Cyber to Space: Raytheon’s Vision for Total Global Security

Julian Zottl, Chief Technology Officer for Raytheon Cyber Protection Solutions, discusses the emerging threats shaping the future of cybersecurity, the role AI plays in modern cyber defense, and the innovative technologies keeping critical systems secure.

Transcript

(0:00) Welcome to the Tomorrow's World Today podcast. (0:04) We sit down with experts, world-changing innovators, (0:07) creators, and makers to explore how they're taking action (0:10) to make tomorrow's world a better place for technology, (0:14) science, innovation, sustainability, the arts, and more. (0:18) On this episode, host George Davison, (0:21) who also hosts Tomorrow's World Today on the Science Channel, (0:24) sits down with Julian Zottel, (0:26) the Chief Technology Officer for Raytheon Cyber Protection Solutions.
(0:30) Julian discusses his personal journey from early programming (0:33) to his current role. (0:35) Plus, he looks at the future of predictive cybersecurity (0:37) while emphasizing the importance of mentorships, (0:40) diverse perspectives, and learning from failure. (0:44) Welcome, Julian.
(0:44) Thank you very much for having me. Appreciate it. (0:46) We're looking forward to speaking with you today, (0:48) and hopefully we can, you know, dig into a little bit, (0:52) you know, just where you came from, (0:54) and what's going on at this company that you work for.
(0:58) Maybe the best way to start would be to, (1:00) let's talk a little bit about Raytheon, (1:02) and how did the company get started? (1:05) Do you know the history? (1:06) So it's actually interesting. (1:08) So Raytheon Technologies, the one that you guys see back here, (1:11) has only been around for a year. (1:12) I know that sounds strange, right? (1:14) But what it was was a merger of companies.
(1:16) So you had United Technologies and Raytheon come together. (1:19) It was a merger of the companies. (1:20) Both of them have long histories, right? (1:22) And it's just amazing.
(1:24) I think combined, it's like 180 years of history. (1:27) So it's been around a while, you know? (1:30) And each of them have areas of innovation that have come, right? (1:34) So Raytheon, the vacuum tube, you know, and things like that. (1:36) You hear the Raytube, right? (1:37) Right, right.
(1:38) And you hear little bits about the Internet, (1:41) about Raytheon being involved in the Internet, (1:42) which actually parts of it came from a company we acquired called BBN. (1:46) One of the interesting things is the at sign that we all use in email (1:50) actually came from them. (1:52) Is that right? (1:52) Yeah, no, it's fascinating.
(1:54) So the guy was sitting around. (1:54) He's like, okay, so how do I send, you know, (1:57) they're used to sending messages within their own little computers, right? (2:00) But I want to send a message out. (2:02) And he's like, well, how do I differentiate between a local message (2:05) and a message I send out, and how does it know where to go? (2:08) And he's like, well, the at sign kind of makes sense.
(2:10) You know, you do prices like a dollar at, you know, whatever, right? (2:14) Number of quantity. (2:15) And so the guy's like, okay, I'll use that. (2:17) And that's how the at sign came around in email.
(2:19) Oh, my goodness. (2:19) That's a good story. (2:20) Oh, yeah.
(2:21) And it's just fascinating. (2:22) Raytheon's full of these types of stories. (2:24) On the microwave oven, for instance.
(2:26) Yes. (2:26) You know, the guy with the candy bar. (2:27) Have you heard this story? (2:28) I have, but I'd love for the audience to hear it.
(2:31) Of course. (2:31) So the guy is trying out, and I apologize. (2:33) I forget his name.
(2:35) The guy is trying out various things, right? (2:36) And he's got this microwave attenuator going. (2:40) And he's like walking past, and he realizes this chocolate bar (2:43) is starting to melt in his pocket. (2:45) And he's like, what the heck is going on? (2:47) And he's like, it's that.
(2:49) It's heating it up. (2:50) And he starts to say, okay, maybe this is something that's productizable. (2:55) And it's funny, because I remember back when I was a kid, (2:57) I remember the radar range.
(3:00) It was actually in my grandparents' kitchen. (3:02) But it was derived from Raytheon. (3:04) It's amazing, the history there.
(3:05) Well, we could touch on that a little more. (3:07) But before we do that, just to chat about the observational analysis (3:12) that this gentleman made. (3:14) In other words, there he is.
(3:15) He's working. (3:16) And he recognizes there's something different going on. (3:20) Now, that's a very important part of the innovation process.
(3:24) It's not only can you come up with ideas, (3:28) but can you recognize when things are different? (3:32) And would those different things apply to something (3:36) that might be beneficial? (3:38) And of course, at that time, it was turned into an oven, (3:42) of all things, that makes things get hot fast. (3:46) There's lots of these throughout history. (3:48) Aspirin, for instance, was seen as growth.
(3:51) And the guy's like, oh, that's kind of interesting. (3:53) Maybe that's useful. (3:55) And again, like you said, invention is sometimes on purpose, (3:59) and sometimes it's by accident.
(4:01) That's amazing. (4:02) Do you have any other accidental innovation stories from the Raytheon world? (4:07) Oh, my gosh. (4:08) I'm trying to think of any in particular.
(4:11) None that I can think of off the top of my head, of course. (4:13) Well, that's enough. (4:14) That's actually enough.
(4:15) Just a leapfrog from email technology to microwave technology. (4:22) There's a lot that's happened over those 100-plus years. (4:25) Oh, yeah.
(4:25) No, there's tons. (4:26) And it's amazing to see the company evolve. (4:28) It's awesome.
(4:30) And it started off, these organizations, of course, as entrepreneurial things, right? (4:35) So it was somebody had an idea and said, (4:38) we're going to start a business and do something, right? (4:41) Right. (4:41) And how many people do you employ today at Raytheon? (4:45) That's amazing. (4:46) 181,000.
(4:48) 181,000 people. (4:49) And you must have all sorts of different types of jobs that you have there, right? (4:53) We do. (4:54) Everything from, obviously, engineers, because we're an engineering company, right, (4:57) to HR and publicity and all these things that make it up, right? (5:02) You know, finance and everything.
(5:04) Right. (5:04) So basically, it's like its own little city of people, (5:08) and you need everything inside that city to be managed. (5:12) Very true.
(5:13) So lots of different jobs. (5:14) Definitely. (5:15) And it's interesting as I meet people from all walks of life there.
(5:19) You know, a lot of the people I meet are engineers, right? (5:23) And some of them are finance people that decided to go into engineering. (5:28) I met an engineering fellow, (5:30) which is one of the highest engineers you can have at Raytheon, right? (5:33) Yeah. (5:33) She was a psychology major.
(5:34) Interesting. (5:35) And she brought a different spin on engineering, (5:38) which is what made her so valuable. (5:39) Isn't that a good one? (5:41) All right.
(5:41) I love it. (5:42) Hey, well, actually, (5:43) why don't we tell our audience a little bit about the job you do at the organization? (5:48) Sure. (5:49) So I'm the chief technology officer for cyber protection solutions.
(5:52) Okay. (5:52) Okay. (5:53) So Raytheon breaks down, obviously, engineering into different types, right? (5:57) Cyber protection solutions includes everything from protection of, you know, (6:02) places like this to nation states.
(6:04) So in protecting entire countries, (6:06) all of those types of projects fall under me and my director, who's John Czech. (6:12) Can we talk a little bit about what cyber security means to you? (6:15) I think I know. (6:16) I'm going to say somebody is trying to get into my world and unravel the world that we've created here.
(6:23) Is that a way to say it? (6:24) Yeah. (6:25) No, that's a very good way to put it. (6:27) So it's interesting when you talk about cyber and cyberspace and cybersecurity, right? (6:31) It includes all these different things, right? (6:32) So cybersecurity goes down to the protection of devices, (6:37) everything from even these headphones we have on, you know, the microphones, (6:40) out to the lights that we have on underneath us, to, you know, our information systems, (6:45) the computers that maybe some of us use every day, right? (6:48) It's all about that protection and such.
(6:50) Now, that's the cybersecurity aspect, right? (6:52) There's obviously a flip side to it too, right? (6:55) When you start talking about cyber more broadly, (6:57) you start talking about things like integration of different parts, (7:02) even the tax, right, the offensive side. (7:04) All of this goes into cyber. (7:06) It's amazing how big the subject actually is.
(7:09) That makes a lot of sense. (7:11) So we have to be able to have offensive, I guess all businesses have offensive, (7:16) outgoing marketing, outgoing messages, and that kind of thing, (7:19) not to be confused with outgoing code that we create, right? (7:24) And then we have code to protect ourselves from incoming unwanted. (7:30) And they inform each other.
(7:32) So the offense informs the defense and vice versa. (7:35) It's fascinating the interplay that happens there. (7:38) Yeah, it's very nice.
(7:40) All right. (7:42) So let's see here. (7:43) So let's talk a little bit about your background.
(7:46) You didn't just walk into Raytheon when you were in high school. (7:49) Come on now, share with us a little bit about what were you like in high school? (7:53) Oh, my. (7:55) In high school, let's see, I was doing a little bit of drama.
(8:00) I was involved in the high school newspaper, things like that. (8:04) It was rather interesting. (8:06) Even going back further, so my history is kind of interesting.
(8:10) I grew up in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. (8:13) I went to a very small school for grade school. (8:15) I was in 13 students in my grade school, so very small, right? (8:18) But they happened to have computers, and they taught a computer class. (8:22) So I don't know why, but I went, right? (8:25) And they started teaching me these things, and I started programming at an early age.
(8:29) I was doing basic by fourth grade. (8:32) Nice. (8:32) Yeah, it's just crazy to think about it nowadays.
(8:35) And then by high school, I went into high school and talked to my computer teacher there, (8:40) and he's like, yeah, you're not doing these. (8:42) You're going to go do this kind of stuff. (8:44) I said, okay, so I helped him out and did all this kind of stuff.
(8:46) Yeah, it was fascinating. (8:47) I had a great time. (8:48) But the interplay, like I mentioned the school newspaper, (8:50) I transitioned them from on paper, doing the school newspaper on paper, (8:56) literally cutting out pictures and pasting them down.
(8:57) Right, those days were a long time ago now. (9:01) Yeah, a little bit. (9:03) And then I transitioned them to the computer.
(9:05) And it's little things like this that kind of shaped it, right? (9:09) And then I went into college, and I said, I love these things called microchips. (9:12) I think they're really cool. (9:14) I want to learn to design these.
(9:16) So I did electrical engineering for my undergrad. (9:18) And then I happened to be working for a lab on campus. (9:22) It's called the Vitry State Lab.
(9:23) They do vitrification of nuclear waste. (9:25) Fascinating subject. (9:26) They literally take it and put it into glass.
(9:29) And the reason they do it into glass is because they can put it into a barrel, (9:32) and it can't seep out. (9:33) I see. (9:34) Yeah, it's just really cool.
(9:35) So they were like, hey, would you like to pursue your master's (9:38) and keep on working for us? (9:39) And I was like, yes, yes, I would. (9:41) So they actually paid for my master's. (9:43) Great.
(9:44) So you got paid to go to school and increase your corporations that's going to hire you, (9:50) saying, hey, this person's actually higher up on the education chart. (9:53) We're going to bring him on board. (9:55) Yeah, and I'll be honest.
(9:56) I think a lot of it was through a little bit of luck and a lot of mentorship. (10:01) We talked about mentorship. (10:02) I think it's extremely important.
(10:04) I went through, did my master's in electrical engineering, (10:07) got out and realized, oh, my gosh, I have to move to California if I want to do this. (10:11) And I didn't want to be away from family. (10:12) So I had always done kind of like computer stuff on the side.
(10:17) And I was like, OK, so let me go look around. (10:20) And it was one of my mentors that actually got me a job at NASA headquarters. (10:23) Nice.
(10:23) And so I go to NASA headquarters. (10:25) It was just an amazing experience. (10:27) I can't talk highly enough about it.
(10:28) Walking down the way and finding astronauts and talking to them, and they were the nicest people. (10:34) It was unbelievable. (10:35) I met the administrator.
(10:36) He was just like talking to your grandfather or something. (10:38) It was amazing. (10:39) And I'll leave there.
(10:40) I ended up going to Fannie Mae for a small stint. (10:42) And then I get a call from another friend. (10:45) And this friend is like, hey, you know that stuff you do on the side, that tinkering you do? (10:48) I was like, yeah, yeah.
(10:49) He goes, how would you like to make money doing that? (10:51) And I was like, that sounds like a great idea. (10:53) I'd love, you know, sure. (10:54) You know, it's something I love doing.
(10:56) Yeah, I'll do that. (10:57) So I go over to Raytheon. (10:59) This is Raytheon at the time, not Raytheon Technologies.
(11:02) And I sit down with these guys. (11:04) And I'm literally in jeans and a T-shirt. (11:05) And I'm just talking to them.
(11:07) And they're like, OK, thanks. (11:08) And I was like, well, yeah, this was fun. (11:10) Maybe I'll get it.
(11:11) You never know, right? (11:12) And then a week later, I got a call. (11:13) And they're like, hey, we'd like you to join us. (11:15) And I was like, oh, my gosh.
(11:17) And 15 years later, now here I am. (11:19) But it's interesting. (11:20) My path is different than a lot of people I know.
(11:23) So like I had an intern. (11:25) His name is Dominic. (11:25) And he's an amazing, amazing young man.
(11:29) And he didn't start programming until college. (11:31) He hadn't touched really any of this. (11:33) And yet now today, he's one of our top programmers.
(11:36) Interesting. (11:37) So you're touching on so many good subjects (11:40) that I'd like to explore a little further, if we could. (11:44) So you found some things in life that excited you.
(11:48) You seem like you're really happy with your work. (11:51) And can you talk a little bit about maybe, (11:54) let's say, the first mentor that you might have had (11:57) or the first couple that really set you off (11:59) on this course of life? (12:01) You know, it's funny. (12:03) Like looking back over, I'll say, my entire lifetime, (12:05) one of my teachers was definitely my first mentors.
(12:09) And that was back in grade school. (12:10) Her name was Mrs. Jones. (12:11) I'll never forget her.
(12:12) She was an amazing woman. (12:14) And she taught me a lot. (12:16) And mostly what she taught me is how to learn.
(12:18) And interestingly enough, you go to school (12:21) and you learn subjects and you memorize things, right? (12:23) But it's really about learning to learn. (12:27) Learning to learn a new subject. (12:28) How do you absorb information? (12:29) Learning your way.
(12:31) Because that's very difficult. (12:32) So that's what she taught me. (12:32) And then in college, oh my gosh, I (12:35) think I had a couple different mentors.
(12:37) But one of them definitely was the head of that lab (12:40) that I worked for. (12:41) His name was Dr. Macedo. (12:42) And he was just a fascinating guy.
(12:44) And I forget how many patents he had. (12:46) It was over 100. (12:47) I know that.
(12:48) It was just fascinating. (12:50) And the guy was like, look, do whatever you like. (12:52) Do whatever makes you happy.
(12:54) And I was like, OK. (12:55) And I was like, so that led you to nuclear waste disposal? (12:58) And he kind of would chuckle and go on. (13:00) And then as I went through my career, it was fascinating.
(13:04) When I landed at Raytheon, I mean, I've been there 15 years (13:06) now, excuse me, Raytheon Technologies. (13:09) It's interesting. (13:10) I've had some definitely influential people.
(13:13) Many of them what are called engineering fellows. (13:16) One in particular named Eric. (13:17) Another guy named Michael.
(13:19) These are all people that had definite influences on me (13:22) and in my career. (13:24) And what they did was they nourished me. (13:26) They took what they saw, maybe a little seed, (13:29) and nourished it into something bigger.
(13:31) That's wonderful. (13:32) Any time we can get teachers and people who are our mentors (13:36) that believe in us and try to help us get a little bit of (13:39) vision of what could be, I think that's a really powerful (13:42) thing in life. (13:43) Oh, no, it is.
(13:44) And actually, that's what we're trying to do right now. (13:46) So I want to thank you for being here with us today. (13:50) Because we're going to water some of those little seeds out (13:53) there and try to get them to start dreaming and chasing, (13:57) right? (13:57) Oh, yeah, exactly.
(13:58) You can be anything if you want to be. (13:59) There you go. (14:00) I believe that, too.
(14:03) Let's see here. (14:04) However, if there was one thing in high school that you could (14:08) do over that didn't work out so well when you were there, (14:12) come on, tell us a story about something that you'd like to (14:15) redo. (14:16) Because we refer to that around here as we fail our way (14:19) forward.
(14:20) Everyone wants to think I had to get an A on every single (14:22) thing in high school. (14:24) But that's really not the way that life works. (14:26) It's really we do stumble, we make mistakes, (14:30) and we learn from them.
(14:32) So anyway, I think other than maybe you're the most perfect (14:36) person I've ever met. (14:37) Is that right? (14:38) No, God, no. (14:40) See? (14:41) We've all had to stumble.
(14:42) No, and it's funny. (14:45) I talk a lot about failure, actually. (14:47) You know, fail, first attempt in learning.
(14:49) You know, that's what you always say, right? (14:51) If you're not failing, you're not pushing hard enough. (14:53) And that's very true. (14:54) I was very fortunate to see Savage from the Mythbusters.
(15:00) Yes. (15:00) Fascinating guy, right? (15:02) And I happened to be at DEF CON. (15:03) This was, oh my gosh, this was probably 12 years ago, (15:06) something like it.
(15:08) And he did an entire talk on failure and why it's so (15:12) important, right? (15:13) Because if you're not failing, you're not pushing those (15:14) boundaries, right? (15:16) And you're just kind of the status quo, right? (15:18) And that's not engineering at all. (15:20) Engineering is about trying new things and saying, (15:23) you know, that doesn't seem possible, (15:24) but there might be a way. (15:25) And trying to figure out that way, (15:27) and you're going to fail along the way.
(15:28) There's no doubt. (15:29) And you have to look at it as a learning experience, (15:31) not as a setback. (15:32) So true.
(15:33) Curiousness, the old saying was, (15:36) curiousness kills the cat, but that's so not true. (15:39) Oh, that's true. (15:39) It's like when you're curious and you have a chance to (15:42) identify things you might like or maybe opportunities the (15:46) world never saw before.
(15:47) Oh, no, definitely. (15:48) I will tell you something, much to my parents' chagrin, (15:51) like I was the kid that was taking things apart constantly and like, (15:54) how does it go back together? (15:55) I don't know. (15:56) I'm a kid, right? (15:57) But I was learning at the same time.
(15:59) And oh, thank heavens my parents fostered that. (16:01) Oh, that's good. (16:02) We love hearing that.
(16:04) One of my teammates here, he has what we used to call (16:11) take it apart with dad night. (16:13) And he had three boys and it was just, what is it? (16:17) We're going to tear this thing down. (16:18) We're going to figure out what it's all about.
(16:20) And you can learn a lot. (16:24) Why is it this way? (16:26) Yeah, and there's entire jobs based on that, reverse engineers. (16:30) They take apart software and hardware.
(16:32) They'll take apart this mixer, for instance, figure out how it works (16:35) and maybe change how it works to something better. (16:37) Yes, blend in new technology. (16:40) Exactly.
(16:40) Improve, right? (16:41) Oh, yeah. (16:41) No, I think it's great. (16:43) So did I ever get something that you failed at or did you just kind of (16:46) smooth over that whole area? (16:48) I think I did.
(16:48) I ended up talking a ton about failure and such. (16:51) I will tell you, there has been a series of failures, (16:54) especially when I first joined Raytheon Technologies (16:57) and I was actually building circuits and things like that. (17:00) I was actually doing reverse engineering, so taking things apart, (17:02) looking at, okay, how do I change this to be what my customer wants, right? (17:07) And there was tons of failures.
(17:09) And, I mean, some of these are spectacular. (17:11) If you get into electrical engineering, right, (17:13) if you apply too much power to something, (17:15) they call it letting the genie out, which is this great thing. (17:18) What it actually means is this little puff of, like, (17:20) purple smoke that comes up and smells horrid.
(17:22) Right, right. (17:23) You know, and sometimes I've done it to microphones, (17:26) I've done it to thermistors and a whole bunch of other things, right? (17:29) But I definitely had – I can think of one in particular. (17:31) It was this networking switch.
(17:34) I mean, I don't know how many I went through. (17:36) It was a lot. (17:38) And trying to get to where I needed to go, right? (17:41) You put that genie to work, didn't you? (17:42) Oh, I did.
(17:42) A lot of genies escaped that day. (17:44) Actually, that month, I should say. (17:46) Oh, that's good fun.
(17:48) Well, I'm glad to hear it. (17:49) Everybody, we're going to have some failures. (17:52) Let the genie out of the bottle, so to speak, (17:54) and let's see what you can do with it, right? (17:56) Exactly.
(17:57) Let's just get that little spark and then start exploring. (18:01) Yeah, and I think it's a matter of fostering it. (18:02) Like, we talked about mentors.
(18:04) Again, I'm huge on mentoring, so I think this is an important part. (18:08) You know, no matter where you are in the organization, (18:10) if you're the CEO of a company, you should be mentoring, right? (18:14) There are always opportunities to reach out to some of the people that are rising up (18:19) and encourage them and say, look, what are you interested in doing? (18:23) Oh, I can help you in that. (18:25) Let's go try to do this, whether it's inside of work or outside of work.
(18:30) That's great. (18:31) Good advice. (18:32) I had plenty of mentors like that as well when I was younger.
(18:36) I was fortunate. (18:37) I had a guy who lived across the street who worked on lasers back in the old days (18:42) who worked with Westinghouse. (18:45) That will get your imagination going back in those days.
(18:47) I actually was taught by a Westinghouse engineer in college. (18:50) Really? (18:51) Yeah. (18:51) Oh, gosh.
(18:52) This is a funny story. (18:54) This was about motors and generation. (18:57) So, you know, those types of things.
(18:58) So his entire class devoted on that, and it was at like 11 o'clock, (19:02) and we were like, okay, so we show up. (19:04) All the students, all six of us, because it was a small college too that I went to. (19:07) So six of us in this class, and we sit down.
(19:09) The guy walks in. (19:10) He goes, you know why you're here at 11 o'clock? (19:12) And we're all like, I don't know. (19:14) He goes, because they can't find anybody else to teach this class.
(19:17) And he's like, and I'm retired, and now I'm here. (19:19) And he's like, because I love teaching. (19:21) And that's why he was there.
(19:22) Oh, that's great. (19:23) It was fascinating. (19:24) He was an amazing, amazing professor from Westinghouse.
(19:27) I love guys like that. (19:28) Oh, yeah. (19:30) All right.
(19:31) You've already said that you believe anyone can be successful. (19:34) Is that a? (19:36) 100%. (19:36) 100%? (19:37) No.
(19:37) Anybody, and it doesn't matter what walk of life you're in, where you happen to be living, (19:43) et cetera. (19:43) It doesn't matter. (19:44) You can be successful.
(19:46) All right. (19:46) So can you talk a little bit about the success of your organization, (19:50) and what's the next big innovation that we might see out of you guys? (19:55) Oh, my gosh. (19:57) So the problem is, what's big innovation? (19:59) With 181,000 employees, and I forget how many engineers.
(20:03) It's in the 70s or 80s, 100,000s. (20:06) It's amazing. (20:08) So on the cyber side, because I can talk to that side a lot, (20:11) we're starting to do things like predictive cyber.
(20:14) So the idea of, okay, we are sensing cyber attacks now, (20:19) and we're very much in response mode. (20:21) So it's like, okay, there's a cyber attack coming in. (20:23) Let's block it.
(20:25) It would be fascinating to get to the point of, (20:27) we think a cyber attack is coming. (20:29) Let's block it before it even gets there. (20:31) Nice.
(20:32) The whole predictive cyber thing is a huge part of it. (20:35) Mixing into that. (20:36) So that's a goal, right? (20:38) To get there, we need technologies that enable that.
(20:41) So things like artificial intelligence, machine learning, (20:44) they get tossed around a lot. (20:46) It's funny. (20:46) Sometimes I cringe when I hear it.
(20:47) I'm like, oh, my God. (20:48) Somebody else is saying, oh, I have an AI ML technology. (20:51) But in truth, it is the technology that's going to lay the groundwork (20:54) for doing these types of things.
(20:56) It makes sense, doesn't it? (20:58) I mean, if you look at nature, (20:59) we look at nature a lot for creating innovation. (21:03) So if you sense something is going to come your way, (21:09) but it's not here yet, your body senses it, (21:13) and you might start to maneuver a little differently. (21:16) So whatever that thing is, maybe it's a bug, a baseball, whatever.
(21:20) I don't know. (21:21) I heard something. (21:22) I don't know.
(21:22) I kind of sense something's wrong. (21:24) So that's what you're really talking about. (21:25) You're talking about what we have as human beings.
(21:29) We naturally have these outgoing sensors going, (21:32) and when we start to feel something, (21:35) we begin to prepare so that cyber attacks are – (21:39) we kind of know they're coming, and we can adjust quickly. (21:42) Right. (21:42) Exactly.
(21:43) The biological comparison is a very important one. (21:46) Oh, my gosh. (21:47) And it's seen over and over again, not just in cyber, (21:50) but in many types of engineering.
(21:53) No, I completely agree. (21:54) It's about that sensing. (21:55) We call it sensor fusion is what we call it.
(21:59) Bringing in all the different types of intelligence (22:03) to get a better informed idea of what could be happening (22:06) or what is happening. (22:07) Sometimes we're a little behind the ball, right? (22:09) Right. (22:10) And it's much like the body.
(22:12) It's developing the antibodies and such to protect. (22:16) Oh, I got hit by this once before. (22:18) Let's better protect against that the next time.
(22:20) Things like ransomware. (22:21) You get hit once, (22:22) you have a habit of getting better at protecting yourself. (22:25) Absolutely.
(22:25) Right. (22:27) But getting that into the predictive side, (22:29) imagining having those antibodies before the attack, right? (22:32) It's much like our vaccines. (22:34) Before we get attacked by the actual virus, (22:36) we get a vaccine so that we can be protected before it hits us.
(22:39) Yes. (22:40) Very similar in cyber, right? (22:41) We're trying to predict what happens. (22:42) We might not have that vaccine yet, but we're getting closer.
(22:46) That sounds like exciting science there. (22:48) Oh, no, it is. (22:49) It's fascinating, (22:50) and I'd love to see more and more people involved in it.
(22:53) Good stuff. (22:54) Thank you. (22:54) Yeah, of course.
(22:55) Let's see here. (22:57) So what do you think are the most important social skills (23:00) and technical skills for young adults interested in joining your company? (23:05) So I will tell you, we literally hire all types of people, (23:10) and it's because they bring different perspectives, right? (23:13) So if you take somebody like myself who's been trained in electrical engineering, (23:17) let's pretend you're trained in electrical engineering too. (23:20) So you bring the two of us in.
(23:21) We're going to have a similar mindset, right? (23:26) Because we've been trained in electrical engineering, (23:27) and we're going to look at the circuits, and we're going to look at this, right? (23:30) If we bring in an art major, (23:32) they're going to bring a totally different perspective, (23:34) and that's extremely important in engineering (23:36) because you don't get the innovations by looking at the problem the same way (23:39) over and over again. (23:41) You have to look at it differently. (23:44) So blending of the arts, right? (23:47) So different people, different ideas, (23:49) different let's call it backgrounds, (23:52) and those perspectives are critical in the field of innovation.
(23:56) Oh, they are. (23:57) It's a very important part of innovation in any company. (24:02) Very true.
(24:03) And again, I think technology is amazing about that, (24:07) trying to bring in different points of view. (24:09) There are many times when you're stuck on a problem, (24:12) and I'll reach out. (24:13) We have these things called technical and exchange groups, (24:16) technical interchange groups, excuse me.
(24:18) And it's a group that you can reach out to. (24:20) Hey, I've got this problem. (24:22) I don't know how to solve this.
(24:23) Can somebody do this? (24:25) And on that isn't just cyber people for the cyber tics, for instance. (24:29) It is a variety of people. (24:31) And people say, oh, have you thought of this? (24:33) Have you thought of that? (24:34) And it's people who, let's say, make missiles for a living, right, (24:37) or make radars for a living.
(24:39) They bring a totally different perspective (24:41) than somebody who's been in cyber almost his entire life, right, (24:44) which is so important because it's helped me solve many a problem. (24:47) Yeah, that's exciting. (24:49) And I think that in the world of what we call innovation labs, (24:53) and we think that back in the old days when we moved from, let's say, alchemy, (24:59) and it was turned into chemistry class, (25:02) and a big part of that is teaching people how to recognize things, (25:08) how to see things that are kind of coming and recognize them as, (25:13) it doesn't seem quite right, or how can I make that better? (25:17) Maybe a word you used earlier was you want to improve something for your customer.
(25:23) That's when you have a customer already. (25:27) And then we have other people that are entrepreneurial, (25:29) and they're not just blending problems. (25:31) They're creating entirely new types of companies (25:34) for things that are foreseen in their mind.
(25:38) And, I don't know, lo and behold, (25:39) that was probably you guys like 100 and some years ago (25:42) back when that radio tube or whatever was created. (25:46) You know, it's fascinating. (25:47) I read books on cyber.
(25:48) By the way, I read a ton. (25:50) I think that's another spot that you can definitely help is just read. (25:54) It's probably, admittedly, about 3 quarters on the web nowadays (25:57) and probably about 25% book, (25:58) but still reading has been a huge part of that for me.
(26:01) But I read a lot about how the Japanese culture, (26:05) and they're in the business side, right? (26:07) When you're in a meeting and you're talking about various things, (26:11) the seniors do not talk first. (26:13) The juniors do. (26:14) And I was like, huh, that's kind of interesting.
(26:16) Why would that be? (26:17) And it's because the seniors don't want to jade the young ones (26:20) into bringing up topics. (26:21) They don't want to be like, oh, you know, (26:24) the senior talk says, you know, that is a brown, (26:27) this needs to be a brown cover on this thing, right? (26:30) And the kid, you know, the younger one would have looked better as red, right? (26:33) But they won't bring that up (26:34) because the senior has said it's going to be brown. (26:36) So automatically they shut down.
(26:38) But by allowing the younger people to talk first, (26:42) it gives you these innovative ideas. (26:44) And I think that's amazing. (26:45) I think that's something that we should all do.
(26:47) I think so too. (26:48) Well, Julian, I want to thank you, myself and for our audience, (26:53) for sharing some of your wisdom today. (26:55) You know, it's very kind of you.
(26:57) Bye now. (26:58) Take care. (26:59) Thank you for listening to this episode of Tomorrow's World Today Podcast.
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