Bret Hartman is the vice president and chief technology officer, Security Business Group at Cisco. He has more than three decades of experience in building information security solutions for major enterprises and institutions across the globe. Hartman began his career as a United States Air Force officer assigned to the US National Security Agency. At the agency, he helped in the creation of the ‘DoD Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria’ (Orange Book). An alumnus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Hartman talks to THE WEEK about different aspects ranging from preparedness of organisations to dealing with cyber security threats, data privacy concerns and how visibility and control can go a long way in preventing cyber attacks.