Mark Adams, corporate security officer, BlueCross-BlueShield of Nebraska, answers some quick questions about his job.

SC Magazine asks Nikk Gilbert, IT security and telecom director, Alstom Transport, about his job.

Bob Wilcox, CISO at FiServ, talks about his job - and his likes and gripes.

Of what are you most proud in your job? I'm most proud of the employees of Arlington County who have adopted "common sense" cybersecurity thinking and made it a part of the way to perform their day-to-day assignments. The success of the security practice here in ARLCO is in no small measure the result of this intentional commitment by the employees to do what is best for the general government workforce.

Of what are you most proud in your job? The greatest pride comes from helping people advance their knowledge, skills and abilities; as well as trying to become active and innovative members of a team working toward seemingly impossible objectives. Also, seeing people's eyes light up and the brains engage is a major rush.

How do you describe your job to average people? I try to find ways to help our students, faculty and staff to do their jobs better by utilizing technology. We do this through infrastructure, support and value-added applications that allow faculty and students to be more creative and productive on a day-to-day basis.

How do you describe your job to average people? I tell people that my job is to protect data and equipment, making sure that their information is kept private, can be trusted to be correct and is always available when needed — just a riff on the C-I-A triangle. I say I am also responsible to make sure we are in compliance with all applicable laws, regulations and common sense. Then I throw in that I get to play with all the cool toys, some days I am Neo, some days Agent Smith.

How do you describe your job to average people? I provide consultation and advice to senior executives about risk to enable them to make the most appropriate business and/or clinical decision to achieve Kaiser Permanente (KP)'s business and clinical goals. I also work with our information technology leadership to embed risk management strategies and decisions into our service delivery process, technology solutions and products by creating an information management security strategy, developing a risk management program, and building a policy and information security standards framework.

How did you get into security? In my case, the question could be phrased, "How did security get into you?" I am not an infosec professional in the usual sense, but rather a business manager with infosec responsibility. I manage business and product development and information security, which is a central thread that composes the fabric of our product offerings.

What do you like about your job?