I am a bit of a grey hair in the cybersecurity field, having entered in 2001 when there was not a “traditional” entry track. At the time, I was leading a counter-narcotics team in Hawaii when a really good friend and mentor reached out and asked me to join him at the recently formed cyber crime investigative unit. For about six months, I turned down his offer because I thought I was living my dream: running undercover operations mostly in Waikiki (for those who may recall the TV show, I felt like Magnum PI – minus the mansion, helicopters and Ferrari). After a couple of on-the-job injuries, I entertained his offer and relocated to Washington, D.C., to join the unit. There were few training programs at the time, so I went to most of them and then built my expertise through on-the-job training. For the first six months, I would go home each evening and jokingly tell my wife the team would figure it out soon enough that I wasn’t cutting it and I would probably need to find a new job. But, lucky for me, I figured out how to do the work, excelled in the role, and 20+ years later, here I am!
