Topic: Importance of Public Private Partnerships in Cybersecurity
Private public partnerships for cybersecurity issues have become more important than ever over the last few years.
As cyber threat actors increase their efforts against private and public industry alike, correlating all information to help secure corporate and government networks and help posture defensively is the key.
After enlisting, I spent 20+ years working primarily in the public sector. My career in the US Air Force started as a technical language analyst working on one of the US government’s highest priority missions, counter-terrorism, after 9/11. As national priorities evolved and cyber attacks became more pervasive, my role shifted to work in the Cyber Security Mission at the National Security Agency, an organization that was truly a pioneer in the field of cybersecurity.
Finding this new field to be extremely rewarding it kick-started my passion for all things technology and cyber-related. While working in this mission, the need for more traditional education in this field became evident so I enrolled and successfully completed a master of Electrical and Computer Engineering\ at the Naval Postgraduate School. This was a challenging program that provided the necessary skills to help me have impactful contributions to the National Cybersecurity mission. It also highlighted the need to foster passion and interest in STEM for women, minorities, and the next generation, which were and continue to be grossly underrepresented in this field.
My path to cybersecurity was not traditional, so hopefully I am an example of how it is possible to get into a technical field with a little curiosity and interest, some effort, and bit of traditional and non-traditional training. I will continue to strive to share as much information and insight on STEM and cybersecurity to hopefully instill a bit of passion for these fields.
