Creating Connections: Time to fall back?

As we move firmly into fall, let's pause for a moment to reflect. Fall always meant a version of new beginnings. reconnections, and affirmations to me. It meant returning to school, seeing friends after a busy summer, or committing to future training (I had a stint as a long distance runner, so my training plans often started at this time of year). Now, of course, all is different. Returning to school now means my young adult daughters are away at college and my favorite event for reconnecting, our Women in Cybersecurity reception, is on pause for a second year due to Covid. Running and I are currently on a break.

Creating Connections: The more things change...

Hey all...we are closing in on the end of summer and we are moving a bit backward with the pandemic. Trying to simulate "normal life" this summer finds us recently backing up, starting to mask again, maybe taking more precautions that we thought vaccination did away with. Even with Delta running its course, we have so much to embrace. As women in cybersecurity, we've realized ways to stay connected throughout the pandemic with technology. We've gathered, and "met" virtually, and still supported one another. I think I've met more people in last year and a half than I usually do at in-person events.

Creating Connections: Reveal your true self.

My background, like many others in our industry, is not technical. While I did teach computer skills classes in my graduate program, my degree is in policy and specifically economic development in Eastern Europe. Anyone out there speak Hungarian? I’d love to practice with you! So, while not technical, I was always inclined to the nerdy side of things and took a few tech policy courses in grad school.

Creating Connections: Be resilient.

Here we go. We are starting to move through that phase of the pandemic that some of us worried would never come. The world is opening back up. Vaccines are more widely available. In-person things are starting to happen again. What does that mean for you? Will you be heading back into the office full-time? Will you be keeping your current remote work practices for a prolonged period maybe just to be safe? Will you instead adopt a sort of hybrid version of life as we've known it since March 2020 with some in-person and some remote work?

Creating Connections: Recognize the opportunities.

Read any good cybersecurity books lately? Where do you go to get recommendations for books to learn more about the industry? One of my colleagues, Rick Howard, the CyberWire's CSO and Chief Analyst, helped to create the Cybersecurity Canon in 2013. According to their Twitter account, the Cybersecurity Canon "is a curated collection of "must-read #InfoSec books that are of the highest quality and, if not read, will leave a hole in the #cybersecurity professional's education that will make the practitioner incomplete." You can learn more about the Cybersecurity Canon here.