October 17, 2022

Teach Cyber Byte

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month and this week is Cybersecurity Career week! In this byte you will see a spotlight on professionals in cybersecurity careers, opportunities to hear Cyber Chats hosted by the National Cryptologic Foundation, resources to explore cybersecurity careers further and a reminder to attend the Teach Cyber Sip & Cyber Event.

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Cybersecurity Career Spotlight

Meet Stephanie

As a cybersecurity analyst in critical infrastructure, Stephanie focuses on the growing threats of cyber security attacks in the sports landscape, including attacks against fans, venues, and the integrity of the game itself. The attack surface also increases with the exponential growth placed on technological advances in the sports realm. In addition, Stephanie explains, "cyber and physical continue to merge in many aspects of critical infrastructure, thus requiring a proactive approach to mitigating cyber risks and vulnerabilities to all sectors of CI."

Stephanie explains her interest in the cybersecurity field, the advice she would give to young students pursuing a cybersecurity career, and what aspect of her work she likes best and why.

Interest in the Field

Cybersecurity is such a dynamic field that allows you to learn each day. There are so many outlets and avenues for growth within cybersecurity that you can always work on various aspects daily. With an educational background in emergency management, much of her schooling focused on physical security, but because security encompasses such a vast majority now of cyber and physical, merging these two together provided a new avenue of possibilities. The world will only continue to rely on technological advances, making cybersecurity a priority.

Advice for Students

Stephanie challenges students to think outside the box when it comes to potential cybersecurity careers.

"There are so many avenues and outlets to apply cyber, not just the traditional IT aspects of it. I have been able to pair my passion of security and sports into one career, building upon the growing impacts of cybersecurity threats to the sports landscape."

When Stephanie was in high school, and even while completing her undergrad, she never would have thought to merge those two passions. So while it took her completing a master’s to find her passion, she hopes to spark an interest in younger students so that they too can think creatively and expand upon the traditional aspects of cybersecurity.

Favorite Aspect of Job

Stephanie explains that there is never one day that is the same as the previous day. Even when she is working on one project, there are always new aspects she continues to learn. Stephanie can combine different passions into one line of work, knowing she is helping build security for the future.

Meet Jennifer

Jen is a Cybersecurity Analyst at Argonne National Laboratory. She also is an adjunct professor at Lewis University, teaching a graduate-level course on Encryption and Authentication systems. Additionally, Jen is an advanced level two instructor for the UIC chapter of Girls Who Code. Jen enjoys learning and teaching about the applicability of tools and exploits.

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Fowler Jennifer
Customer: Melissa Walton
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Her areas of interest include cryptography, cryptocurrency/anti-money laundering, cyberbiosecurity, cryptopuzzles, data privacy, social engineering, emerging technology, internet infrastructure, cyber-physical systems, and smart grids.

Interest in the Field

Jen explains she loves the diverse set of disciplines and getting to be on the cutting edge of technology!

Advice for Students

"Don’t be intimidated by the ever changing landscape of this sector. There are so many opportunities to partake in and a wide array of skills to learn." -Jen

Favorite Aspect of Job

Jen loves being able to help problem solve issues and remediate vulnerabilities that cut across many different sectors due to the proliferation of technology.