(ISC)² Blog

CISSP Spotlight: Uzoma Nwankwo

Name: Uzoma Nwankwo Title: Information Systems Security Officer Employer: Booz Allen Hamilton Location: National Business Park, Maryland, U.S.A. Education: MBA, BS in Computer Information Systems Years in IT: 12 Years in cybersecurity: 7 Cybersecurity certifications: CISSP, Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), Comptia Security +, Project Management Professional (PMP) How did you decide upon a career in cybersecurity? I began my career as a systems administrator, supporting a project for a large government agency. When that project ended, I was presented with an opportunity to help another government agency with cybersecurity services in locations throughout the country. I travelled, met new people... Read more →

SSCP Spotlight: Wendy Larsen

Name: Wendy Larsen Title: Security Consultant Employer: Weidenhammer Location: Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Years in IT: 27 Years in information security: 5 Cybersecurity certifications: SSCP, Security+, ITIL, VCP, MCSE How did you decide upon a career in cybersecurity? I have been working for an information technology consulting organization for 27 years. They gave me many opportunities to expand my technical knowledge as a systems engineer. Over the past several years, I have been very interested in growing my skill set in cybersecurity. I came to discover that I have a passion for security – therefore, I took the bull by the... Read more →

CISSP Spotlight: Albert Torres

Name: Albert Torres Title: Cyber Security Project Manager Employer: Sempra Energy Utilities – contractor Location: San Diego, California, U.S.A. Education: M.S. in Information Security and Assurance from Western Governors University, B.A. in Management Information Systems (Summa Cum Laude) from Washington State University Years in IT: 26 Years in cybersecurity: 16 Cybersecurity certifications: CISSP, PMP, CEH, CHFI, ITIL v3 Foundation IT Management Certification How did you decide upon a career in cybersecurity? I had been in the IT industry for over 10 years and our company was creating its first software as a service (SaaS) software offering. The previous software we... Read more →

CCSP Spotlight: Arlie Hartman

Name: Arlie Hartman Title: National Security Operations Manager - Cloud Location: Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A. Degree: Bachelor’s degree in Business, IT Management at WGU (in progress) Years in IT: 16 Years in cybersecurity: 11 Cybersecurity certifications: CCSP, CISSP, HCISPP, GSEC, PCIP How did you decide upon a career in cybersecurity? I was working as a quality analyst doing root cause analysis for unsatisfactory IT incident resolutions – I was, essentially, a complaints department. I saw a position available as a technical analyst for our regional security officer and I applied and got it. I started out supporting the RSA Ace server... Read more →

CCSP Spotlight: Olayinka Ladeji

Name: Olayinka Ladeji Job Title: Management Consultant, Information & Cybersecurity and IT Advisory Employer: Enaxis Consulting Location: Houston, Texas, U.S.A. Degree: Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering Years in IT: 14 Years in cybersecurity: 12 Cybersecurity certifications: CCSP, CISSP, CISM, CBCP How did you decide upon a career in cybersecurity? Information security has always been my passion. I was working at a financial organization after college, but didn’t get the opportunity to work in the field of information security until an independent information security department was set up there shortly after I joined. I was drafted into the department,... Read more →

CISSP Spotlight: Robert Kato

Name: Robert Kato Title: IT Specialist Employer: African Development Bank Education: Bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology and Master’s Degree in Information Systems Years in IT: 10 Years in cybersecurity: 5 Cybersecurity certifications: CISSP, CCNA Security How did you decide upon a career in cybersecurity? I started my career mostly doing systems administration and networking roles. At that time, especially in Africa, connectivity and system performance were the most important aspects. We had servers that had 128GB of memory and a 64 Kpbs DSL link and would cost $500 monthly. However, with the increase in computing power and high speed internet... Read more →

CISSP Spotlight: Miriam Celi

Name: Miriam Celi Title: Technical Leader – Secure Coding IT Quality Assurance Employer: Humana, Inc. Years in IT: 20 Years in cybersecurity: 7 Cybersecurity certifications: CISSP, GISP How did you decide upon a career in cybersecurity? I got into a career in cybersecurity by chance. In early 2009, I joined a small startup that specialized in personal identity verification (PIV) solutions for the government. I was very fortunate that since the company was small, I was able to perform various roles, such as integrating products with various physical access control systems and biometric devices, representing the company in security conferences... Read more →

CCSP Spotlight: Mahbubul Islam

Name: Mahbubul Islam Title: Head of Secure Design Employer: U.K. Government Department Degree: B.Sc., M.Sc. Years in IT: 15 Years in cybersecurity: 10 Cybersecurity certifications: CCSP, CISM, SABSA, LCCP, ISO27001 LA How did you decide upon a career in cybersecurity? I started working for the U.K. government in 2001 and whilst working on various standard projects, I was successful in landing an apprentice role as an Information Assurance Manager. The role was very flexible, as it was the first of its kind which allowed myself and my colleagues to determine a structured plan to develop security skills within the fields... Read more →

CISSP Spotlight: Walter Speelman

Name: Walter Speelman Title: Senior Security Specialist, IAM Employer: The Walt Disney Company Years in IT: 26 Years in cybersecurity: 8 Cybersecurity certifications: CISSP® How did you decide upon a career in cybersecurity? I actually didn’t start off in cybersecurity. I started my career just doing typical IT functions related to the client/server environments and networks, later moving into programming and system architecture and design. While there are aspects of security in all of that, it was not until later that I moved specifically into a dedicated security role. When I started in IT, connectivity was the major focus and... Read more →

CCSP Spotlight: Kevin Jackson

Name: Kevin L. Jackson Title: Founder/CEO Employer: GovCloud Network, LLC Degree: B.S. Aerospace Engineering, M.S. Computer Engineering, M.A. National Strategic Studies Years in IT: 25+ Years in cybersecurity: 5 Cybersecurity certifications: CCSP How did you decide upon a career in cybersecurity? The rapid rise in the adoption of cloud computing by business indicates that cloud is rapidly becoming critical to the nation’s economic stability. With this, cybersecurity in the cloud will essentially be synonymous with national security. As an IT professional and intelligence community professional, it seemed like a natural path. Why did you get your CCSP®? Although cybersecurity was... Read more →

CCSP Spotlight: Abel Sussman

Name: Abel Sussman Title: Practice Director, Public Services Employer: Coalfire Degree: B.S. Computer Science, State University of New York at Binghamton, MBA, State University of New York at Albany Years in IT: 20 Years in cybersecurity: 15 Cybersecurity certifications: CISSP, CCSP How did you decide upon a career in cybersecurity? I not only wanted to grow my career, but also desired to find a way to give back to the country. My move into cybersecurity as a federal auditor provides the opportunity to assure our nation’s critical infrastructure and assets are secure and protected. My entrance into cybersecurity started with... Read more →