednesday.
Gatha Sadhir, global chief information security officer at cruise company Carnival, speaks at the WSJ Pro Cybersecurity Forum on May 31, 2023.
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THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Gatha Sadhir, global CISO at Carnival, has been managing economic pain for the past few years as inflation and geopolitical risks grew and the Covid-19 pandemic halted the cruise industry. Emergency health rules essentially meant Carnival didn’t operate for 18 months, said Sadhir, also speaking at the forum.
“Budgets overall were severely controlled across the board and cybersecurity was no exception,” she said.
Sun and Sadhir offered tactics to check cybersecurity spending as fellow security chiefs contend with their own belt-tightening, starting with paring the number of vendors they manage.
“We have tried to find best-of-breed [tools] to piece together,” Sun said. “Now we’re looking at consolidating and making bets on larger platforms.”
Gene Sun, global chief information security officer at FedEx, speaks at the WSJ Pro Cybersecurity Forum on May 31, 2023.
Photo:
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
“Digital sprawl” also creates extra expense, he said. Over the years, FedEx has come to run thousands of firewalls at its many facilities worldwide, some of which do duplicate work and should be trimmed, he said. “I don’t really need two special-purpose devices to do what can be done by one.”
At Carnival, Sadhir said she tries to be nimble with staffing and services expenditures. For example, she has at times hired cybersecurity contractors instead of full-time employees to ease up on spending. She also considers whether the use of cyber service providers makes better financial sense compared with buying software licenses for a given task or time period.
Sadhir said she works closely with Carnival’s chief financial officer and board to make some of these decisions. “Make sure they understand why you need that money,” she said.
One area that would be the last to be cut for both Sun and Sadhir is funds for upskilling cybersecurity staff, especially if there is a pause in hiring.
Sun said especially now he is looking for ways to upgrade the competencies of his people, to help the team be more efficient and to gain knowledge. “There’s one thing I’m protecting above everything—my training dollars,” he said.
Write to Kim S. Nash at kim.nash@wsj.com
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