Cyber Empowerment

Episode 9: Interview with Adam Shostack

Mon, 23 Oct 2023 00:39:46 GMT

Adam Shostack, a well-known author, entrepreneur and pioneer of SDL Threat Modeling, is my guest in this latest episode of Cyber Empowerment podcast. Listen to his exciting career journey and what inspired him to write an unorthodox book on cybersecurity called “Threats: What Every Engineer Should Learn from Star Wars, and “Threat Modeling: Designing for Security”, which was chosen as Dr. Dobb’s Jot Award Finalist in 2014. Check out Adam’s free online course “Learning Threat Modeling for Security Professionals” on LinkedIn.

Episode 8: Interview with Dinesh Chandrasekaran

Wed, 04 Oct 2023 03:54:06 GMT

My guest, Mr. Dinesh Chandrasekaran, developed an interest in Cybersecurity after taking a class in Penetration Testing and Vulnerability Analysis taught by Mr. Dan Guido as a graduate student at NYU. Dinesh began his professional career in Cybersecurity as a security engineer at Broadridge, and later worked at several technology companies including Microsoft, Box and Google. At Google, he ensures companies that Google acquired meet the security standard of Google and the industry as the Merger and Acquisition Security Manager. Listen to Dinesh as he elucidates STRIDE Threat Modeling and why it is an integral part of the software development process. Hear about the different DEI programs at Google to support students of all backgrounds to pursue their career paths and maximize their potential.

Episode 7: Interview with Lucine Wang

Mon, 18 Sep 2023 04:27:48 GMT

Ms. Lucine Wang, my guest on this latest episode of Cyber Empowerment podcast, was inspired by Dan Brown’s bestseller “The Da Vinci Code” to pursue a degree in Cybersecurity! Listen to Lucine’s inspiring journey from a college student in China, to an intern and full-time employee at Microsoft, and now an Engineering Manager at Uber based in Seattle. Learn about Incident Response, and ways Artificial Intelligence, or AI, helps sharpen an organization’s ability to identify and respond to Cybersecurity threats. Finally, hear about why Diversity and Inclusion are critical to innovation and making more informed decisions.

Episode 6: Interview with PJ Fox

Mon, 04 Sep 2023 16:42:37 GMT

Thinking about a career in Cybersecurity in the military? In this latest episode of the Cyber Empowerment podcast, I have the honor of speaking with Mr. PJ Fox, who has spent more than 30 illustrious years in the military, working in various roles, and is now an Executive Officer at the US Army CERTCOM and a Program Manager at Microsoft. Listen to his career journey, starting from a Police Detective in Seattle to an Executive Protection Officer at Microsoft where he was tasked to protect the CEO of Microsoft! Learn about how PJ successfully transitioned from a non-technology career path to and to one in Cybersecurity, after receiving timely career guidance from a Senior Executive at Microsoft.

Episode 5: Interview with Shawn Rabourn

Mon, 28 Aug 2023 18:12:19 GMT

In this latest episode, I have the honor of speaking with Mr. Shawn Rabourn from Activision Blizzard King, the company known for many popular game titles like Overwatch, Call of Duty, Skylanders and Candy Crush! Learn about Shawn’s career journey from a Support Engineer to a Principal Consultant at Microsoft to an Expert Security Engineer at ABK, the differences in threat landscapes among the many online games, and the diverse roles that you can work in the Cybersecurity industry.

Episode 4: Interview with Scott Guthrie and Joy Chik - Part 2/2

Mon, 21 Aug 2023 16:06:40 GMT

In this episode, I continued my conversation with two distinguished guests from Microsoft - Mr. Scott Guthrie and Ms. Joy Chik - about Cybersecurity, how Microsoft technologies help protect users and businesses from online threats, their fascinating journey from being a Microsoft intern to senior leader at the company, and their guidance to students on internship and pursuing a career in Cybersecurity. In Part 2, we touched on topics including Diversity and Inclusion, the value of mentorship, and tips from Scott and Joy to aspiring high school students who wish to pursue a career in cybersecurity.

Episode 4: Interview with Scott Guthrie and Joy Chik - Part 1/2

Thu, 17 Aug 2023 19:18:01 GMT

In this latest episode, I have the honor of speaking with two distinguished guests from Microsoft - Mr. Scott Guthrie and Ms. Joy Chik - about Cybersecurity, how Microsoft technologies help protect users and businesses from online threats, their fascinating journey from being a Microsoft intern to senior leader at the company, and their guidance to students on internship and pursuing a career in Cybersecurity.

Episode 3: Interview with Aaron Clark

Thu, 10 Aug 2023 00:28:00 GMT

“Cybersecurity is about thinking out of the box,” said Mr. Aaron Clark, a 20-year security veteran who has worked at IBM, Microsoft, and is now a people manager at Oracle. In this episode, Mr. Clark explains why security professionals need to put themselves in the shoes of the threat actors to think of not just the “use” cases, but also the “misuse” cases, to analyze a computer system’s vulnerabilities. Mr. Clark shares with us his career journey from a security consultant to a security leader, enlightens us about the various soft skills needed to be a successful security professional like influencing your project sponsors and senior executives, and finally, examines the impact of AI and Quantum Computing on the future of Cybersecurity.

Episode 2: Interview with Muneer Baig

Sat, 05 Aug 2023 17:54:38 GMT

“If you keep the bar low, you will not grow,” said Mr. Muneer Baig, my guest on this second episode of the Cyber Empowerment for Students and Young Adults podcast series.

In this episode, I sat down with Mr. Muneer Baig, a 30-year veteran in the information security industry, the founder of SYSUSA Inc, and an ex-Microsoft IT Security Engineer, to talk about his amazing journey from a Helpdesk Technician to a Security Engineer at Microsoft to a Founder of his own companies.

Episode 1: Interview with Rodolfo Hinojosa

Wed, 26 Jul 2023 01:33:20 GMT

In this episode, I will be interviewing Mr Rodolfo Flores Hinojasa, Director of Product Security at Remitly. Mr Hinojasa has more than 10 years of experience in the security industry and has worked at companies like Microsoft, Saleforce, Amazon, Oracle and Remitly.