Different industries, same cyber battle

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This week we’re focused on…

The cybersecurity fundamentals that stay true across industries. 

Because if you asked someone to compare Carnival Corporation with H.I.G. Capital, cybersecurity probably wouldn't be the first thing that came to mind.

One operates 94 cruise ships carrying millions of passengers around the world. The other manages a global portfolio of businesses across multiple sectors.

Different organisations, different business models. So do they face different risks? 

Speaking on the latest episode of The Black Hat Files, Margarita Rivera (Global CISO at Carnival Corporation) and Marcos Marrero (CISO at H.I.G. Capital) agreed that while every industry has its own operational challenges, the foundations of cybersecurity stay the same. 

The fundamentals don't change

Rivera was quick to challenge the assumption that hospitality and financial services face completely different security problems.

"We're not quite that different. When you look behind everything, what we're trying to do is very similar."

She pointed to a common set of priorities shared across organisations: 

"We're all having to tackle identity. We're having to tackle observability. We're having to tackle security operations, engineering, architectural intelligence. That's all the same."

Those comments echo wider industry thinking. According to The World Economic Forum, cyber risk continues to accelerate across every sector, driven by artificial intelligence, geopolitical instability and increasingly complex supply chains. 

In fact, 94% of cybersecurity leaders surveyed by the WEF believe AI will be the biggest force changing cybersecurity over the coming year, regardless of industry.

Where industries do differ

The similarities don't mean every CISO has the same job – far from it. 

Rivera's challenge is protecting what she describes as ‘floating cities’. 

"I'm in hospitality. People want to have fun and security can be seen as a blocker to fun. I have to be incredibly creative in terms of the approach that I have with cybersecurity within my organisation. I’m essentially securing floating cities – I have 94 floating cities across the globe. We're tackling all kinds of different things from restaurants to hotels to medical to operational technology."

Marrero, meanwhile, faces a different type of complexity.

"We all have the same base level of threats and risks that we need to address. Then as you go up that ladder, it becomes a bit more specialised in each area. She has ships she has to secure. I have portfolio companies that I need to secure. These portfolio companies can be in any industry. You name it, we own it."

The environments couldn't be more different. Yet both leaders describe the same underlying priorities: visibility, identity, resilience and strong operational security.

Why collaboration matters more than ever

One theme came up repeatedly throughout the conversation: collaboration.

For Rivera, events like Black Hat MEA create opportunities to learn from organisations facing entirely different operational realities.

Reflecting on the event, she described it as:

"Collaboration, forward thinking and innovation. It brought together so many folks from all over the world to work together, to think together, to plan together. That's really where you get true innovation, where you have diverse ways of thinking coming together."

That message aligns with the World Economic Forum's recent research, which urges that collaboration across industries, governments and the wider cybersecurity community will be essential to strengthening resilience in an increasingly complex threat landscape. 

A conversation full of lessons 

Hospitality and private equity may appear to be worlds apart.

But listening to Rivera and Marrero, it's clear that today's CISOs are grappling with many of the same strategic questions: 

• How to prepare for AI.
• How to plan for quantum computing.
• How to strengthen security culture.
• How to build resilient organisations in an uncertain world.

So across different industries, cybersecurity leaders are fighting the same fight – and should take every opportunity to learn from each other. 

Listen to the full interview with Margarita Rivera and Marcos Marrero on The Black Hat Files. 

On the blog we’re taking a closer look at two of the issues raised in the podcast – why CISOs need to plan for quantum threats now, and why building a security-first culture might be more important than chasing the latest compliance framework.

Learn from the world’s leading cybersecurity practitioners at Black Hat MEA 2026, and implement tools and processes to protect against evolving threats. Register now.