At McCarthy Cyber Readiness, Neal McCarthy brings his cybersecurity risk consultant expertise to organizations of all sizes. Whether he’s facilitating a custom tabletop exercise, developing a cross-functional response plan, or helping executives identify and prioritize risks, his goal is the same, make sure no leader has to face a cyber crisis unprepared.
With decades of experience in the military, law enforcement, and business domains, author of the McGraw-Hill book The Computer Incident Response Planning Handbook, McCarthy has spent the past decade with Dell Secureworks, where he authored top-down, risk-based CIRPs and facilitated over 400 management focused tabletop exercises (TTX) worldwide that are Top Down, Risk Based, and Business Focused. His focus is on humility, honesty, collaboration, and anticipation.
A retired U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Lieutenant Colonel, McCarthy spent five years at U.S. Cyber Command in his final military assignment. Following 9/11, he served nearly four years on active duty as an Information (Cyber) Warfare Officer at U.S. Strategic Command, the Pentagon, and the NSA.
Beyond his military service, he devoted 17 years as a volunteer reserve police officer, receiving U.S. Department of Justice training in computer forensics and advanced internet investigations. He later served a decade on the board of the FBI’s InfraGard 501(c)(3) chapter in San Francisco / Silicon Valley.
McCarthy holds a B.S. in Computer Science, an MBA, and certifications including CISSP and CIPP/E. He is also the author of the children’s cybersecurity book Mommy! There’s a Monster in Our Computer, both available on Amazon.
McCarthy’s cyber incident management experience started back in early 2008. The breach (per California’s SB-1386) was a lost file cabinet full of paper HR records. Fortunately, his CIRP was comprehensive enough to address all the business obligations of this non IT cyber incident. His CIRP successfully passed numerous audits and had been repeatedly leveraged during actual incidents.
While presenting his CIRP Table of Contents at an FBI InfraGard function, McCarthy was approached by McGraw-Hill as a thought leader on the topic and compensated to write his CIRP book. During that time, he would also have his management duties expand to include Privacy and Enterprise Risk Management. Based on his book, McCarthy was invited to join Dell Secureworks as a CIRP/TTX consultant. Today, he works with Secureworks/Sophos as a contractor, alongside his focus on private consultancy.
At McCarthy Cyber Readiness, Neal brings his cybersecurity risk consultant expertise to organizations of all sizes. Whether he’s facilitating a custom tabletop exercise, guiding a cross-functional response team, or helping executives identify and prioritize risks, his goal is the same, make sure no leader has to face a cyber crisis unprepared.
