An interview with Valeria Scribanti, a Technical Options Specialist with give attention to cybersecurity.
Welcome to the Cisco Girls in Cybersecurity’s weblog sequence, the place we spotlight the tales of the mentors who’ve impressed and advocated for the careers of these in our group. This sequence seeks to point out the significance of allyship, connection, and the way totally different the journeys might 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 inner on-line group for ladies in cybersecurity based mostly in Switzerland. Through the years, Valeria and I stayed in contact, scheduling a digital espresso or sending one another fascinating articles. Final yr we even obtained 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 constructive in an trade with an inclination to give attention to 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 focused on know-how from a curiosity perspective, though 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 know-how was not all that current. I nonetheless keep in mind the primary time I noticed an iPod; it actually fascinated me as a tool, and I instantaneously needed 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 house in the future, I caught my first glimpse of code and that obtained me hooked. From there I understood that know-how is what I needed 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 Expertise (TUHH).
So, it was actually about instinct and curiosity which led me to decide on know-how as a career. Effectively, that and the truth that I used to be taking part in a variety 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 obtained to play with a variety of Cisco know-how, studying switching and routing. But, as an entire, the college program was fairly theoretical and analysis oriented. It was not till I went to Germany for the change program that I took an ideal 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 typical 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 potential path 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 extremely clean transition. The job market again then supplied loopy variety of alternatives, not like the present state of affairs.
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How do you know what position precisely you need to go for?
By doing the interviews I truly obtained to know extra in regards to the totally different roles, what day-to-day actions they contain and what trajectory I may comply with if I had been to affix.
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How has your profession advanced since your preliminary begin?
My first position was a Community and Safety Engineer at a system integrator firm in Italy. I nonetheless keep in mind the interview with them. We began off with some straightforward to reply questions, corresponding to “what’s a firewall?”. The following questions, nonetheless, had been matters which had been completely new to me again then, corresponding to what an IPS (intrusion prevention system) and defense-in-depth and many others. Trying again, I feel that the interviewers posed these inquiries to hone my urge for food for the subject and show that they had been coping with cutting-edge know-how. Through the interview they defined the ideas of these safety merchandise and confirmed me what the position would entail.
As a customer-facing engineer there, I set to work with a variety of Cisco know-how, in addition to different distributors. The most effective a part of this position 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 realized tons about safety structure design, implementation and configuration of various safety merchandise corresponding to firewalls, IPS, WAF, anti-virus, and many others.
Sooner or later I set to work with the Cisco Safe Community Analytics (previously Stealthwatch) staff on a challenge. By speaking with them I found different sorts of roles inside cybersecurity. The work of a safety gross sales engineer, who’s chargeable 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 onerous and tender abilities.
One of many issues that I really love in regards to the TSS position is that I get to work with world clients and as a part of a worldwide staff, work together with totally different cultures and put into observe the a number of languages that I communicate. I spotted the truth that I additionally take pleasure in working intently 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 would like you had recognized at the beginning of your cybersecurity profession?
I made a variety of selections for my profession based mostly on a intestine feeling. My instinct served me nicely however wanting again, I may have used some extra steerage and knowledge to determine which path I ought to take. There are such a lot of totally different paths that exist on the market and it’s price exploring them earlier than deciding on a specific profession.
How to try this? A technique is to affix cybersecurity communities which are close to you and discover out extra about these totally different roles. Discuss to professionals who’re already within the area and take heed to their perspective.
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What’s your single most vital piece of recommendation to folks contemplating a profession in cybersecurity?
Hang around with individuals who like cybersecurity – you’ll study rather a lot!
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