CyberWire Daily - Diane M. Janosek: It's only together that we are going to rise. [Career Notes]

Episode Date: October 4, 2020

Commandant for the National Security Agency's National Cryptologic School Diane M. Janosek shares the story of her career going global Diane explains how she's always been drawn to doing things that could help and raise the nation. From a position as a law clerk during law school, to the role of a judicial clerk, and joining the White House Counsel's office, Diane was exposed to many things and felt she experienced the full circle. Moving on to the Pentagon and finally, the NSA, Diane transitioned into her current role where she orchestrates the educational environment for military and civilian cyber and cryptologists worldwide for the nation. Diane encourages those who love to learn to join the multidisciplinary cybersecurity field. Our thanks to Diane for sharing her story with us.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to the Cyber Wire Network, powered by N2K. and VPNs, yet breaches continue to rise by an 18% year-over-year increase in ransomware attacks and a $75 million record payout in 2024. These traditional security tools expand your attack surface with public-facing IPs that are exploited by bad actors more easily than ever with AI tools. It's time to rethink your security. Thank you. Learn more at zscaler.com slash security. My name is Diane M. Janicek. I'm the Commandant for the National Security Agency's National Cryptologic School. I grew up in Canada. My dad was a chemist and my mom was a nurse. But we ended up moving to the United States in eighth grade, and Ronald Reagan was the president.

And it was so different. The geopolitical atmosphere was so different. It truly was a foreign country, even though it's only just one border just north of us. It really was very different. only just one border just north of us. It really was very different. I remember going into high school never having an American history class or a political science class or U.S. government class and I thought this is pretty neat. It really was a foreign concept to me and so new that it was just really fascinating. So with that I thought well you know doing something that kind of services the government and understanding and promoting American values was just something I've always been interested in and I just have always kind of gravitated to

doing things where I thought I could help and kind of raise the nation. So I then after college I wanted to go to do a joint program in some type of international law arena. So I ended up going to go to law school at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., which was a phenomenal experience. And so while I was there, because I'm one of seven kids, you know, in funding education for myself, I had went to the career office and it was just a little office and they had a little, literally like a half inch notebook. So I was flipping through this book and I ended up applying to a law clerk position, ended up being a phenomenal position. I switched and worked full time and went to law school at night. I graduated the top 10 of my class and I did it in three and a half years, including law review. But while I was there, the true educational experience was during the daytime.

I ended up working for the associate attorney general, Webb Hubble. And it was just a phenomenal experience. So many fascinating things that I learned there. And then from there, I took a judicial clerkship position with a district court for the District of Columbia. Going from an amazing environment, political and legal environment, into a courthouse with so many things going on, it was just fascinating. And then as a result of that, I was asked to go over to the White House Counsel's Office, which was phenomenal. I started before the Bill Clinton impeachment trial.

So the stories I have are just crazy of all these exposures to different things and the full circle. So I ended up at the White House and then I also worked at the Pentagon and then I took a position with the National Security Agency. I have the amazing privilege of orchestrating the educational environment for military and civilian cyber and cryptologists worldwide for the nation. So not just for the National Security Agency, but primarily focused on serving the national security enterprise. So I have the unique pleasure of ensuring that we have timely and accurate current content across languages, cryptology, cyber, leadership, and business globally, like over multiple continents, global workforce, ubiquitous access to learning. Last year, we did about 4 million hours of learning worldwide across languages and cyber

and cryptology. So really, my goal is to keep the country prepared for the current threats, the future threats, and being mission ready for whatever the nation needs us to do in terms of securing our national security, securing our economic freedoms, and securing the liberties that we have as Americans and enjoy every day. I think what I've learned along the way is soft skills are probably the most important. How you translate what you're working on and how you socialize areas that need change and how you get the buy-in for making that change and how you support people and develop morale and encourage people to embrace teamwork. Those attributes and those characteristics of a leader are absolutely the most important. I encourage anyone that has an

interest in working in a field that involves continuous learning to consider cyber. The cyber field is so multidisciplinary. I heard yesterday how a large company that is in the top of the Fortune 500 list hired an accountant 10 years ago, and they ended up being an amazing compliance specialist in what they did. So I mentioned that only because it just shows the complexity of the field and how we really need so many disciplines to make it a team effort. So it's a phenomenal field. You'll love working with the people because they're all different. They come from different walks of life. Every skill is useful to have, and to collaborate, wants to be part of an area that's making a difference, cybersecurity is absolutely the field for you.

We need as many diverse individuals as we can because it's only together that we're all going to rise. Thank you. just a challenge. It's a necessity. That's why we're thrilled to partner with ThreatLocker, the cybersecurity solution trusted by businesses worldwide. ThreatLocker is a full suite of solutions designed to give you total control, stopping unauthorized applications, securing sensitive data, and ensuring your organization runs smoothly and securely. Visit ThreatLocker.com today to see how a default-deny approach can keep your company safe and securely. Visit ThreatLocker.com today to see how a default deny approach can keep your company safe and compliant.