AltsOps 2023 Q&A: Michael Brice, BW Cyber
Michael Brice of BW Cyber will be speaking at AltsOps 2023, on both the private markets and hedge funds days. AlphaWeek’s Greg Winterton caught up with Michael to learn more about BW Cyber and to get his thoughts on the year in the alternative investment industry so far.
GW: Michael, first of all, for those who might not be familiar with BW Cyber, tell us a little bit about your firm.
MB: We’re a nationally based cybersecurity consulting and technology testing services firm that specialises in the asset and wealth management industries – predominantly hedge and private equity SEC registrants as well as the portfolio companies managed by hedge. Our team is comprised of former CIOs, CISOs, seasoned cybersecurity and compliance experts, and former US military personnel with top secret security clearance.
GW: Private equity is a core focus for BW Cyber. What can attendees expect from your panel at AltsOps on Day 1?
MB: I’ve worked in the asset and wealth management industry for years and candidly, have the scars from multiple interactions with cyber criminals around the world. As a result, I’ll be speaking to what they want from an asset management, namely money, and how they will try to steal it – almost always via wire fraud and ransomware extortion – usually targeted at PE’s portfolio companies. Based on my personal experiences, I’ll provide in plain English (not cyber mumbo jumbo) exactly what steps PE can do to identify their inherent cyber risk, prioritize that risk, and ultimately mitigate that risk in a cost-effective manner.
MB: BW Cyber also has a large presence in the hedge fund space as well. What’s going on there?
AM: Correct. For the clients we support, who are mostly between $150mn and $10bn AUM, the cyber risks faced by hedge funds is predominantly a combination of wire fraud (predominantly directed at their investor base), regulatory compliance, and reputational impact of a cyber incident. With that said, the SEC is in the process of announcing new cybersecurity compliance rules that will be very impactful related to RIA compliance and, of course, have reputational impacts if not followed. As such, I’ll also focus my comments to explain the new rules as well as how we think managers can implement those in a reasonable, cost-effective manner that are best tailored for their operations.
GW: Lastly, Michael, back to BW Cyber. Any specific plans for the coming 12-18 months?
MB: We’ve recently launched our BW SecureTM cyber platform, so if you’d have asked me this question a month ago, I’d have said that! It’s an end-to-end self-service cyber platform that helps CCOs and CTOs to manage their entire cybersecurity program. That’s been in the works for over a year now, so for us, it’s exciting to now roll the platform out to our current and new clients.
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Michael Brice is Founder at BW Cyber
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Asset/investment managers: request your complimentary ticket for AltsOps 2023 using the links below.
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