An interview with Valeria Scribanti, a Technical Options Specialist with deal with cybersecurity.
Welcome to the Cisco Girls in Cybersecurity’s weblog collection, the place we spotlight the tales of the mentors who’ve impressed and advocated for the careers of these in our group. This collection seeks to point out the significance of allyship, connection, and the way completely different the journeys may be right into a profession in cybersecurity.
Interviewer Intro:
Valeria and I met quickly after I joined Cisco in 2021. We’re each a part of the “Swiss Cybersecurity Girls” group, which is an inside on-line group for girls in cybersecurity based mostly in Switzerland. Over time, Valeria and I stayed in contact, scheduling a digital espresso or sending one another fascinating articles. Final yr we even bought an opportunity to fulfill in individual at Cisco Reside in Amsterdam. The factor that strikes me about Valeria is her upbeat angle, power and tenacity. This interview is an opportunity for me to search out out extra about Valeria’s path into cybersecurity and her secret to staying optimistic in an trade with an inclination to deal with the darkish facet of affairs.
Questions:
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What impressed you to pursue a profession in cybersecurity?
I’ve at all times been very involved in expertise from a curiosity perspective, regardless that rising up I didn’t see myself as a really nerdy individual. I’m a millennial, so I grew up in an surroundings the place expertise was not all that current. I nonetheless bear in mind the primary time I noticed an iPod; it actually fascinated me as a tool, and I instantaneously wished to search out out all about its workings. Later, when my father purchased his first laptop computer and he was programming in Visible Studio at residence at some point, I caught my first glimpse of code and that bought me hooked. From there I understood that expertise is what I wished to do, and I made a decision to enroll first in a bachelors engineering program at Politecnico di Torino after which proceed with the double diploma grasp’s program between the Politecnico di Torino and the Hamburg College of Know-how (TUHH).
So, it was actually about instinct and curiosity which led me to decide on expertise as a occupation. Effectively, that and the truth that I used to be taking part in plenty of Nintendo with my brother.
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What was your first foot within the door – the place did you begin?
My research in Italy laid the muse for my later work in cybersecurity. As a pupil within the Computer systems and Communication Community Engineering program, I bought to play with plenty of Cisco expertise, studying switching and routing. But, as a complete, the college program was quite theoretical and analysis oriented. It was not till I went to Germany for the change program that I took an excellent course on cybersecurity with a professor from the trade. I used to be fascinated with the matters he coated on this class – buffer overflow, SQL injections, cross-site scripting. Occasions have modified these days, however again then such a course was not a normal a part of the college curriculum. The subject felt so new and tremendous thrilling to me that I made a decision to contemplate cybersecurity as a attainable course after commencement.
I landed my first job quickly after ending my grasp’s diploma. The college helped us discover a place so for me it was a very easy transition. The job market again then supplied loopy variety of alternatives, in contrast to the present state of affairs.
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How do you know what function precisely you wish to go for?
By doing the interviews I really bought to know extra in regards to the completely different roles, what day-to-day actions they contain and what trajectory I might observe if I had been to affix.
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How has your profession developed since your preliminary begin?
My first function was a Community and Safety Engineer at a system integrator firm in Italy. I nonetheless bear in mind the interview with them. We began off with some simple to reply questions, akin to “what’s a firewall?”. The following questions, nevertheless, had been matters which had been completely new to me again then, akin to what an IPS (intrusion prevention system) and defense-in-depth and so on. Trying again, I believe that the interviewers posed these inquiries to hone my urge for food for the subject and display that they had been coping with cutting-edge expertise. Throughout the interview they defined the ideas of these safety merchandise and confirmed me what the function would entail.
As a customer-facing engineer there, I set to work with plenty of Cisco expertise, in addition to different distributors. The perfect a part of this function was the chance to do hands-on work with actual tasks and actual duty. As a junior engineer, I felt each scared and motivated to be on web site with clients and do issues stay, however that is how I discovered tons about safety structure design, implementation and configuration of various safety merchandise akin to firewalls, IPS, WAF, anti-virus, and so on.
In some unspecified time in the future I set to work with the Cisco Safe Community Analytics (previously Stealthwatch) staff on a undertaking. By speaking with them I found different varieties of roles inside cybersecurity. The work of a safety gross sales engineer, who’s answerable for creating and designing proof of worth (POV) for safety merchandise, actually clicked with me and I joined Cisco in 2018. That’s how I moved from the extra technically oriented operations into a job with a mixture of arduous and smooth expertise.
One of many issues that I actually love in regards to the TSS function is that I get to work with international clients and as a part of a worldwide staff, work together with completely different cultures and put into observe the a number of languages that I converse. I spotted the truth that I additionally take pleasure in working carefully with clients, listening to their wants and being a trusted advisor, somebody that clients can depend on all through the entire course of.
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What’s the one factor you want you had recognized in the beginning of your cybersecurity profession?
I made plenty of decisions for my profession based mostly on a intestine feeling. My instinct served me effectively however trying again, I might have used some extra steerage and knowledge to resolve which course I ought to take. There are such a lot of completely different paths that exist on the market and it’s value exploring them earlier than deciding on a specific profession.
How to try this? A method is to affix cybersecurity communities which are close to you and discover out extra about these completely different roles. Speak to professionals who’re already within the discipline and hearken to their perspective.
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What’s your single most essential piece of recommendation to folks contemplating a profession in cybersecurity?
Hang around with individuals who like cybersecurity – you’ll be taught loads!
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