For media requests or inquiries, please email Dickey's Barbecue Pit Media Relations Team at: 

Includes a list of locations, fun facts, milestones and other company information about Dickey's Barbecue Pit.

Baker bar with potatoes and all the fixings

Press Contact

Press Kit

Media Inquiries

Hot off the pit! Here’s where you’ll find Dickey’s latest news!

IN THE NEWS

View the full article <a href="https://www.qsrmagazine.com/news/dickeys-tests-delivery-service-select-markets" target="_self">here.&nbsp;</a>
Barbecue lovers now have the opportunity to enjoy the convenience of delivery with Dickey’s Barbecue Pit. Dickey’s is offering guests the service they demand by testing delivery, straight from the store, in select markets across the nation. From a single meal at lunch to a dinner for the whole family, Dickey’s offers delivery for any size order.
The markets that are currently being tested are Minneapolis and Colorado Springs, Colorado.
“At Dickey’s, we pride ourselves on catering to our guests’ needs and our new delivery option does just that,” says Laura Rea Dickey, CEO of Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants Inc. “We chose to test these markets first to see the net worth of the delivery project before we incorporate our delivery option system-wide.”
At these stores, guests can order online or download the Dickey’s app in the Apple App Store to utilize the delivery option.

QSR: Dickey's Tests Delivery Service in Select Markets

View the full article <a href="https://www.qsrmagazine.com/news/dickey-s-barbecue-pit-continues-michigan-expansion" target="_self">here</a> .&nbsp;
Local businessmen Dan and Luke McKinnon plan to bring two Dickey’s Barbecue Pit locations to their hometown of Muskegon in 2018. The first location is slated to open in May with the second following in late 2018.
Dan McKinnon has been in business for himself for over 25 years, owning local businesses GH Imaging and Printing, Glo Sun and Shades and Village Manor of Ludington. Dickey’s Barbecue Pit will be the McKinnon’s first restaurant venture.
“Dickey’s Barbecue Pit has been and always will be a family-run, family-oriented business and that is something we pride ourselves on,” says Laura Rea Dickey, CEO of Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. “Having a family of experienced entrepreneurs eager to break into the restaurant industry is an exciting and rewarding thing and we look forward to the success Dan and Luke will have with Dickey’s.”
Dan and Luke will be opening both Dickey’s locations together with Luke handling the day-to-day operations of the stores. They both have a passion for slow-smoked barbecue and enjoy partnering on new businesses that bring joy to the community they consider family.
“The restaurant industry is one that we have yet to break into and Dickey’s Barbecue Pit has made the journey quite exciting for us,” says Dan. “We love the food, the look and the concept and look forward to opening our doors for all of the residents of our hometown.”

QSR: Dickey’s Barbecue Pit Continues Michigan Expansion

View the full article <a href="https://www.sbsun.com/2018/02/15/cal-state-san-bernardino-meat-lovers-rejoice-dickeys-barbecue-pit-opens-across-from-campus/" target="_self">here</a> .&nbsp;
Cal State San Bernardino has gotten its own Dickey’s Barbecue Pit.
Franchisee Mike Gebrael opened the restaurant Thursday, Feb. 15, at 1725 Northpark Blvd. He said in a phone interview that students can walk across the street from campus.
Dickey’s, a Texas chain founded in 1941, has been growing in Southern California and already had locations along the 210 Freeway in Highland, Fontana and Upland.
It specializes in plates laden with smoked meats such as pulled pork, pork ribs, beef brisket, chicken breast and kielbasa. Sides include baked beans, cabbage slaw, potato salad, Texas toast and corn muffins.
Dickey’s also serves Smoke Stacks such as Texas Frito Pie.
Meals usually cost a little more than a 10-spot, but Gebrael said he is planning to continue the opening celebration with a month of promotions.
Information: 909-473-7393

Bernardino Sun: 

View the full article <a href="http://www.grbj.com/articles/90002-father-and-son-plan-barbecue-restaurants" target="_blank">here</a> &nbsp;
A long-time business owner in the region and his son plan to open a pair of barbecue restaurant franchises.
Dan McKinnon, who owns four other businesses along the lakeshore, and his son, Luke McKinnon, will open two Dickey’s Barbecue Pit restaurants in Muskegon this year.
The first will open in late May in a former Wendy’s restaurant, at 3035 Henry St. A location and opening date for the second franchise have not yet been determined, but the pair are aiming for late 2018.
“My family has been in business in Muskegon for the last 40 years,” Dan McKinnon said. “I have seven children, and five of the seven work for me and various companies I own.”
His other companies include GH Imaging and GH Printing, two separate but related businesses in Muskegon, Glo Sun and Shades in Muskegon and Village Manor of Ludington.
This is his first restaurant venture.
“Dickey’s Barbecue Pit has made the journey quite exciting for us,” Dan McKinnon said. “We love the food, the look and the concept and look forward to opening our doors.”
Laura Rea Dickey, CEO of Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants, said the McKinnons are exactly the type of franchisees the chain seeks.
“Dickey’s Barbecue Pit has been and always will be a family run, family oriented business and that is something we pride ourselves on,” Dickey said. “Having a family of experienced entrepreneurs eager to break into the restaurant industry is an exciting and rewarding thing, and we look forward to the success Dan and Luke will have with Dickey’s.”
Hiring
The McKinnons plan to hire about 20 employees to work at the Henry Street location and will begin accepting applications in early May.
In addition to his role as partner, Luke McKinnon will serve as general manager for both locations.
Menu
Dickey’s Barbecue Pit serves slow-smoked meats and homestyle sides with “No B.S. (Bad Stuff)” included.
The menu features entrees, sandwiches, sub-style Westerner sandwiches, Smoke Stacks and tacos.
Firms on the project
Muskegon-based DL Morse &amp; Associates is the contractor on the project.
FM Solutions in Phoenix is the architect and interior designer.
Dickey’s &nbsp;
Founded in 1941 by Travis Dickey, Dallas-based Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants is a fast-casual barbecue franchise.
It has more than 550 locations in 44 states

Grand Rapids Business Journal: Father and son plan barbecue restaurants

View the full article <a href="http://www.meatpoultry.com/articles/news_home/Business/2018/02/Dickeys_adds_a_new_Michigan_lo.aspx?ID=%7b63A8E17C-00AC-404D-81BB-559E5C4DEAE8%7d" target="_blank">here</a> &nbsp;.&nbsp;
ROCKFORD, Mich. — Dickey’s Barbecue Pit is adding a location in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with franchisee restauranteurs, Joan and Karl Dahl.
The couple is experienced in the restaurant industry owning Little Caesars franchises for the past 13 years in the Grand Rapids area.
"At Dickey's Barbecue Pit, we are proud to have experienced franchisees such as Joan and Karl who are passionate about their business and the art of great barbecue," says Laura Rea Dickey, CEO of Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. "We are excited to have the Dahls as a part of our family and look forward to the success they will have in the town they call home."
Originally from the Grand Rapids area, Joan Dahl looks forward to bringing Texas-style barbecue to her community.
"After spending years in the restaurant franchising world, we decided it was time to expand and found a home in Dickey's," she said.

Meat + Poultry: Dickey's adds a new Michigan location

View the full article <a href="https://www.qsrmagazine.com/news/dickey-s-debuts-dinner-special-two-february">here</a>.&nbsp;
Dickey’s Barbecue Pit is doubling up their slow-smoked greatness by offering a Texas-style dinner special for two.
The dinner for two includes two, two-meat plates for $22 and will be available for purchase the whole month of February on weekdays after 4 p.m. 

Dickey’s two-meat plates include the guest’s choice of two authentic, slow-smoked meats, two savory sides and a delicious buttery roll. This February, guests can enjoy dinner in-store at Dickey’s with their barbecue loving best friend or better half for only $22. 

“At Dickey’s, we believe that authentic barbecue is meant to be shared with friends and family,” says Renee Roozen, President of Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. “We are proud to offer this special to our guests and bring folks in our doors to enjoy Texas-style barbecue with their loved ones and our Dickey’s Barbecue Pit family.”

QSR: Dickey’s Debuts Dinner Special for Two for February

View the full article <a href="https://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2018/01/30/this-dickeys-executive-is-planning-on-global.html">here</a>.&nbsp;As she leads growth for the country’s largest barbecue chain, Trinity Hall has a much meatier goal in mind: “global domination for barbecue.” The senior vice president of Development for Dickey’s Barbecue Pit started with the restaurant company seven years ago, building its equipment team. Today, she’s handles franchise sales, construction teams, real estate, design and permitting for Dickey’s. She’s also behind the Dallas-born company’s exponential growth. Founded in 1941, today Dickey’s has 550 locations in 44 states. In the pipeline is the first step toward her global goal: Dickey’s first international deal, announced in November, to bring roughly 45 restaurants to seven countries across the Middle East. The first is expected to open this year in the United Arab Emirates. &nbsp;Hall told us more about her role and plans for Dickey’s. What attracted you to Dickey’s? Most people say the growth. I didn’t know it was to grow as much and as quickly at the time. I was looking for something I could create and mold myself with, something I could have an impact on instead of being somewhere you could wait for a couple of years to see an impact. How have you been guiding Dickey’s growth? I’m pushing the business forward through franchise sales national and internationally. We signed our first international deal and we were able to do it right and not rush it. That’s where I’m steering the brand. I recently had to travel to Las Vegas for store visits, and every place I went to, everyone knew we were there. That’s another element, where I’m guiding the public to our stores. What growth will Dickey’s see this year? When we sold the international deal in October, that brought 50 stores in 7 countries. We’ll get those going and open. We have some Hawaii stores opening this year as well. We want global domination for barbecue. Why are you pushing more franchise sales? We keep our five core corporate stores, but franchise sales are our niche. We’re good at having franchisees come in and take hold. It’s a hallmark of the company, finding people who want to become entrepreneurs.&nbsp; How do you decide where to grow internationally? It’s finding that right partner. There’s a trust factor on both parties. We don’t have offices over there yet, so that’s important. We put out a couple of press releases, and phones started ringing. With international, we require people with food experience because it’s a different beast. Our partner has done just as much research on us as we have on them, and they want to help us grow outside the countries they’ve purchased. How will you continue to spur growth in the U.S.? It’s really internal growth with our existing franchisees. We keep them going and growing. We’re also looking for people we didn’t know there was a market for. We didn’t know there was an opportunity for C-stores or locations inside airports or malls. What is the biggest challenge of your job? I get to mold people and help those who don’t want to be out on their own. The hardest part is we grew fast and we’re good at it, but we have to sustain that growth and make sure people get the support they need every day, whether it’s internal or external.

Dallas Business Journal: This Dickey's executive is planning on 'global domination for barbecue'

View the full article <a href="https://www.qsrmagazine.com/news/dickey-s-launches-online-ordering-through-mobile-app">here</a>.&nbsp;The latest initiative at Dickey’s Barbecue Pit brings authentic, Texas-style barbecue to guests at their fingertips with Dickey’s very own mobile app, featuring online ordering for pick-up or delivery and a new loyalty rewards program. “We are living in an on-demand world where most guests will choose the location of their next meal primarily based on convenience,” says Laura Rea Dickey, CEO of Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. “Our new app rewards our guests for their loyalty, fulfills the demand for convenience and most importantly, provides the authentic Texas-style barbecue they love.” From their favorite everyday menu items to a full-sized catering, guests can now order Dickey’s for all their cravings with the touch of a button. Guests have the choice of in-store or curbside pickup, and/or delivery when ordering through the app.&nbsp; Curbside pickup and delivery availability vary by location. The second phase of the Dickey’s app, slated to go live in March, will include a review-based loyalty program, which rewards Dickey’s guests for feedback on their purchases. The Dickey’s app is currently available in the Apple app store and will launch for Android in early Summer 2018.

QSR: Dickey’s Launches Online Ordering Through Mobile App

View the full article <a href="https://www.fastcasual.com/news/dickeys-launches-mobile-app/">here</a>.&nbsp;Dickey's has launched a mobile app, featuring online ordering for pick-up or delivery and a new loyalty rewards program.&nbsp;"We are living in an on-demand world where most guests will choose the location of their next meal primarily based on convenience,"Laura Rea Dickey, CEO of Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, said in a company press release. "Our new app rewards our guests for their loyalty, fulfills the demand for convenience and most importantly, provides the authentic Texas-style barbecue they love."&nbsp;From their favorite everyday menu items to a full-sized catering, guests can now order Dickey's for all their cravings with the touch of a button. Guests have the choice of in-store or curbside pickup, and/or delivery when ordering through the app. Curbside pickup and delivery availability vary by location, Dickey said.&nbsp;The second phase of the Dickey's app, slated to go live in March, will include a review-based loyalty program which rewards Dickey's guests for feedback on their purchases.&nbsp;The Dickey's app is available in the Apple app store and will launch for Android in early summer 2018.&nbsp;

Fast Casual: Dickey's launches mobile app

View the full article <a href="https://hospitalitytech.com/dickeys-bbq-catering-platform-serves-saucy-results?eid=363021283&amp;bid=1985079">here</a>.&nbsp;Like all good things, it started with a used $500 Lay’s potato chip truck. The year was 1969, and Dickey’s BBQ, founded 28 years earlier, was growing under the guidance of Brothers Roland and T.D. Dickey, who’d taken the reins from their founder-father Travis Dickey two years prior. As Dickey’s BBQ began to expand beyond its first location in Dallas, the brothers saw the potential and power of bringing the food to the people — instead of the people to the food. But it was a move borne of necessity, at its core. “They thought outside of the four walls to save the store,” Michelle Matthews, vice president of direct sales, explains. “It was a great way to bring their BBQ to the people when they weren’t getting the foot traffic yet." Today, Dickey’s catering has grown from its humble potato-chip-truck origins into a robust business. The 600-store chain generated about 10% of its business from catering, a number that has jumped to 15% since partnering with the ezCater online ordering platform five years ago. The chain’s best performing stores see catering figures closer to 20%, Matthews adds. ezCater, available through desktop and mobile web as well as via an iOS app, shows customers each restaurant’s on-time ratings and reviews. It aims to take the guesswork out of group catering by displaying the businesses that cater in the user’s area and enables filtering by other criteria such as budget and type of food. For Dickey’s, the ezCater platform has been enormously effective in increasing brand awareness. “It has expanded our customer base,” Matthews says. “I can guarantee that someone eating Dickey’s at a catered event hasn't been to one of our stores before.” She describes the ezCater partnership as a “win-win.” She explains, “It’s a marketing investment with guaranteed ROI, which you can’t say about most marketing spend, like a billboard.” Currently, roughly 80% — about 415 — of Dickey’s stores participate on ezCater and the BBQ enterprise proactively tries to get stores on board. Despite the eye-catching numbers — Dickey’s has seen 400% year-over-year growth through third-party vendors such as ezCater and Grubhub — some franchisees are slow to sign up. “Not everyone is an early adopter,” Matthews explains. “Sometimes owners are apprehensive about the system until they try it.” Because ezCater doesn’t require a contract, it’s easy to trial without a commitment. Dickey’s sees strong ticket averages stemming from ezCater orders, which are split about 50-50 between business and residential events. The BBQ chain gains repeat customers as a result of catering through ezCater, Matthews says, as well as steady incremental sales. The nationwide platform is particularly helpful for professionals, such as pharmaceutical sales reps, who travel regularly and host events in various cities. Despite the popularity with on-the-go workers, ezCater users — often desk-bound office managers and administrative assistants — tend to favor the desktop site, though that’s changing as mobile-first Millennials enter the workforce. Matthews says it would be helpful to have an ezCater API at some point so that real-time sales data feeds directly into Dickey’s POS. “That type of integration would eliminate manual reporting,” she adds.

Hospitality Technology: For Dickey's BBQ, Catering Platform Serves Up Saucy Results

View the full article <a href="http://www.meatpoultry.com/articles/news_home/Business/2018/01/New_app_goes_to_the_pits.aspx?ID={6E9F36B8-5A27-435F-9B7B-F8F661FEEB57}">here</a>.&nbsp;DALLAS – A new mobile app puts the smoky goodness of Dickey’s Barbecue Pits at its customers fingertips. The chain announced the new app on Jan. 25 and will allow customers to order products for delivery or to-go.&nbsp; Convenience is the main driver behind the technology launch, which will include a loyalty component that will begin in March, according to Laura Rea Dickey, CEO of Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants Inc. “We are living in an on-demand world where most guests will choose the location of their next meal primarily based on convenience," she said. Customers using the app can order single menu items up to catering orders for large groups for either pickup at their local restaurant or for delivery. The forthcoming loyalty program is a feedback-based rewards system according to the company. "Our new app rewards our guests for their loyalty, fulfills the demand for convenience and most importantly, provides the authentic Texas-style barbecue they love,” Dickey said. Dickey’s is billed as the largest barbecue restaurant chain in the US with more than 550 locations in 44 states.

Meat + Poultry: New App Goes to the Pits

View the full segments <a href="http://www.pahomepage.com/community/pa-live/pa-live-dickeys-bbq-segment-1-january-18-2018/925709500">here</a> and <a href="http://www.pahomepage.com/community/pa-live/pa-live-dickeys-bbq-segment-2-january-18-2018/925709816">here</a>.&nbsp;

PA Live: Dickey's Tailgate Party Pack

View the full segment <a href="http://cwlasvegas.com/entertainment/cw-shows-videos/dickeys-barbecue-pit-features-tailgate-party-pack">here</a>.&nbsp;

CW Las Vegas: Dickey's Barbecue Pit features Tailgate Party Pack

View the full segments <a href="http://www.fox5vegas.com/video?autoStart=true&amp;topVideoCatNo=default&amp;clipId=14056319">here</a> and <a href="http://www.fox5vegas.com/video?autoStart=true&amp;topVideoCatNo=default&amp;clipId=14056301">here</a>.&nbsp;

FOX 5 Las Vegas: Dickey's Barbecue Pit Tailgate Party Pack

View the full article <a href="https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-ceo/2018/january-february/cybersecurity-hacking-corporate-dallas-fort-worth/">here</a>.&nbsp;All it took was one menacing message to create turmoil at Dallas-based Dickey’s Barbecue. CEO Laura Rea Dickey remembers it like it was yesterday. “It [said], ‘Congratulations, you have downloaded our physical CryptoLocker virus,” Dickey, then-chief information officer, remembers about the April 2015 incident. The message, displayed across an employee’s computer screen, set off an unexpected mini-crisis on what was otherwise a typical day at the headquarters of the barbecue-restaurant company. Normally, the headquarters is focused on developing new ways to meet its customers and leverage its slow-smoked barbecue and southern hospitality. “We’re barbecue, not brain surgery,” says Dickey. But the day quickly became complicated when a marketing department computer went black, displaying nothing else but the threat. The virus infiltrated the company’s marketing files, holding them for a ransom of $6,000. The company had 72 hours to meet the request or access to the files would be permanently denied. It was a first for Dickey, whose husband was running the company as CEO at the time. “It was a very bad day at the office, and a very bad dinner at home,” she says. Dickey’s had a choice to make: Lose the marketing assets that cost well over the $6,000 requested by the cyber thieves, or pay the ransom and look the other way. It was an easy decision to make, says Dickey: “We opted not to pay to have our data come back. From an educational understanding … to the business ethics of not being held hostage for something … it was marketing and creative assets we could recreate.” So the company spent thousands of dollars reshooting photos, redoing videos, and rebuilding what had been lost. And while the company lost money and time undoing the damage, the crisis created an opportunity for improvement that Dickey didn’t take lightly. With that day burned into her memory, the company has since implemented automated systems that create redundancy in its cybersecurity checks and scans. “It’s tough. No matter how secure you think you are … breaches happen.” Though Dickey’s experience was one for the books at the barbecue-restaurant company, cybersecurity crises have become increasingly common across industries. And though most companies have developed cybersecurity strategies in recent years and even begun prioritizing them, keeping systems and data secure continues to be a daunting task. As security gets more sophisticated, so do cyber criminals. And as technology makes its way into every piece of every business, more and more data is put at risk, leading to more breaches. U.S. data breaches through June 30, 2017 hit a half-year record high of 791, representing a 29 percent increase over the same period in 2016, according to numbers released in July by nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center and CyberScout, an identity and risk management services company. The Identity Theft Resource Center estimated in July that the total number of breaches for the year could reach 1,500, which would represent a 37 percent increase over the record year of 2016, when breaches totaled 1,093. On top of all this, cybersecurity operations often require manpower as well as the latest software, both of which can be costly. With the cost of a breach averaging $7.35 million, according a 2017 study conducted by the Ponemon Institute, the question becomes: How much cybersecurity is enough to prevent a breach? “One of the problems people have in the corporate sphere is, there are no clear metrics on how to invest in cybersecurity,” says Alvaro Cardenas, assistant professor of computer science at the University of Texas at Dallas, adding that cybersecurity is viewed as a “cost generator.” As a result, companies “tend to invest too little until something happens,” he says. There is no silver bullet to investing in cybersecurity, adds Fred Chang, executive director of the Darwin Deason Institute for Cyber Security at Southern Methodist University. But best practices serve as a foundation for cybersecurity strategies that could mitigate catastrophes. Part of the foundation includes developing a strategy and budget based on proactive, versus reactive, measures, implementing artificial intelligence and automation, hiring enough people to handle the tasks at hand, and making sure the team is qualified enough to respond to the complicated situations. “It’s really an economic perspective: What is my return on investment?” Chang says. “And it’s a hard one [to answer]. When you’re [dealing with different urgent priorities], you have to have wear different hats.” Sarah Hendrickson knows just what that’s like. She’s held information technology and security roles for companies including J.C. Penney, Dell Services, Children’s Health, and, most recently, Neiman Marcus, where she served as the company’s first-ever chief information security officer. “No two breaches are the same,” she says. “So the ways you react to them are unique. It’s tough. No matter how secure you think you are … breaches happen.” On the Front Lines First identify the “crown jewels” of the company. What is the most important information that company holds? Is it its secret sauce, widgets, confidential business dealings? Determine how the most valuable information could be monetized against the company. What would that look like? Develop a plan based around previously determined possibilities to mitigate risk. This could include creating a double authorization process to access specific files. Continuous patching is vital to protecting all assets. Make sure security is regularly updated. Be wary of third party networks. Vendors, partnerships, and sometimes even customers can create various touch points to company networks and data. Even if your defenses are top-notch, you could be infiltrated by an outside party. During her tenure at J.C. Penney, Hendrickson dealt with a 2007 hack that targeted Penney along with other companies like TJ Maxx and Heartland Payment Systems. At the time, she served as a scribe during the development of the strategy. “It’s really hard when … the U.S. government tells you that you have a problem when you didn’t know you had a problem,” she says, adding that, more often, bad actors attack aggressively and therefore are easy to spot. “In a breach situation, you have to be able to determine that no data was breached. In J.C. Penney’s situation … we couldn’t prove the data had been infiltrated, but we couldn’t prove that it hadn’t. So it was super frustrating.” Seven years later, Hendrickson had the chance to take the leading role. In November 2014, Neiman Marcus, having suffered a $1.6 million data breach that affected 350,000 customers, appointed Hendrickson as its first-ever chief information security officer. “Sometimes a company doesn’t have enough security as … they should,” she says. “Then when they have a breach, they have an intense focus on security. So I had resources and tools and money. When I initially joined, [the company] was very supportive, very proactive.” But cybersecurity wasn’t the only grave concern for Neiman Marcus. It was also struggling financially, losing $147.2 million in fiscal 2014. The company began digging itself out, reporting $14.9 million in profit during fiscal 2015, but sank even deeper in fiscal 2016, losing $406.1 million. Around that time, Ignaz Gorischek, vice president of store development, and Wanda Gierhart, chief marketing officer, exited the company, and the retailer slashed 600 jobs. It also had filed for an initial public offering, with rumors swirling that the retailer was seeking a buyer as well. On or about Dec. 26, 2015, the upscale retailer was hit by hackers again. The cybercriminals stole customers’ full payment card numbers and expiration dates, as well as customers’ names, contact information, email addresses, and purchase history, according to documents filed with the California Attorney General. Neiman’s sent notifications to affected customers, which the retailer identified as InCircle loyalty members or online shoppers. It also offered affected customers one year of MyIDCare, a theft protection service offered through ID Experts. Hendrickson would not comment on why she left the retailer. But in June 2017, she, too, departed Neiman’s. She was replaced in November by Shamoun Siddiqui, former vice president and CISO at Nationstar Mortgage. Hendrickson, who now works as an independent security consultant, says the effectiveness of a cybersecurity operation can be boiled down to one thing: “It all comes down to the capabilities of [the] response team,” she says. “If they have people in-house … that understand all the parts and pieces … that’s great. More often than not, they don’t have that.” The lack of cybersecurity talent is a growing problem that the nation is keeping tabs on, says Chang, who spoke and gave written testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection Subcommittee in September. “The size of the cyber skills gap globally will grow to about 1.8 million in 2022,” he wrote in his testimony. “This is 20 percent higher than an estimate made two years earlier.” Chang says that he’s seen estimates that more than 200,000 job openings are available in the cybersecurity industry. “It’s a big problem,” he says, adding that data breaches will continue to rise as long as the talent to prevent them is not available. Dickey’s, for example, was infected by ransomware that was spread to its network via an outside flash drive brought in by a well-meaning employee. It’s a common occurrence, and one Hendrickson says she focused a lot on throughout her corporate tenure: “You can put up all the firewalls and build all the servers. But if you can call someone else or send someone an email that looks legit … that’s something money can’t change.” Dickey echoes the sentiment. “You can budget and forecast for software licenses and what your upgrades will be, [but] it’s the education piece a lot of people overlook,” she says. “Instead of a sophisticated way of someone breaking into your car, it’s like leaving your keys in it.” For Pamela Arora, CIO at Children’s Health, mitigating human error is key. “It sounds so basic, but every [company’s] weakest link is the individual,” she says. “When it comes to how bad actors try to get into the environment … it’s not only emails, it’s phone calls and social engineering.” This includes cybercriminals gaining the trust of an employee by disguising themselves as a company executive, vendor, or someone else who may need pertinent business information. While Children’s has plenty of automated security tools in place, it also has a strategy for the human element. “We regularly phish our employees,” Arora says. “So if employees click on attachments [they shouldn’t], they’re redirected to an educational page.” Her team also rewards employees for alerting the company to possible scams they come across. Sometimes, this helps the IT team eliminate the same scan from thousands of other employees’ boxes before they’ve ever even seen it. Children’s had its own scares with low-tech cybersecurity issues. In November 2009, an employee lost a BlackBerry device at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, and someone stole a laptop computer in April 2013. Combined, the two lost devices contained the electronic health records of about 6,262 individuals, according the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Children’s was fined $3.2 million in February 2017 for the incidents. But these two cases were quickly improved upon, Arora says. First, the company implemented physical safeguards to prevent theft. And the BlackBerry problem solved itself as technology advanced. All of Children’s mobile devices are now encrypted, Arora says. “It sounds so basic, but every [company’s] weakest link is the individual.” Safeguarding itself from cybercrime goes well beyond the four walls of Children’s. The healthcare system also monitors its connections with vendors, private physicians, and patients—all of whom may be connecting to hospital portals via infected devices. Children’s also works with other healthcare providers in the region, transferring intel when it has information about cyber threats. “Bad actors collaborate quite well,” Arora says. “We as organizations … to protect patient data … need to work our neighborhood watch across our community. We can learn from each other and make it a safer place.” Keeping abreast of the latest cyber threats and solutions—whether that’s through a network or via research—can help companies set or sharpen their cybersecurity strategies, Cardenas of UTD says. A good place to start is the National Council of Information Sharing and Analysis Centers, which contains information from 24 sector-based organizations that share information on the latest cyber threats facing their respective industry. There’s also the Cybersecurity Framework, a result of President Barack Obama’s 2013 executive order to improve cybersecurity infrastructure. The framework, available online, gathers global standards and practices to help organizations with their cybersecurity strategies. The good news is that C-level executives, in general, are increasingly more open to discussing and investing in cybersecurity initiatives, says SMU’s Chang. “We do find that the budgets are not bad,” Chang says, adding that execs are willing to pay extra to keep their company names from being tarnished as the latest victim of a hack. “The C-suite is saying, ‘This cyber thing is a factor. Here’s a respectable budget.’” But it’s important that executives keep in mind exactly how that budget is being spent. A reactive plan will look much different, both in terms of strategy and budget, than a proactive plan, Chang says. But one is clearly superior to the other. Think like a hacker, Chang says, and that will guide investment. “If I’m going to spend a million on my cyber defense budget … then next year I’m going to spend 2 million … I’ve doubled [my] spend,” Chang says. “The question to ask is, ‘Have I doubled my security? Do I have the metrics to determine that’s the case?’ Or if you double your spending, can you triple your security? It takes some pretty clear thinking on how to spend the dollars.”

Press Room