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PwC has hired a top NSA executive to help lead its cyber, data, and technology division.
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Morgan Adamski spoke exclusively to Business Insider about joining the Big Four firm.
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Clients shouldn’t assume she’s leaning on classified information to advise them, she said.
PwC has a new hire: the former executive director of national cybersecurity.
Morgan Adamski joined the Big Four firm on Monday as a partner and leader in its newly created Cyber, Data & Technology Risk division.
The division was created on July 1 as part of a wider restructuring of PwC’s advisory arm. The restructuring doubled the number of platforms in its advisory business from four to eight to provide more industry-specific services to companies.
Adamski is joining the private sector after more than 15 years of federal service, most of which were spent in the National Security Agency (NSA). She leaves as the highest-ranking civilian and third in command at US Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM).
For the last five years, her focus within the government has been on strengthening collaboration with businesses to help them defend against cyber threats, through setting up the NSA’s Cybersecurity Collaboration Center.
Bar the drive to work and not having to enter a secure facility every day, Adamski told BI that she didn’t see major differences between the two roles.
Adamski told BI that the opportunity to work directly on building solutions for clients attracted her to the private sector. PwC interested her because “they work with so many different types of clients,” and their focus on building custom strategies for each client was “unique and innovative,” she said.
“It’s really just about bringing that knowledge to PwC clients and being able to say, ‘Here are the constant threats that we’re facing every single day. Let’s work together to build a solution on how we can protect ourselves,'” she said.
The new PwC partner said clients shouldn’t assume she’s using classified information when advising them, but “they should assume I come with a wealth of experience and understanding of the cyber threat.”
Tyson Cornell, PwC’s US advisory leader, said in a press release that the firm was excited to welcome Adamski and that her “expertise and leadership in cybersecurity are invaluable assets.”
“The importance of industry-specific expertise in delivering for our clients specifically is crucial,” Cornell added in response to a question about the strategy of PwC’s advisory restructuring.
First day on the job
Her new division at PwC helps clients implement strategies and systems to defend against cyber threats.
Day one on the job isn’t planned, she said: “I’m taking it one meeting and one discussion at a time.”
“One of my first approaches as a leader is going to be to look and listen and to learn from all the things that they’re already doing,” she said. Then she’ll be looking for opportunities to improve the firm’s offerings, promote the brand, and help clients move forward into the future, she said.
She plans to take a “democratic” approach to leadership at the Big Four and think, “How do we all work together to ensure that we’re bringing the best that we can for our clients?”
Adamski joins the Big Four firm as cyber threats are growing in scale and severity, particularly for US businesses. In 2024, the average cost of a US data breach was $9.48 million — the highest in the world and nearly double the global average of $4.9 million, according to IBM’s 2024 “Cost of a Data Breach” report.
Adamski told BI that adversaries adapt their techniques and procedures every time a cyber defender implements a different solution, so businesses should constantly adapt their cybersecurity systems.
“It’s really about understanding the landscape, understanding where you’re holding that risk, putting mitigations in place, and ensuring that your crown jewels are not the things that you’re putting at risk,” she said.
Looking forward to the next 5 to 10 years, the cybersecurity expert said two factors are on her mind.
Firstly, AI means that companies are going to have to move a lot faster on evolving cyber defense, Adamski said. Second, and more of a “future thought for companies,” is how to develop quantum-resistant cryptography — finding a way to “encrypt our data that can’t be broken by quantum computers,” she said.
Read the original article on Business Insider
