I recently bumped into an ex-colleague of mine at a cyber security conference. As we were catching up, He tells me a name that I had never heard of before. Kyla Guru. A 16 year old cyber security advocate from the northern suburbs of Chicago. She presented at RSA conference 2019, which I did not go to this year either. But happy that I ended up learning about her recently. So I think what really hit home with me was that, I remembered participating in a panel about a year ago. While I was on the stage with other cybersecurity leaders, I was asked, "If you could do one thing to make an impact in Cybersecurity, what would it be?" My response was to instill security from the beginning in schools starting from Elementary levels. But that was it, I just said a sentence at some vendor cybersecurity panel, and then quickly forgot what I even said and went on about my day. The difference with Kyla was that she said this too and actually did something about it!
Kyla is doing such an amazing job on making an impact on Cybersecurity awareness. It made me think, what am I doing to make an impact? And if I am doing something is it enough?? The answer is NO, it’s never enough. So when you think back on all the busy work or whatever else it is that we do. Take a step back and really think how YOU are making an impact. I realize this from time time but it made me realize this again. The field we are in is much bigger than the money we make. We are lucky to be in an industry that has such a strong purpose in life. Remember, we are the GOOD GUYS….even if you are in sales! My cybersecurity journey started 20 years ago. And I personally moved out of the customer side from protecting ONE customer network and into the darkest realms of cybersecurity helping our largest customers around the globe. This was over 10 years ago. I never thought I’d have that purpose but boy was I wrong until I really stopped to think about this . It’s been rewarding for me on many levels but still always feel behind!!
I encourage you to listen to Kyla and really ask yourself, How you are making an impact?
Educate, inspire, motivate, and go after YOUR cybersecurity purpose.
The original article can be found here.
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