Cybersecurity: What is the Correct Amount?

Matthew Bruner is a well-rounded technology professional with over 25 years of experience. Holding a bachelor’s degree in Information Assurance from Oklahoma State University and a CISSP certification, Matt brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the table. He has spent 9 years within The Williams Companies, Inc. family of businesses, holding various roles before being appointed as the Manager of Cybersecurity in 2015. Focusing on both the IT and OT areas, Matt is responsible for detecting, preventing, and responding to cyber threats, advising business leaders on cyber risk, and collaborating with internal and external partners to achieve business objectives while ensuring a safe and secure operating environment.

Patrick Blumer is an IT and Cybersecurity Professional with 16+ years of experience in IT. Patrick is a Lead Gas Control System Analyst for Centerpoint Energy in Houston, Texas. After serving in the Army, Patrick held multiple roles in physical security jobs before using his GI bill to attend Vincennes University in Indiana. Patrick has obtained a BS in Technology (2010) and an AAS in Computer Network and Wireless Security (2009) from Vincennes University. He also holds and has held certifications from Vendors such as Microsoft, CompTIA, Cisco, and ISACA and is working on obtaining the prestigious CISSP certification. Patrick currently resides in Kemah, Texas and enjoys going to the ocean and helping others in the IT field.

Bob is an experienced incident response consultant and certified computer forensic examiner with 22 years of digital forensics experience coupled with 21 years of investigative experience as a law enforcement officer and detective. Bob has been with Spire since September, 2019 and takes pride in providing the most complete and accurate root cause analysis and incident response investigations possible to provide accurate steps of remediation and preventative recommendations. Along with other members of Cybersecurity, Bob uses his experience and personal drive to work toward ensuring Spire’s applications, solutions and processes properly align with security best practices. In addition, Bob provides litigation and eDiscovery support by ensuring respondent data is collected and/or preserved in a defensible manner and available per eDiscovery request.

Earlier this year, Bob transitioned to a Solutions Architect, Cybersecurity role and is now bringing that same dedication to ensuring cybersecurity is a focus from the beginning of Spire’s projects and application onboarding. Bob has already completed projects including EDR/XDR implementation, Email Security Gateway implementation and configuration, and Cyber Security Training and Phishing Campaigns. The proper tuning of these solutions, and the cybersecurity specialists managing them, have given our computer network a level of protection and visibility that wasn’t before present.