Naomi Buckwalter, Director of Information Security & IT - Getting Past Gatekeepers & Helping Others Break into Cybersecurity

The CISO Diaries

This week’s guest is persistent and has turned her passion into fuel to fight the good fight and help entry level people break into cybersecurity, while movin’ past the gatekeepers. Naomi Buckwalter, CISSP CISM is the Director of Information Security & IT at Beam Technologies. She has over 20 years' experience in IT and Security and has held roles in Software Engineering, Security Architecture, Security Engineering, and Security Leadership. As a cybersecurity career adviser and mentor for people around the world, her passion is helping people, particularly women, get into cybersecurity. Naomi is the founder and Executive Director of Cybersecurity Gatekeepers Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to closing the demand gap in cybersecurity hiring and breaking down the gatekeeping mindset in cybersecurity. Naomi has two Masters’ degrees from Villanova University and a Bachelor of Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology. In her spare time, Naomi plays volleyball and stays active as the mother of two boys.

Guest

Naomi Buckwalter

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naomi-buckwalter/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ineedmorecyber

Highlights:

0:00 - Introductions & Storytelling

• Naomi's "Why" on advocating for Cybersecurity
• Asymmetric skills and defenders: 12.5% of open jobs on LinkedIn are "Entry Level" but half require 5 years experience?
• Executives in enterprise have greater ramifications to society on cyber crime
• Cybercrime needs to be as rare as an airplane crash, not common
• Naomi's Why: To win against cybercrime and live in a better world

6:35 - Think About Where Ransomware Payments Are Going

• When a company pays a ransomware, money is going back for greater crimes
• It's not about data, it's bigger

8:00 - About Cybersecurity Gate Breakers - Non-Profit

• The goal is get talent the opportunity to break past the "gate keepers" of cybersecurity
• Focus is on encouraging hiring organizations to develop talent and stop looking for the "purple unicorn."
• Leaders need to critically look at their influence on the world of cybercrime
• Normalization of cybercrime doesn't need to happen
• We are all interconnected globally, ex. Midwest Police crime scene hack.
• Have the conversation and use democracy, education to help combat and help the community
• Critical thinking and challenging the facts, especially with assumptions on job requirements

15:42 - Give People Chances To Succeed

• Reforming from Gatekeeping to Advocate
• Shout out to Intern-Now Employee - Jessica!
• Give people a chance to blow expectations out of the water
• Be ok with being someone who knows nothing
• Give them the basics and guide them.
• Faking it until you make it is not the best way
• Naomi's mentor at Vanguard
• Train entry levels and give them a path so they don't have to "fake" it at mid-level positions

23:07 - Leadership Conversations & Pathway

• Look for people who have human skills: empathy, influence and persuasion, critical thinking, communication
• Difficult to teach, but great to grow and develop
• Technical skills can be taught, but coaching for the muscle to be trained and prepared
• Business mind and tactical ways of thinking are two different paths and skills

25:50 - Naomi's False Sense of Ego and Getting Fired

• Overcoming the ego and believing the hype on her success
• Getting Fired and bringing Naomi back to earth
• A series of events caused Naomi to reflect
• Andrew Yang's, "The War on Normal People."
• What is the mission of the human race?
• Looking at your bank statement to show your priorities
• Why are YOU here?
• Envisioning a world where humans evolve and get better, and having empathy and gratitude.

Final Thoughts:

• If you are grateful for what you have, you'll always be happy. Always.