Allie Mellen
Senior Analyst

Author Insights
Blog
VRM And SOC Teams Can Benefit From Each Other
We’re excited to announce our latest research on vulnerability risk management (VRM) and security operations center (SOC) teams. VRM and SOC teams are pivotal parts of the security organization, with different responsibilities but shared challenges. When Allie and I kicked off our research on interlocks between these teams earlier this year, we weren’t sure what […]
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Defending AI Models: From Soon To Yesterday
Enterprise adoption of fine-tuned large language models is already underway, forcing cybersecurity teams to learn quickly how to protect them.
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Insights From The 2023 RSA Conference: Generative AI, Quantum, And Innovation Sandbox
RSAC 2023 is a wrap! The Forrester security and risk team had 11 attendees at the RSA Conference last week. We really enjoyed meeting with clients and colleagues old and new — and now we’re exhausted. It’s no mystery why; as a team, we collectively participated in over 230 meetings and took more than 1.5 […]
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Protecting Against The Top Cybersecurity Threats In 2023 Requires A Balanced Approach
Get a preview of the top five cybersecurity threats — established and emerging — for this year and learn how to defend against each.
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Generative AI Goes Mainstream In Security With Microsoft Security Copilot
Typically, security is late to the game with technology innovation. Before we get to see innovative technology, we have to wait for it to matter to security. This time, however, is different. In January, we predicted how the announcement of ChatGPT could change cybersecurity, and today, our predictions were validated again with the announcement of […]
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The Pay Gap Isn’t The Only Problem For Women In CISO Roles
Last week, we published Forrester’s third CISO Career Paths report. This research involved an analysis of the career paths of Fortune 500 CISOs, looking into their education, tenures, and prior experiences of security leaders at some of the world’s largest companies. This data showcases existing trends and helps forecast what CISO roles will look like […]
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Get A Head Start On The National Cybersecurity Strategy
This blog outlines Forrester’s existing Security & Risk research to help organizations navigate, manage, and prepare their organizations for the implications of the National Cybersecurity Strategy.
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Introducing The Forrester Model To Defend Against Nation-State Threats
Given years of cyberespionage, attacks on elections, and, more recently, the melding of kinetic and digital warfare in the Russia-Ukraine war, private sector security leaders in all industries must recognize and prepare for more brazen and frequent nation-state cyberattacks. This is the first and the foundational report in a series that will help security leaders […]
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Success With Zero Trust Lives And Dies By Executive Support
Forrester originated the Zero Trust Model over a decade ago and defines Zero Trust as: An information security model that denies access to applications and data by default. Threat prevention is achieved by only granting access to networks and workloads utilizing policy informed by continuous, contextual, risk-based verification across users and their associated devices. Zero Trust advocates […]
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Cybersecurity Risk Dashboards: No Value, Extreme Liability
Over the last 12 months, “risk dashboards” became all the rage in cybersecurity, with varied titles such as “risk index,” “security baseline,” “security posture,” and “risk posture.” These dashboards appear in a vendor’s user interface and purport to help security programs improve. Some even offer coveted “benchmark data” that leaders can share with boards and […]
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Announcing The Forrester Wave™: Security Analytics Platforms, Q4 2022
The security analytics platform market is moving faster than it has in years, as demonstrated by these Wave results. Though Splunk still has a tight grip on the segment, competitors are finding opportunities to loosen its hold by addressing continued dissatisfaction with outdated pricing models. Hyperscalers like Microsoft are establishing themselves as top competitors through […]
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Uneven Innovation At AWS re:Invent 2022
Some 14 Forrester analysts attended this year’s AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas. The conference was a mix of innovation in some areas — particularly compute and networking, along with a co-engineering approach to industry cloud — but plateaus in others, such as hybrid and edge. Efficiency and consolidation were underlying themes, from amping up AI/ML […]
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A Look Inside The Forrester-WISP Partnership: A Q&A With Rachel Tobac
The chair of the board at Women in Security and Privacy (WISP) discusses the organization's work and how companies can partner with it to foster diversity in cybersecurity.
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Who You Gonna Call? Apply Your SOC Skills To Paranormal Investigations
Mischief, fright, haunting … These are just a few terms that apply to this time of year: Halloween. But these terms can also explain cyberattacks and the paranormal. Yes, we said it, cyberattacks and the paranormal, both things that go bump in the night (and often bump in the daylight, too). Both involve something that […]
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The “Autonomous SOC” Is A Pipe Dream
Learn why an autonomous security operations center is an unrealistic vision for any security organization.
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Apply Now For A Scholarship To Forrester’s Security And Risk Forum
A few weeks ago, I spoke with Derek Johnson from SC Media about my experiences early on in the security industry – good and bad. While some of these moments were difficult, all of them were formative and helped me better understand the current state of the security community and industry. We are blessed with […]
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It’s Not You, It’s Them: Build A Resilient Cybersecurity Career
Preparing for the worst means putting loyalty aside to build a plan with your goals and growth at the center. Learn how to get started.
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Forget Quiet Quitting — Tech Whistleblowers Go Out With A Bang
When tech companies select people with ideals and integrity, they get people with ideals and integrity. When they behave in ways that betray those employees, they can expect rebellion.
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Five Reasons To Buy A Service Before A Product
Learn why moving away from legacy thinking on products and services leads to far better outcomes.
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Threat Hunting 101: A Human-Led Exercise
Here, we clear up some misconceptions about threat hunting and explain why it’s in the best interest of your team to start doing it.
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