welcome to this gig that I was somehow
tricked into doing for some reason
um
I kept it a little bit low touch because
I really wanted to get the audience
engaged and I'd like to kick it off with
so the presidency the presentation is
called the secret source of cyber
security operations
so I'd like to start with what's the
difference between cyber security
gotcha it's not going to do that
um
let's start over a little bit of I'm
very nervous because it's the first time
that I've done this in front of such a
huge audience so if you want to grab a
coffee like by all means like I'll have
five people in the room and be really
happy about it
so who am I
um
18 years in activity 14 in cyber
security for the past almost eight years
I've done cyber security operations
so apparently people
saw like think that they know what I'm
talking about all have to see
um I'm what I used I call myself a cozy
host for the Imposter syndrome because
like in this type of activity you always
think that like you're the lowest person
and like everybody else is better than
you so if you're in the room and you
feel the same you're not alone so this
is a call out to everybody I've actually
heard people
uh on the floor and elsewhere talking
about this thing so yeah
being a people leader for a significant
amount of time one some of the things
that really resonated with me
um are servant leadership so my role as
a people leader is to actually enable
the people that I'm responsible for to
work and be productive
um
and I I strive to do that and one of the
things that I think many organizations
are lacking is the whole start with why
which is a Simon signing concept and I
really like so
and the last piece of information is I'm
a
driver enthusiasts so this is like a
mask off mask on type of moment so I
really enjoy this is my my moment to
disconnect from everything so like I go
on the track and like I
don't care for anything about eight
hours until my children call but that's
a different story
so
in the line of starting why why the
presentation
um
in these types of conventions you hear a
lot of discussions about the latest
techniques the latest stuff that happens
the latest exploits the latest
misconfigurations you don't hear a lot
about the people that are in the first
line of defense the people in operations
the like
let's call them the foot soldiers if you
want
and what I try to do in this
presentation so it's just a summary of
maybe some not the most but some of the
most important lessons that I've learned
in my professional life
uh why because first of all I hope it
will help the people that the corporate
world calls the individual contributors
but I also hope that this will help
their managers and it will enable to
maybe change a little bit their mindset
and also the stakeholders and policy
makers and while this mostly applies to
service providers which have these
significant operations
hope it works
um
I think it also applies to people that
are responsible for internal security
teams of different sizes
we're going to talk about five cases
um it's not going to be it's going to be
a mix so we it's not like one person
everything's anonymized and everything's
like coincidental or not
but hopefully this will be helpful for
you and we're going to start with the
first case which we're going to call the
first story The gutting case of civil
Shepherd I don't know if you know her
she used to be a big hit when I was like
really tiny so if you don't know her
like midnight color and a lot
so Sybil was the fresh college graduate
um civil had no real work experience and
at least in Romania
this is a non-starter for most Tas so
like hey I'm fresh out of college like
we don't care what's your experience you
need to have four senses and five other
certifications to be considered for
junior positions so thank you very much
no
um yeah
actually there was a really difficult
housing situation involved as well so
civil
came and discussed with the people in
the organization that we're talking
about
and civil was an absolutely brilliant
cyber security professional I mean think
Matrix think how NEOS is in The Matrix
that's how civil sees in
all the code in the world so I think red
Reddington if you if you watch a
blacklist when he talks about Demby he
says he's Splendid so that was civil
Shepherd I mean look at her seriously
um
why is it a gutting case because Sybil
got hired and it got a what
um civil got hired so uh spent a good
period of time but unfortunately the
organizational where Sybil got hurt was
not actually prepared for the talent
that
she brought to the table so
Sybil had to actually leave to a place
that was far more far far more suitable
for the skill set and
um it is what it is
so Sybil comes with a with a really
really important lesson for you as
individual contributors you as managers
and your stakeholders
if you love something set it free and
there's a small here it says if it
doesn't come back hunted down and kill
it but like I'll leave it at that
um
as a as a manager myself
I strongly encourage you to be happy
when somebody says hey I'm going to
pursue another opportunity because it
helps me fulfill my dream it will make
you a lot more accomplished than saying
oh I have this challenge I have to have
find a back hill for a backfield for
this person the market is
another entity doesn't help me and
everybody asks for a lot of money like
if you love something set it free
because
it'll make you grow as a person it's not
the easiest thing to do but we don't
take it easy path
the second story is we're going to call
it the metamorphic case of Polo tradis
and because if you if you read June I've
read you know like a million times uh
before it was a thing I think
some old
um so Paula Chinese had many many like
access to many ancestries because when
he took the spice he became prescient
and so on so this is a story of many
people
you may be in this role you may have
been in this role Paul may be a former
government employee he may be an
employee at the end job and perhaps he
wants to dabble into cyber security for
the first time he comes into
organization spends one to three years
in the organization and then wants to
experience something else and kudos to
them I love a person that is going to
say hey
I know it's like for example former
government employees saying hey it's my
first uh encounter with the corporate
world I want to try something else
please don't hold it against me don't
hold it against them
Paul
insert whatever time you want gives you
a phone call and says hey
it's not really what was sold to me 88
sorry
um and I'd really like to come back so
uh I see my wife she's like oh my God I
can't believe she's saying that so he
reaches out to you and says hey I want
to come back so
dear cyber security managers
sometimes the grass is greener on the
other side because it's fed with
something that I'm not allowed to say
because I represent the company but you
know what I mean
um
for you as individual contributors do
not shy away from that do not if you've
had a good relationship with your former
manager do not shy away from picking up
the phone and saying hey
help me if you can
because if you have a good manager and
this is where the the we separate the
grain from the chaff
they're going to help you
for you cyber security managers manifest
empathy
put yourself in their shoes and think
about what you're doing their faith in
in their in their shoes so help them
you may not have the role you may know
somebody who has the role you may
facilitate but again grow yourselves as
managers and it'll prove
better in the long term
the third story we're going to call it
the Intriguing case of Captain Thor Iron
Hulk and this I I I couldn't for my life
depended I couldn't draw a circle so
this is something that I actually found
online
um
Marvel
so
Captain Thor ironhulk had a couple of
interviews with a certain organization
the interviews were like really crappy
the feedback that he got
were like he can't he really decide what
he is is he a green Beast is he well
captain of justice is he a Norse god so
it's like such a bad candidate
he doesn't even know the name of a
single vendor
of a web proxy solution like come on
Websense
blue scope whatever I don't care
and this is actually one of the stories
that's like the nearest and nearest to
my heart because I got to actually talk
to Captain Thor ironhawk and he's
awesome I mean
you get to a point where you start to
sense that something's like beneath the
surface and you try to explore it and
Captain Thor ironhog says hey I don't
know the name of a web proxy solution
but I actually have my own engines
instance that I've put in my lab at home
it's like hmm
tell me about your lab at home like it
has an ideas and it has this and that
and I'm actually blocking my wife's
shopping Habits Like I'm sorry honey but
uh Zara is down or whatever it's like
this is one of the situations where if
you're a good people reader if you're a
manager that understands the cyber
security landscape you're going to have
that person hired on the spot
so Captain Thor ironhawk
turns out that he's a really dependable
fire and forget down-to-earth operations
person I really like I really like to
surround myself with fire and forget
people what I mean by that is like we
have stuff to do if I assign somebody
like hey help me with this I'm not the
kind of person that will double check
every two days that something has been
progressed we will talk about this in
three months or two weeks or next year
but I know that this type of person is a
person that I can depend on that when
the time comes they would have done
their own job surround yourself with
these types of people and strive to be
this kind of people like managers and
contributors because it's a much leaner
a much much much better solution to to
workplace relationships if you ask me
and Captain Thor I don't know because
like he has some cycle
Magical Hammer unbreakable Shield power
armor and invincibility he's one of the
people that I very much like to have
around during syrians incident and
this is like you hire people strive to
find the potential in people and to tap
it and you're going to be surprised and
you're going to grow you're going to be
better
so the lesson that
the Chimera brings to to the story
actually there are two lessons so first
of all higher the wise the why not the
wise like you have a challenge like hey
what do you think about this there there
will be people that will say why not
let's try this crazy idea say see what
have what comes out of it
there will be people saying like why
it's disruptive I don't like it I don't
care about this higher the why not
strive to be the why Nots because
we work in cyber security we're not
in we're not making bread even though
there's Innovation so
keto bread
the second lesson is change is
inevitable the people that are the why
not are going to be better adapted to
the change and if there's anything that
people that have spent a lot of a lot of
time in the industry is change is
inevitable except from a vending machine
that's like use the
the ones with the car
the fourth story we're going to call it
the unwavering case of geralt of Rivia
this comes with a lesson also from
from The Blacklist so if you like The
Blacklist I like The Blacklist so
so girls
is again it's a Persona it exemplifies
many people by the nature of the Beast
that come from really toxic environments
and you give them a chance
um some come from companies that have
really bad cultures some come from
other places that don't have such a
great culture
he tried so many times they tried so
many times to join organization but
didn't really work out for them
so I mean as it says here in this
respect it's more like Captain America
than geralt
um with geralt was like 30 chance of
making it out alive so anyway
maybe not a really
good choice of a persona but he was
given a chance and he became one of the
most Dependable loyal and high
performing employee of that organization
and I think that
um
it's a really difficult conversation one
that may be
um
subject of like coffee elsewhere
because in this day and age we talk a
lot about
this is just a job
but on the other hand
I think it's really important for an
employee
to be loyal and to them to to the
organization and for the organization to
be loyal to an employee Facebook sorry
the allergies they're crushing me
um
yeah I think because
a person that's invested like look at
what happens in Ukraine and how a good
people leader has managed to to gather
around and to really rally the people
against an external enforcement why
loyalty is so important and
we need to try to to make this it's a
two-way street it's not like oh the
employees are loyal to the companies
like no it doesn't work like that it is
always a two-way street and
if an employee is loyalty to a company
is
not so obvious the other way around it
makes the news and it's going to create
a really bad reputation no matter how
much money you throw at people if you
have a bad reputation people are not
going to come you need to behave in a
certain way
so the fourth story this is there's a
really slow it's a really cool video but
I I couldn't put it here when red
explains about loyalty and how he worked
to putting carpets in a very hot summer
when he was really really young Google
it read value loyalty you'll see it it's
a really impressive demonstration from
from James Spader but yeah value loyalty
Above All Else
do not deceive to not
light your employees
it's better to tell them I'm not at
Liberty to say than to lie
the fifth Story
it's again a persona it's we're going to
call it the frustrating case of
Cassandra
Cassandra the priest of the the
Priestess Apollo Priestess from like the
ancient times I think it was Apollo
maybe
um should predict the fall of stray
should predict a lot of stuff but nobody
would listen to her
so
there are many Cassandras in cyber
security that's the reality of things
[Music]
and I'd like to to have a show of hands
so I'm the of the opinion
that cyber security is one of the very
very few areas short of a kinetic
conflict that we have up north where
human intelligence actually is at war
with human intelligence like do you
agree with this statement I do I do
it's like you battle adversaries you try
to evict adversaries you try to outsmart
them you try to do stuff to them they
try to do stuff to you on a daily basis
this is unheard of this doesn't happen
in I.T operations and unless you
you are a fan of the rise of the robots
or something else
so I think it's really important I I
don't I I think that many organizations
do not do a
a good job at recognizing the Cassandras
in the organization actually enabling
and empowering them they're going to say
hey I have a strategy
um you're not going to come and append
it because you're stupid ideas like ah
go play in your sandbox
so
Cassandra is many people that are not
listened by the stakeholders this is
more lessons about stakeholders and
about
the people that actually do the work
um there's a saying from one of the
mentors that I have that says I'm too
busy shooting girls to talk to the
machine gun salesperson
so it's like yeah we have to fight these
alerts and they're like trillions like
maybe we could do this and there are no
more alerts like ah you're stalking
sorry
um
so if you're in that role create
listening posts nurture Innovation
culture I've seen and it's not only a a
feature of cyber security it's also in
many walks of life uh
many people many many organizations
consider that Innovation is the
privilege of like their r d Department
some of you may know the story about the
rear spoiler from the dachiometrics
which was like somebody invented the way
to make it cheaper they were like they
took their idea and now he sued them and
got millions of dollars so Innovation is
not the privilege of few many people in
your organizations can have ideas that
are brilliant and awesome
so create listening pause give people 20
of me time
try to enforce this try to encourage
them to do the work that they care about
the the lesson that Cassandra brings
comes from left Tolstoy we're in peace
the strongest of Warriors are these two
time and patience it's a lesson for you
that have these ideas and are not being
listened to and if your ideas are not
listened to start your own gig but it's
like written really slow because I'm I
don't know how the message sounds so
follow your dreams follow your ideas
so that was the bulk of the presentation
I do have a couple of Kudos and call
outs that are going to take me like 30
seconds
so first of all I'd like to thank the
organization that made this possible and
I'd like to invite with me on the stage
Andrei
please
so in our organization we've actually
created a challenge coin
that we give to all the people that
have been serving the cyber security
Community for a long time therefore our
Champions they're for the people that no
no no no no no no why so it has a lot of
it has a lot of Easter eggs that I'm
sure you're gonna have fun thank you for
all the partnership in the past I don't
know how many years and yeah too many
and we hope we'll see you next time
thank you
the second call out is to the people in
the trenches I know your jobs are really
difficult so
help us try to make them better because
the ideas come from actually doing the
work from making the machine guns better
for making the tanks better for making
everything better
and um
the third the last but not the least
important call out is to my better half
thank you
thank you thank you very much Andre are
there any questions for Andre
if not I would have fun
I read about a lot of experience you
have in um
managing people or searching for people
or trying to support them in their
growth
and I've read that you have a large team
of L3 security specialists
and the question would be which would be
the most
valuable skills on L3 Specialists should
have the most what the most valuable
valuable skill
the the mindset
it's not a skill it's like
think
have a growth mindset
it's there are some people that will
know like hey I know I'm I'm a person
I'm a forensicator I know how to do
forensics like that's great but
forensics may be gone tomorrow because
somebody's going to invent an AI thing
that's going to do everything and you're
gonna be redundant like what what do you
put instead think
fast have a growth mindset
I've had people
hired with almost no cyber security
experience and they've they've become
extraordinary
that's the most valuable thing that you
can bring to the table it's not hey I
know because
and it's also a skill that does not a
skill that does not depreciate uh Don
Smith who talked last year is like he
has a quote he says like uh in cyber
security live for a day Everything
Changes live for live for a year
everything's the same
so I quote him it's not very about him
but your mind said the way that you
approach a problem is your most
important skill set it doesn't matter
like exploits will come and go
techniques will come and go but
being flexible being the why not
is the most important thing that I
personally look for in these people
because they're the people that when
when the tides change and in cyber
security Tides change these are the
people that will be the best suited to
to make sure that we keep defending the
people that we keep defending that's my
take on things okay thank you
thanks everybody
thank you