Inside The RSA Conference Pipeline For Startups and Students with Cecilia Marinier

What does the future of cybersecurity look like, and how can the next generation prepare for it?

In this episode of the Cybersecurity Mentors Podcast, John sits down with Cecilia Marinier of RSAC to talk about cybersecurity innovation, emerging technology, career opportunities, and developing the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.

Cecilia shares her journey from studying political science and psychology and working in national security to helping lead RSAC’s Innovation and Scholars programs.

We discuss:

• Why cybersecurity needs people from many different backgrounds
• Why networking and community are so important for breaking into cybersecurity
• What makes a cybersecurity startup truly innovative
• How AI is changing the cybersecurity market
• RSAC Innovation Sandbox, Innovation Showcase, and Launch Pad
• How startups can differentiate themselves in a crowded market
• Why adaptability and the ability to pivot matter
• The RSAC Security Scholars program and College Day
• How students can gain experience and build relationships in cybersecurity
• The impact mentors can have on someone’s career
• How AI may change entry-level cybersecurity jobs
• Why cybersecurity professionals should start learning and experimenting with AI now
• Finding the cybersecurity career path that matches your interests and existing skills
• Why the cybersecurity community is one of the industry’s greatest strengths

Cecilia also shares a powerful story about John Strand of Black Hills Information Security offering training and mentorship to someone trying to break into cybersecurity, a great example of what this community can look like at its best.

Connect with Cecilia

Cecilia Marinier on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cecilia-murtagh-marinier-14967/

Resources Mentioned

RSAC Security Scholar
https://www.rsaconference.com/rsac-programs/security-scholar

RSAC College Day
https://www.rsaconference.com/rsac-programs/college-day

RSAC Innovation Sandbox
https://www.rsaconference.com/rsac-programs/innovation/innovation-sandbox

RSAC Launch Pad
https://www.rsaconference.com/rsac-programs/innovation/launch-pad

RSAC Innovation Showcase
https://www.rsaconference.com/rsac-programs/innovation/innovation-showcase

AppSec Village: Attacking AI – Modern Methodology to Test AI Systems with Jason Haddix
https://www.rsaconference.com/Library/webcast/appsec-village-attacking-ai-modern-methodology-to-test-ai-systems

Cybersecurity Career Guide by Alyssa Miller
https://www.manning.com/books/cybersecurity-career-guide

John Strand / Antisyphon Training
https://www.antisyphontraining.com/instructor/john-strand/

Security BSides
https://bsides.org/

AFA CyberPatriot
https://www.uscyberpatriot.org/

Come hang out with us in the Cybersecurity Mentors Skool community. It’s free to join.

Transcript

Cecilia 0:03

Did you teach me?

Speaker 5 0:05

First learn stand, then learn fly. Nature rules on your son, not the mind. I know what you're trying to do. I'm trying to free your mind, Neo. But I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it. What is the most inspiring thing I ever said to you? Don't be an idiot. Change my life.

Meet Cecilia And The RSA Conference

John 0:36

All right, welcome back to another episode of the Cybersecurity Mentors podcast. I'm here with Cecilia Marinier. Cecilia, you know, just tell us who you are, where who you're with, what you're about.

Cecilia 0:49

Absolutely. So I am currently running uh the Innovation and Scholars Program at the RSA Conference and RSA seed the larger company. Um my background is I did undergraduate, because this is uh aimed at all different kinds of people, with um political science and psychology, which is so crazy, right? I did my master's in public affairs and I worked for a long time uh on national security issues. So when I was moving to a new career path, I wanted to go to a place where I could actually use some of the great connections I had made at doing the consulting work with the IC and also looking at what's happening in the future. It's always about what's going on in the future. And the future is bright for cybersecurity. It's changing, but it's very, very bright. And uh, and so when I got the opportunity to work at RSA conference back in 2014, I started with their innovation sandbox program. And then also, because John, you mentioned you do B-sides, I brought in villages. So for the past uh 12 years, we've also had DEF CON villages coming to RSAC just to give a sampling of what's happening in the marketplace so that people who come to the RSAC conference can actually can actually see what they might have missed and maybe get excited about going to DEF CON in the end. Um, and the the last part that I'll say is I work with security scholars, which I think is also really special and it's a high connected tissue point for you and your team and your audience. Um, so we believe that the next generation should be exposed to what's happening in the industry. The industry is growing. So, those of you that aren't familiar with RSA conference, it's the largest cybersecurity conference. It's the oldest cybersecurity conference. It happens in San Francisco in springtime. Uh this year it will be April 5th. Um, and what we wanted to do, the way it got started so many years ago, was because we needed to have all the stakeholders at the table talking about the problems that are happening in the industry. And that includes people from the government, people from the private sector, people from the public sector and uh and nonprofit world and academia. Um, and so about 12 years ago, I also started this thing where I wanted to reach out and connect to universities across the country to help them identify future thought leaders. And from there, they said to me, Well, you got to open this up to everybody. So what we did was we actually have one day that's free at conference for college students. So anybody that has an EDU email address is allowed to come on Thursday of conference and take part in um all of the great content that we have there. So it's it's a big conference. Um, as I mentioned, it's 45,000 people. I think there's like over 750 speakers. There's, you know, 600 or 700, 690 vendors. I mean, it's a it's a big conference, a lot of fun. You'll get to see a lot. So I'll

Why Psychology Belongs In Cybersecurity

Cecilia 3:49

stop there. That's my background.

John 3:51

Thank you. That's that's awesome. Uh and you mentioned um your your major with psychology. And if I were to go back, I thought about getting a degree in psychology. I was like, I think that would be interesting. I'm curious how how that's been for you. Has that helped you with that background and just like and how how has it helped you?

Cecilia 4:12

Well, that's a great question. Um, and because I talked to a lot of the students, and many of the people feel like, oh, I'm so technical. But actually, cybersecurity is a field where almost any discipline can take part in. And this way that psychology works, so when I and the reason I love cybersecurity, because we did all sorts of um case studies when I worked for the private boutique consulting group, you know, everything from the from the Afghan army and the Pakistani army all the way over to um the Hakani network to Mexican cartels. But cybersecurity was always a passion because it was someplace where I could really see the tapping into the two sides, the technical side where you might be able to see a signature of your of your adversary, but you also need the psychological side, which is like, why are they doing this? And that's where you have this nice blend of getting the different perspectives, you know, to come together and to actually look at how to solve the problems that are coming at our industry. Because it's not going to be an easy silver bullet that's super complex. And you need to have friends that have all different ways of thinking about what, when, why, how, um, when they're trying to solve the problem.

John 5:22

Yeah, so I I guess that's what you've seen just in this career and basically basically what we call the soft skills, right? Being able to understand how people are thinking, why they're thinking what they're thinking. Obviously, from from us, uh, you know, the the target and social engineering side of things. Yep. Um, but yeah, what what do you see if you were to recommend a college student? Like, hey, I want to get into cybersecurity, and I'm thinking I want to do maybe a major in computer science, but maybe a minor in psychology. Uh just in general, what would you recommend?

Cecilia 5:56

So coming with those two backgrounds, you're actually it's a really strong set. And I would, that is kind of where you sit down and I think of threat intelligence, and I think of um, like I have a Selena Larsons in my head that's coming back, or Andrea Little Labago. Those two women are brilliant, uh, both have that kind of a background where they have the the technical depth and understanding of like how the computer signatures might work, but they also really understand the context, the geopolitical environment, um, so there you can marry those two pieces to pieces together. What about you, John? Where do you think those two go? And and what was your background? Were you also a computer science guy?

John 6:37

Computer, um yes, and and I wanted, I thought I wanted to be a computer engineer, and then it was way too much math. But um, but I I mean we preach like about just how much communication, how how important that is, and the also business skills when we talk about this on the on the podcast, and definitely talked about you know how you can't if you can be very, very technical, but if you can't communicate the risk or communicate the impact, then you're really gonna be hamstrung. Um so we talk about that a lot, and also just in general, how to relate to others, how to build your network, right? How to just super important. Yeah, build that and connect and connect and use your tribe, use your community. Um, and don't neglect that because there's definitely people that they're just like, well, all I have to be is this the most technical person, right? So yeah.

Cecilia 7:29

It helps. I'm not gonna lie, being technical helps. But I think, you know, you also mentioned before we jumped onto this that you have you work with B-sides. And um, on the college day morning, we always do a breakfast panel where we have SISOs come and talk and tell tell us, you know, what are you thinking about for the future? How can students get more prepared for a career in this? And one of the places that always comes up is looking at ways that you can volunteer more. You have to build your network. I mean, this is a very tight community. Once you break in, you're like able to get more opportunities along the way. To break in, it might be hard if you're just a piece of paper. So, how can you also be blending that um with some other pieces? And that's by going to B-sides or things that are local. They don't have to be expensive. Your university likely has a cyber club. You can look at, you know, uh the cyber um Patriot, which is the government's um CTF. Like you can be you can be playing CTFs across the board. I know Seesaw actually does it too. They have quite a few different gaming, and you can make yourself more uh like known in the industry through that piece as well, like just taking part in these kind of more open uh competitive environments if you're in the technical side.

John 8:47

Yeah.

Cecilia 8:47

But networking is number one. It's so networking is king.

John 8:51

We say that all the time.

Cecilia 8:53

It is.

John 8:54

Yep, absolutely.

Innovation Sandbox And Launchpad Explained

John 8:56

Um, well, let's talk about innovation. There's a couple of things, and and I'll I confess that I have not been to RSA. I'm sorry, I will go right. Uh I want to.

Speaker 2 9:07

You can all come with them. We all can meet John at RSA conference next year.

John 9:11

Let's go. Um, but there's two pieces here, and this may have changed, but just talking about the innovation showcase and the innovation sandbox. So tell us a little bit about that. What are those?

Cecilia 9:22

So the innovation sandbox is the industry leader of identifying uh the technology that people are going to be looking at. So this is looking at the most innovative startup every year. You have to have a product that just came to market within the last 12 months. The way that you get on that stage, if you're an entrepreneur, and I highly recommend if you're an entrepreneur to start looking at it, if you're not ready, wait a year, but submit. Um, but the way that you think about it is that it has brought in names that you've heard of before. I would say, you know, Imperva or Wiz or Cato Networks or some of them that have been bought, like uh Talent Security was bought by Palo Alto Networks. Uh, there's Exonius, which is also one of the big names set in the one you might have heard of. All those companies actually were on the stage back when they were really small. So it's a contest that we've really been able to hone in on why, how we we do the process of community-led selection by identifying five key judges that represent different parts of the industry. One is gonna be in banking, one is gonna be in a CISO, one is gonna have national security. So you have to take a look. But these guys all look through all the submissions, and then they identify 10 companies that they think are gonna make a difference in the market in the next 12 months. Um, that is the innovation sandbox. And from that, we've actually built out um Launchpad, which is also another contest at conference, which is aimed at even earlier seed companies that may not have a product in market, but a good idea. And it's more like a shark tank because we only have venture capitalists that are looking through your pitch deck. Uh, and then the innovation showcase, because of COVID, and we all know that trauma, because I certainly remember it, um, we weren't able to get together in person. And so uh what we had to do is to start thinking about like innovation can't stop. We need to be still fostering it. And RSA can provide a platform for all of these entrepreneurs to reach this audience. So Innovation Showcase was that answer to that. And we partner with a venture capitalist every a group of venture capitalists every month, and we put together a session where it's like, you know, 15 minutes of just a talk to kind of like level set up what is the actual solution area that we're looking at. And then you'll hear from two different companies that are focused on that area. Um, and it's it's great. It's gotten a nice little audience uh that comes through, and you can always hear about what's coming up. So it's uh something else you can pay attention to, and it's on our website all the time.

John 11:57

So um, yeah, no, thank you. That that's I I have a question related around uh your thoughts on innovation, but I have had at least one experience where it's kind of been a little bit of a shark tank where a bunch of CISOs and I've been one of those CISOs and that they come and pitch their, you know, their their product and what it is and why why we should care. Um it's and it was fun. I had a great time.

Cecilia 12:20

It is it's a like that's the thing is we want to make it fun. It is a show, you know. But it's also, like I said, it's been it has been uh very important to recognize that the track record speaks for itself. So obviously, whatever's working in this with this model has been able to surface these companies that are really interesting. But we do have to have a CISO like you because honestly, you guys know what you need. You have the, you know what the problem set is, you know what really might fit into a stack and uh and how it can actually be implemented. And is it like that voice needs to be on that panel because otherwise it doesn't really um hold up all the way through. But it also has the entrepreneur. Like it takes a lot to build a company. It's not something that you, especially right now, the things are changing so quickly, and people have to have confidence that that company is not just gonna be bought six months from now. It has to be that if I'm gonna put that in my stack, it's gotta be in my stack because maybe I, you know, I worked with Cisco and then all of a sudden it's been bought by Palo Alto, and then what happens? So um, so it's all of these kind of questions that you have to be asking when we go through the actual you have to come, John. It's on Monday. Always it's you got to get there early so you can't miss it. It's Monday.

John 13:37

Well, and and I was just at uh, you know, Black Hat, we talked a little bit about that, and uh on the floor, everything has has been for a while, right, is AI, AI, AI, AI. Um and so and I actually just had a great conversation with a a company, a newer company yesterday, and they were telling me, they're giving me their stuff, they're showing me what they're doing, and and I liked it. And their question to me was just, well, how do we differentiate ourselves? So that innovation part of it, since you've been involved, like what do you think are the things that hit so that the ones that win those competitions? And I know it's probably based off of that current trend and what the need is at that time, but how do they stand out? How do companies stand out?

Cecilia 14:47

It is really hard to rise above the noise. And we're in a very unique place where there's some concerns that with the new latest, you know, one of the Frontier AI groups putting out their next product, it might be that you've been working on something that can now be solved by, you know, anthropic. Um and so I think there's a part of like making sure that you're different. What we've what we've discussed is the moat is changed. It's not just speed to market with a solution, it's actually building out a customer base that's unique or using a vertical industry that is specific to what your what your need is. And so um, for example, like really honing in solely on medical and getting to be the perfect solution for that particular problem. And that can change in like another eight months, but because there's been so many new things unraveling as we gone through the first year since we've heard. I mean, at conference, there was one thing, and like it like I think two weeks afterwards was when Mythos came out. You're like, oh my goodness, this is like a completely new model and a completely new uh uh uh like it gave it it disrupted the market, that's what I'll say. And that's actually fun because it gives a lot of opportunities for people to reinvent on something new, but it's also a little unnerving because you're like, okay, well, where's the industry going?

John 16:10

Yeah, yeah. So uh just in general, like if you see something, is there anything that that flags it that makes something innovative? Like how are there markers for you that you're like, wow, the this is unique? And is it maybe just that what you said, just they have focused so much on their niche, they know their niche very well, they know the need very well, they know exactly what that is and how to meet it. Is that mostly kind of what you've seen, or is it a mix?

Cecilia 16:38

Yes, you're gonna need to have your like it's better to work and with a design partner and have them help you define what it is, but not it can't be completely just for that person. Like, I can't make a product just for John. Even though John is like, yes, I want that product just for me, it has to have a little bit broader scope. But the reality is like starting here and getting a couple of customers where you're testing the market and checking out and making sure you're in the right place. That would be my first, um, that's that would be my first guess of how to actually get started on that. And then just keep on building and testing it with other people and testing it in front of venture capitalists and testing it, you know, like you have to keep on testing along the way to ensure that you're still on the right path. And the other piece is you have to be flexible because this market's moving. So pivoting is gonna be like, you know, you're having the stamina to pivot in the middle of uh in the middle of what you're doing is actually also a great quality for an entrepreneur. And something that I'm guessing, and I, you know, I've talked to a couple of the venture capitalists, and they're like definitely recommending that is like this capability to say, okay, this is where it's at, move it over here. Let's go and see how to solve that, how to you know, add to this problem over here and make it better.

John 17:56

Okay. No, that makes sense. Um, let's talk about security scholars. So this is getting down the path that I'm definitely near and dear

Security Scholars And A Mentorship Moment

John 18:05

to me, and um, and working with students and college students and and just in general helping those look to get a career in in cybersecurity. But tell us a little bit about security scholars.

Cecilia 18:15

So on I I want to talk about both the security scholar and the college day because I think that um when we started this conversation, you were talking about how people might be coming in from outside the industry.

Speaker 4 18:26

Yep.

Cecilia 18:26

Um, and uh and so I want to make sure I cover both. So Security Scholar is looking at just universities for your universities identifying, you know, bachelor's, masters, or PhD students to come to conference and we give them a curated week, and it's crazy fun for them because we're having them sit next to some of the industry legends for dinner, and we're giving them a closed-door experience with General Nakasoni. And it and overall, like once you become part of it, you're part of the alumni. They also get to showcase their their work so they can put up a research poster. So on Wednesday at noon, we usually have the students you know who want to submit, submit their posters, and then our whole industry can walk around and ask questions to them. It's really fun for them. On college day, this is this is where it's not just somebody that's at like a four-year university. It all could be it could be somebody that's you know taking training classes at your community college. It could be somebody that's that's going through sands. Um, it we just let people who are open and interested in the industry come to talk to us and see this. And I'm gonna give you a great story about another guy named John that I love from this year's um college day. So John Strand is a good friend of mine. And he runs Black Hills Um Information Security. It's a it's a training company, and John is salt of the earth. Like that guy is so solid, and he's just the best person ever. And um, we were at the the you know, I was on stage, we had just finished the conversation with a couple of our sponsors, and then we're getting off, and I had this gentleman who was waiting for me, and I was just catching up with John. Like we were talking about our kids, and and this guy was waiting, and I thought he was waiting for John because John's a rock star. Like if you once you get over there, you'll have to meet him. Um, and so he and I are talking, and and the guy says, Well, I actually wanted to talk to you. I wanted to ask you, I'm coming in from outside the industry. I've been working in healthcare for a while, and I had to take some time off for my with my parents because one of them was very sick. And he said, And I'm trying to take classes at night and it's getting really hard. And John Strand, like, was listening to this guy talk about it, and he's like, How would you recommend that somebody like me gets involved and gets into the industry? And so I was going back to what I told you in the beginning, like, you know, let's go to B-sides or whatever. And in the meantime, John is in there and he's picking up his card and he hands it to the guy and he says, Here, take my card. My name is John Strand, and I run a trading company, and there's 120 classes on my website, and you let them know that I said it was okay that you take any of those classes. And if you pass those classes, I will write you a letter of recommendation. And I was like, I was crying. I was like, oh my gosh. But that's what it is. Like this industry, the people are so good and they're so willing to help each other stand up and get there. So I found that super inspirational. I hope uh your audience finds it as inspirational because it's just beautiful. And I think that there's no time when you get in. There's no time why you get in. The other thing I would say is about artificial intelligence, because that question came up probably about, you know, 90% of the questions that came from the students were like, oh my gosh, how do I get in? When they're like talking about how artificial intelligence is taking over that first tier job. And it's really hard. And we're all like going, oh my gosh, if we don't get people in that understand that first-tier job, how will they we, you know, what's going to happen to the top the next job? Like, how would they get there?

Speaker 4 21:57

Right.

Cecilia 21:58

So I had the Siso at Walmart and um and McDonald's both like say to me, say to the whole crowd, not me, but I was there. Um, they were saying, Hey, you know what? This is moving so fast. I'm forcing all my own guys to be on there trying out artificial intelligence, testing the models and learning about how to use them. Because what is next step is going to be is how fast can I integrate some of the the Capabilities that AI has and become even better and smarter and faster at um at solving some of these security problems. And I thought that was incredibly solid advice. So that's another thing. Don't be afraid. Like, you know, make it part of your day and and figure this out. And it's not, I I if I can code in if I can code and claude, you can code and clod.

John 22:47

Yeah, no, and uh, you know, last uh last spring semester we had students that graduated and and they you know and compared to the last year, you know, they weren't getting as many offers as they had, right? And and I talked to some industry folks, I was like, well, you know, what's going on? They're just like, well, we're just we're watching and trying to see how everything's shifting and um and it's moving so fast, is like you said, and and and that's obviously that's discouraging for some of them, but I think it's gonna come back and it'll come around, right? I think as people figure this out and they're like, hey, we're not not, we don't need it's not that we don't need people, we just need people that know how to to help utilize those tools and help us do it faster and integrate. So I I have said similar, just like, look, you know, you de I definitely recommend you learn the tools, you use the tools, you understand it. I did a whole episode on how AI is not making less work, it's making more work. Right. I'm doing more AI governance and using AI to attack and to defend. Like that, it's not like I got less to do. I literally have more to do. Um, but you know, you definitely need to be, and and it's great because you can. You can go spin it up, you can start using it, and I definitely recommend that you do. There's no really manual on how to learn it as far as like, well, here's what you need to know for security, but you definitely want to be informed and start using it for projects and DIY type thing. So I definitely agree.

Cecilia 24:20

So one other thing I'll point to, um, as I talked about earlier with the villages, so we had Jason Haddock's. I don't know if you know who he is,

Jason Haddix

Cecilia 24:27

but Jason's awesome. And he actually gave like a mini lesson on uh on a virtual event that we had, and I would highly recommend just going and checking that out. There's plenty of good content everywhere. This is uh I just know it because I was sat on this thing and I was listening to it. I'm like, oh my gosh. Plus, Jason is just also rock solid too. So um both good people, but I agree with you, John. That's very good advice you're giving out.

John 24:54

Yeah, and just on um, and I agree with you as well, and we talk about this a lot, just career. A lot of folks that are interested in this career, they're intimidated, which you know, warranted. There's a lot to learn, there's a lot to it. And if you've not really been in those roles or been in IT even, um you know, any other advice for those folks?

Cecilia 25:17

Um so there are many careers in cybersecurity, and it's not all about learning about the technical part. So if you care more about privacy and keeping people, you know, this there's a balance between security and privacy, for example, and making sure people are safe, but also giving making sure people are able to hold their own privacy. There's whole industry swaths around that kind of topic, and there's conferences around that. Um, I I think it's like uh finding out what it is that drives you. Like what do you love about this industry? And a lot of people uh find it in in other ways as well. So I that was one part in the like more legal side of it. There's other people that are involved more, as I said, talked about earlier, in the threat hunting side of it. There's more people that are involved more on like doing GRC and policy and making sure that the governance is right on it. And this is huge. You talked about that earlier. Right now, that's exploding with AI. So, I mean, I guess it's really about you know what drives you and finding out that piece of it. Um the other thing that I think there's a woman who uh wrote a book, Alyssa Miller. I don't know if you've ever um I think it's called the Cybersecurity Guide to I I I should find that out and I'll send it to you afterwards. But in it, um, the other thing that she does is she helps you kind of really, she's she gives you good advice. She says, go read the newspaper. Take 10 articles and find like what did you why would you read that article on cybersecurity? And once you start to see a trend of like, okay, this is what I think is interesting, or oh wow, that's kind of fascinating. Um, then that kind of helps you identify it. But she also takes your other skills. Like sometimes you're sitting there and you're going, I don't know how to tie in my barista experience. But she does. And she what she tells you is like, hey, you learn how to multitask and that you need all the time in this industry. And you learn how to serve a client. That was like also something you need at like you were talking at the very beginning about the soft skills. So those kind of things I would also recommend students to start to really ramp up on as they start to think about how their experience fits, what they're interested in, and then how to get to the skills that you don't have. Like you might not have some of those skills. How can you get them? Or how do you get some experience? Sometimes it's volunteering at your local, you know, nonprofit and saying, I'll help you build your security network. Um, lots of opportunities. You just have to be creative about getting there.

John 27:48

Yeah. And and yeah, there's a talk about, you know, the talent shortage versus opportunity. I mean, there there is a need, you know, we

Finding Your Lane Beyond Pure Tech

John 27:55

still need people. We need people that that are passionate, that want it, that want to be here, that are looking to grow in this industry and and really, you know, love it. Like, I mean, I love it, right? And I believe you you do too.

Cecilia 28:08

Yeah, it's a purpose, it's purpose for me. Like I believe I'm doing some good for the world by what I do.

John 28:15

Yeah. Well, on that note, a big question. What makes you excited or optimistic about the future of cybersecurity?

Cecilia 28:23

Wow. That is a big question. Um, I what I'm really excited about right now, um, as our CEO has mentioned often, and we just almost started with it, is the link that's happening right now, as a disruption has happened with artificial intelligence, it's changing the entire marketplace. So everything you thought you knew, you don't. Uh so you have to kind of go back and rethink anything. And that gives me um, it makes me excited because I do know there's so many compassionate people that are going to be working on solving this problem, making AI safe for us, as well as using it as a tool for productivity and keeping things more secure. Uh, but on the other side of it, like we're on the cusp. Everybody's talking about quantum. And I am like, oh, come on, people, we

Staying Optimistic Through AI And Quantum

Cecilia 29:08

need to slow down just a little bit. So, but I feel like the thing is everything's changing all the time. And you don't know what what the reason is you're just kind of having to grow all the time. You can't stay still. This is not an industry that stays still. You stay still. Your adversaries are not staying still. You got to get in there in the fight and make it happen. So it's kind of fun for that. How about you? What do you think is exciting about this?

John 29:32

And I mean, if it was well, I think that I would be bored if it was just stagnant and the things were just the same, you know? Right. Um, I I love I love that things shift. Maybe when you know I get a little older, I might be tired of it. But I love I love that it it changes and and that there's a new challenge. And so there's something new to learn. There's you have to be nimble and flexible to be able to want to go learn that thing. Um and and I love that. I love having something to go go dive into and get involved with. Um and and like you said over over and over, just the people, right?

Speaker 4 30:09

Just yeah.

John 30:10

The the people are are really, really are awesome. We're in it together, we're trying to help each other, we're fighting the good fight. Um, and there's continued purpose. When whenever things, it's I'm a weird person, right? So whenever bad things happen, like an incident's happening, that's what I'm here for, right? I put the helmet on, I'm ready to go to battle, right? And so, like that's why I was that's why I got into security is to fight the bad guys. Um, and it can be a pain, it can definitely be the aftermath can be uh painful and everything, but that's what you're you're here to protect. And and you're nobody nobody may know that. They may not know who you are and what you're doing. Um, but that's okay, right?

Cecilia 30:52

I I actually I love that you're kind of ending on that note because it is an industry that's a little hard for um the fact that mostly you get recognized when things go badly. Um, but it's also uh an industry that that because of that, the people who are in the industry recognize that they need to lift each other up and they'll be there for you. They got your back. Absolutely. And you can always call somebody. So call John. I want you guys to I'm here.

John 31:23

I'm happy to help. Yeah, I'm I know I'll be there. I'll be in the in the trench, you know, one day, and I'll need help. So definitely if I can help, happy to do it.

Cecilia 31:33

Me too. Awesome.

John 31:34

Well, thanks. Yeah, thank you so much. This is great. I learned a lot, right? And I need to get to RSA, right? So anybody wants to sponsor me, I'm just putting the word out there, you know, hook me up.

Cecilia 31:48

That's great.

John 31:48

But thanks for coming.

Cecilia 31:50

Excellent. Thank you.

John 31:51

All right, see you everybody.

Speaker 31:53

Thank you for tuning in to today's episode of the Cybersecurity Mentors Podcast. Remember to subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform

Closing Thoughts And Where To Connect

Speaker 32:00

so you get all the episodes.

John 32:02

Join us next time as we continue to unlock the secrets of cybersecurity mentorship.

Speaker 32:07

Have questions, topic ideas, or want to share your cybersecurity journey? Join our school community, the Cybersecurity Mentors, where you don't have to do this alone. Connect with us there and on YouTube. We'd love to hear from you. Until next time, I'm John Hoyt. And I'm Steve Higaretta. Thank you for listening.