As fast as technology advances, cybercriminals identify vulnerabilities that allow them to infiltrate computer networks and cause terrible financial and reputational damage. Thomas J. DeMayo leads a group at PFK O’Connor Davies that designs and implements cybersecurity and privacy services to protect financial institutions from these threats.
“I help for-profit and not-for-profit businesses understand where their cyber risk is, their vulnerability to hacks, and come up with ways to protect them,” says DeMayo, who has 20 years of experience securing and managing information risk across many industries. He travels to PFKOD’s many offices around the country and is in the Westchester office in Harrison three to four times a month.
In college, he majored in computer science and minored in math and accounting, “because I understood I needed some sort of business element to move forward in a career in some leadership role,” he says.
He enjoys his work because “it’s constantly evolving. Cybercriminals are more sophisticated, and AI is moving in rapidly. Being in a position where we can help businesses and people protect themselves so they don’t end up a victim — that’s rewarding, especially with not-for-profits that have strong missions.”
That evolution is also the challenge. “To be successful in this field, you have to stay up to date,” he says. “It’s a continuous learning curve and involves knowing a lot about a lot of different areas.”
For that reason, those considering a career in this field must “make sure they have the desire to continually learn and evolve,” he says. “You need the personality where you want to understand the inner workings of things.” Part of his job is to do “penetration testing, hacking, taking things and trying to figure out how to break them. You need that persistent mindset.”
Though DeMayo has a bachelor’s degree, there is room in the field for those without a four-year college diploma. “There is so much information online, especially with computers, that a degree isn’t the end-all be-all,” he says. “I don’t look so much at a college degree. For me it’s the desire to learn, it’s the attitude to want it more than anything else.”
Success will take patience, though. “It won’t happen overnight. It takes time to learn and grow in this field, especially when it comes to the softer aspects,” he says. “You have to be able to communicate tech issues to nontech people, and those skills take time to develop.”
There are lots of opportunities for the right kind of person, and the need is only going to grow, he says. “There is a very big shortage of us, so there is a lot of room to get in.”
A career in financial/professional services might be right for you if:
- You enjoy working with numbers.
- You thrive on building relationships and networking.
- You are tech-savvy and passionate about protecting personal information.
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