Why cybersecurity is a shared responsibility: How security leaders can engage end users to alleviate SOC analyst burnout.
By Kayla Williams, CISO, Devo
Cybersecurity is a team sport — and National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM) is a great opportunity to remind everyone of that. Hosted by CISA and the National Cybersecurity Alliance (NCSA), NCSAM aims to raise awareness about and ensure everyone has the resources they need to keep their data secure. This year’s theme is “See Yourself in Cyber,” which is quite fitting.
For CISOs and security leaders specifically, NCSAM is the perfect time to reiterate proper cyber hygiene and security best practices across their organizations. End users have never played a more significant role in keeping cybercriminals at bay. However, unlike the security team, end users typically don’t live and breathe security as we cybersecurity professionals do. But, they need to start to — hence this year’s “See Yourself in Cyber” theme. Read the full article.
Top takeaways from a summer in government: How can we bridge the gap between Silicon Valley & DC?
By Kyla Guru, Founder/CEO of Bits N' Bytes Cybersecurity Education Corp
This summer, I was fortunate to have been able to better understand the nuances of cybersecurity from a federal level at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). What does it take to secure a nation's infrastructure? What is the private sector's role as opposed to private sector vendors and product developers? How interconnected are the two spaces and how can we trace down where the gaps lie?
From my vantage point, here are the top lessons/takeaways I've had, taking a look "behind the curtains" on how the US government carries out diplomacy in cybersecurity, challenges faced, and some potential innovation that could bridge the gaps. Read the full article.
Would you like to be featured in a future issue of the Creating Connections newsletter? We are currently accepting submissions for pieces written by women, about women, and information on women in cyber related events. Send us an email to get started.
Learning to never accept the sky as the limit.
By Rachel Gelfand, CyberWire Staff Writer
As the end of the summer draws near, I reflect on the path I’ve taken that has brought me into cybersecurity. Growing up, I perceived the STEM fields as something that would always be out of reach. I mean, math was never my strong suit, and while I could comprehend the sciences that I learned in school, positions in STEM fields were reserved for those gifted in those areas, and I was not one of them. Many people in my life told me that my strengths were in writing and communication, so I never saw it necessary to stray from that. I graduated with a degree in journalism and intended to work in writing or social media. I never considered that there could be an intersection between my adoration for the written word and STEM.
I feel very blessed to have the unique opportunity that I do in my position with the CyberWire as a staff writer. I’ve found myself hesitant to label myself as a woman in cyber, as my viewpoint for my first month or so in this position was that I was a writer by trade who happened to be employed by a company centered around cybersecurity. I mean, technically, I was still doing what I had always anticipated and dreamed of doing, writing. The fact that the subject matter was cybersecurity was secondary, but I then started to find myself interested in cyber, even going so far as educating friends and family on interesting news I’d cover for work. This led to me adding more and more cyber-centric news to my daily news digest that I’d read voluntarily off the clock. In fact, now, four months later, my feed is primarily cyber stories and family and friends come to me with questions about it.
This perspective shift didn’t happen overnight, but now in my reflection, I’ve realized something – the limitations I created for myself so long ago were just that: self-imposed. There is, in fact, a space for everyone in STEM, and I owe it to the little girl I once was to never accept the sky as the limit again.
Heard around the studio.
By the CyberWire team
We like to feature some of our newest and shiniest things at the CyberWire here in case you don't have a chance to follow every step we take. As we are getting ready to hold our celebration of women in cybersecurity (see Jen's piece above), we decided that we'd share some new segments on the CyberWire Daily podcast by women in the field.
As you know, Ann Johnson of Microsoft Security is the host of the Afternoon Cyber Tea podcast, what you may not realize is you can catch a recap of Ann's interviews on the CyberWire Daily podcast. Afternoon Cyber Tea runs every other Tuesday. On off Tuesday's, Ann puts together a brief segment featuring her most recent guest to share with our wider audience. If you have not yet checked out Afternoon Cyber Tea and are a regular Daily Podcast listener, you can check out the interviews there. She's got some amazing guests, too. Just this month, she had Dr. Josephine Wolff from Tufts University talking about "Cyber Insurance Past, Present, and Future" and Michal Braverman-Blumenstyk, Microsoft's CTO, discussing the "Future of Cyber." As the weather cools down, grab your favorite hot beverage a and give Afternoon Cyber Tea a try.
The CyberWire added a member to our team of correspondents. Our cadre of women is growing! Maria Varmazis joined the team as our Space Correspondent. Maria is no stranger to podcasts. She's the cohost of the Sticky Pickles podcast with the CyberWire's UK Correspondent Carole Theriault. If you haven't heard that podcast, we suggest you check it out for a fun listen. Their description: "You'll laugh. You'll gasp. You might even cringe a little." We laugh quite a bit! Maria's first segments on the podcast aired in September. She interviewed Anthony Colangelo, host of spaceflight podcast Main Engine Cutoff, about the iPhone 14 “Emergency SOS via Satellite” feature. You can hear her on the CyberWire Daily and the extended version of the interview on our Interview Selects. Welcome, Maria!
One other note we'd like to share, for the next month as we will be holding our 2022 Women in Cybersecurity reception (in case you didn't realize as we mention it all the time), we will be featuring only women on your Career Notes podcast! So, make sure you check out that podcast each Sunday for the next 5 weeks to learn about the career journeys of some amazing women in our field! Thanks for checking out the studio with us and we will see you next month! Stay tuned!
