Dr Beverly McCann, Director of Product at Darktrace speaks to SJUK Editor, James Humphreys, about how the company remains at the forefront of cybersecurity innovation.

Can you tell me about yourself and your background in the security industry?   

I’m Beverly McCann, Director of Product at Darktrace.

I’ve been in this role for almost a year now, but I’ve been with the company for over five years.

My journey into cybersecurity wasn’t a conventional one.

My background was originally in academia – I hold a PhD in biology – before I started at Darktrace as a Cybersecurity Analyst, which was a good fit with my analytical expertise.  

Over the years, I’ve worked with hundreds of customers, helping them navigate complex environments, respond to cyber incidents and make the most of Darktrace’s capabilities, which are all based on our ActiveAI Security Platform.

Our products now range from Network and OT through to Cloud and Email, and beyond.

I’ve also led the EMEA analyst team and helped establish our consultancy function in the region.

Now, in my role as Director of Product, I oversee two of our innovative products—our endpoint solution and our proactive exposure management product.   

My day-to-day involves bridging the gap between our R&D department and the rest of the organisation, ensuring that technical innovations are effectively communicated to our teams and customers while shaping the roadmap for our future developments.  

Can you explain what fields your degree and masters are in and how they help you in your role at Darktrace?

The PhD is in Biology from the University of Cambridge and I also have an MBA from the Quantic School of Business and Technology.

My PhD focused on mitochondrial genetics and while it’s quite a leap from cybersecurity, the analytical project management and problem-solving skills I gained have been invaluable.  

My education is a little unorthodox – it might seem far removed from cybersecurity, but there are many transferable skills.

My PhD taught me how to analyse complex data, manage long-term projects and present technical information in a way that’s accessible to non-specialists—an essential skill when explaining cybersecurity risks to stakeholders like CISOs or CIOs.  

In addition, my MBA gave me a broader understanding of business strategy and operations, which complements my technical background and helps me align our products with market needs.

Together, these degrees have equipped me with a unique perspective that allows me to combine scientific rigor with business acumen, which is critical in my current role at Darktrace.  

Having joined Darktrace in 2019 as a Cybersecurity Analyst, how has your role changed since your transition to Director of Product?  

The shift has been significant.

When I first joined, I was deeply involved in hands-on analysis—understanding customer environments, detecting threats and responding to incidents.

Over time, as I moved into a leadership role, my focus expanded to include strategic decision-making and team management.  

Now, as Director of Product, my role is all about taking a holistic view. I gather insights from customers, industry analysts and market trends to inform our product roadmap and ensure that our offerings address both current and future challenges, all while allowing our R&D team to keep innovating.  

I spend a lot of time translating technical developments from our R&D teams into practical, actionable solutions for our customers.

The rise of AI has also brought new challenges and opportunities. For instance, automation has become central to reducing the burden of mundane tasks on SOC teams, allowing them to focus on more strategic work.

This shift reflects broader changes in the cybersecurity landscape, where innovation and efficiency are more critical than ever.  

Darktrace prides itself on keeping customers ahead of cyber threats, can you tell me how your product/service offerings achieve this?   

Our Self-Learning AI approach is what makes Darktrace unique in the market space, by learning what’s normal for a business, not the threats.

This business-centric AI can detect known and unknown activity across an organisation’s digital footprint.

We employ a multi-layered AI approach, using different types of AI models where they’re most effective.

For example, our AI Analyst autonomously triages alerts, providing clarity and insights that help customers quickly understand and respond to potential threats.  

Autonomous response can also stop malicious activity while allowing normal business processes to continue. This combination of detection and response capabilities allows us to stay ahead of evolving cyber threats in real-time and helps security teams become proactive rather than reactive.

AI is continuously reshaping the cyber threat landscape and machine-speed attacks require a machine-speed response.   

In the cyber and AI field, trust between the company and your customers is vital, what steps have Darktrace taken to build such a loyal customer base?  

Trust is essential in our industry, especially in the era of AI.

At Darktrace, we build trust in our AI through consistent delivery and support for our customers, but more importantly giving as much visibility as possible into the decision making of our AI.

It’s the practical, everyday impact of our solutions – detecting and responding to threats across organisations worldwide – that gives customers confidence in our approach.   

Additionally, our customers value the proactive support we offer, from helping them navigate incidents to ensuring they’re getting the most out of our products.

As a result, our customers tend to remain loyal over the long term.

They understand the critical role that AI plays in modern cybersecurity and appreciate how our solutions complement their broader security strategies.  

Innovation is also important to the company; can you provide any insights into how Darktrace plan to innovate in 2025?   

We basically will continue in the same way – we’ve always prioritised innovation, and the last 11 years have been spent demonstrating the outputs of that innovation.

Our patent applications each year are testament to that – we’re always trying to push the boundaries by applying our AI to new data and new security challenges.   

We’re always exploring new ways to apply our Self-Learning AI to emerging challenges to ensure we remain at the forefront of the industry.

Our Darktrace / CLOUD offering with its Detection and Response capabilities, is one of these highlights.

We provide unprecedented real-time visibility into customers’ cloud networks, including architecture and management layers, combined with platform-native response and attack path modelling.   

We also introduced new innovations to our email product this year, including new data loss prevention capability and Microsoft Teams security, and that’s something that we will continue to evolve coming into 2025.   

In your opinion, where do you see the cybersecurity and AI market going in the future and how does Darktrace plan to be a part of that change?   

The cybersecurity and AI landscape continues to evolve rapidly.

As AI capabilities advance, we’re seeing fundamental shifts in how organisations operate and how threats emerge.

This technological evolution brings both opportunities and new security challenges that need to be addressed.   

The increasing adoption of AI across business operations means businesses are handling more sensitive data than ever before.

This expanded attack surface creates new vulnerabilities that attackers are actively looking to exploit.   

This reality underscores why AI-powered security isn’t just an advantage – it’s becoming a necessity.

Security systems need to be able to detect and respond to threats at machine speed, especially as attack techniques grow more sophisticated. Traditional security approaches simply can’t keep pace.  

We recognised early on that AI would be transformative in cybersecurity.

Our Cyber AI Analyst was pioneering in its ability to autonomously investigate and report on security incidents.

As the landscape continues to evolve, we remain focused on innovating and strengthening our core capabilities to help organisations stay ahead of emerging threats.  

This article was originally published in the January 2025 Edition of Security Journal UK. To read your FREE digital edition, click here.