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S1E3: Melanie Ensign on Information Security Communications

S1E3: Melanie Ensign on Information Security Communications

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 Most organizations think of security communications as crisis management: what to say when something goes wrong. But waiting until an incident occurs to build relationships, establish trust, and create communication channels severely limits your response options.

Security communications isn't episodic. It's strategic. Every interaction with security researchers, every statement about your security posture, every decision about transparency, builds or erodes the credibility you'll need when it really counts. The companies that emerge stronger from incidents are those that have been building trust and influence long before anything goes wrong.

In this episode of Velocity's Edge, Melanie Ensign explains why proactive security communications is a business imperative. She and host Nicko Goncharoff explore critical questions: How do you build the relationships and political capital you'll need during an incident? Why do security teams need influence beyond their reporting lines? How can incidents actually become opportunities to demonstrate credibility?

The challenge isn't just external communications. It's internal too. Security teams must develop the skills to negotiate and lead across departments, understanding what matters to their colleagues and how security objectives align with broader business goals. As Melanie puts it: "In order to call a friend, you have to have a friend."

Melanie Ensign is an EPSD advisor and founder of EPSD partner Discernible, a security and privacy communications firm. She has led security communications for Facebook, Uber, and AT&T, and ran DEF CON's press operations for a decade. She knows how to communicate when the world is watching, helping teams build credibility and influence with business leaders through her expertise in high-risk incident communication.

As in all our episodes, we speak in plain, executive-summary business terms, framing complex business and technology strategic challenges in context, using language that makes them more accessible and actionable.
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