I’m a Senior Consultant in PwC’s Public Sector Cyber Security team. I’ve pursued a career in technology since studying a master’s degree in Science and Security at King’s College London. Technology requires us to develop new ways of thinking, and I love being a part of it.
PwC recently uncovered one of the largest ever global cyber espionage campaigns in an operation known as Cloud Hopper. We published a report (pdf) on it and shared research with our clients to see if they had been affected. Many organisations are often unknowingly exposed after a cyber breach for long periods of time without realising. Training is important to increase client understanding and knowledge about what they should do if they think their security has been breached.
How supportive the community is. Working in technology can be very competitive, but in cyber security, collaboration is the key to success. Whether it’s sharing threat intelligence with other organisations to gain a better understanding of the groups targeting our clients, or by volunteering through non-profit schemes to address skill and gender shortages, it’s a very supportive industry.
As technology changes, threat groups respond by exploring new ways to target organisations, which means there are new challenges every day. As no two clients have the same needs, this means you’re constantly developing new ways to support them.
Communication. It’s often easy to talk in technical terms with engineers, or about risk with C-level executives, however, there’s a real challenge when the two meet. I have to ensure we’re communicating with the right level of technical detail for different audiences, allowing businesses to understand issues and enable them to make key decisions.
The Cyber Security Challenge is a not-for-profit organisation which promotes careers in cyber security by hosting national competitions enabling individuals to showcase their skills. Last year I was an assessor at the competition which means you get to meet candidates and support them in their journey. Often they are not fully aware of the diverse roles available to them, so it’s great to dispel the myths about working in cyber, talk through my experiences and give them career advice.
I’m really excited to see how cyber security and the tech industry can innovate to create new solutions to current challenges. In the future, artificial intelligence could be used to analyse big data from previous cyber breaches to protect organisations from new attacks in real-time. It’s a really interesting and ever-evolving space to be a part of.
