CyberWire Daily - Dina Haines: Keep the boat afloat. [Partnership manager] [Career Notes]

Episode Date: August 27, 2023

This week, we welcome Dina Haines, an Industry Partnership Manager with the National Security Agency's Cybersecurity Collaboration Center. Dina found from a young age, she was always interested in the... field, taking after her father who worked in the space industry, paving the way for her to fall in love with the field. She worked in the private sector for a bit, moving around every now and again, eventually landing the position she works now. Dina says her day to day job is helping the NSA to bend and protect cyberspace by bringing in private industry. She says "I try to spend a lot of time listening and seeing where people, where they're coming from, where they're at, you know, potentially in their career, where they're at in their job that day, and then try to, um, support them and bring them up and, and float the entire boat." We thank Dina for sharing her story with us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 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. Hi, my name is Dena Haynes, and I am an industry partnership manager with National Security Agency's Cybersecurity Collaboration Center. I wanted to be lots of things when I was growing up. I wanted to be a teacher and an astronaut and a stock market trader. I really wanted to help others from a really young age. I was fascinated by technology and how to do that. I had a love of teaching. I spent some time in Florida and was fascinated by space. My dad worked in the space industry.
Starting point is 00:02:09 And so the astronaut piece was really interesting to me, although I didn't have the science background to do that. And then I actually had a job as a stock market trader for a little bit. And I think I pulled them all together and became a cybersecurity professional. I think I pulled them all together and became a cybersecurity professional. I remember my first intersection, which actually is a little earlier than my first computer. My dad worked in the space industry, and he took me to work one day and showed me this new technology called a Telex machine, which was the precursor to the fax machine. called a Telex machine, which was the precursor to the fax machine. And I remember typing a message from our East Coast office to his colleague out at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
Starting point is 00:02:53 California. And instantly later, a message came back to me and I was simply amazed. And I was all in in tech from that day on, which I think I might have just dated myself with all of that because it was before I had a computer. My career progression has definitely been eclectic. I worked in the private sector for a while. I worked at a global consulting firm, a multinational entertainment company, and actually two tech startups. And then I worked in academia where I continued to sort of teach and write cybersecurity curriculum. And my current role at the NSA is actually my second tour in government service. Both times were with the NSA.
Starting point is 00:03:45 I've worked with our foreign intel mission, and now I work on our cyber defensive mission. And I actually even took a bit of a sabbatical for a couple of years and worked in motor racing. And so while that is definitely eclectic career, no matter what job I've had, I've learned things that I use every single day. As an industry partnership manager, my job is to bring in private, facilitating meetings, getting private industry
Starting point is 00:04:28 to come in, these public-private partnerships that you hear about. We are the ones that facilitate them and bring information together and be able to share non-public information with private industry to help all of us collectively better defend in cyber. private industry to help all of us collectively better defend in cyber. Private industry works much faster than government. I don't think that's probably a surprise. But government has the time and typically the resources to go very deep. So if you want to learn quickly, sort of be state of the art, then sometimes private sector is better because of the way that they have to innovate quickly. But if you want to look at a problem and really have the resources to dig deep into that problem, then government is actually a great place to be there. I would consider myself a personable leader. where they're coming from, where they're at, you know, potentially in their career,
Starting point is 00:05:51 where they're at in their job that day, and then try to support them and bring them up and and float the entire boat. I think over time I have learned to be very resilient. One of the things that I think is important is finding mentors and allies that can help pick you up when you hit those barriers or when you hit those bad days. And then I really am a big believer later in my career now that surrounding yourself with kind humans that make you laugh is what is needed to get through some days. I think the first thing is to be super curious, particularly if you want to work in cyber. There's always something new to learn in this field. I think it's important to have grace with yourself and watch the negative chatter that's in your head. And I would say to be open to a career journey that's not a straight path, that is a winding road with lots of side paths.
Starting point is 00:06:47 I think that that's a fascinating place to be. When I look back to where we were at, particularly diversity in tech in the early 90s, particularly with respect to women and where we are today, we are undoubtedly making progress. I wanted to share a story at an early job in my career. We had about 5% women represented in the technical workforce. And during one of our all hands meetings, one of the leaders kind of looked around and noted to all of us women in the room that we needed to keep our resumes up to date
Starting point is 00:07:20 because there'd never been a woman leader at that company. And while he was in charge, there never would be one. So fast forward that to today, and I am super proud to say that NSA's cyber center has nearly 50% women in our technical workforce and our chief and deputy chief are both women. Every day they empower me to do my best work, to defend against cyber threats and be the best version of myself. And so we have definitely come a long way. There's a lot of conversation about, you know, all the barriers and all the challenges. But I do think when you look across time, we are in so much of a better place.
Starting point is 00:08:17 And sometimes I don't think we focus on that. We just focus on all the, you know, bad parts. I hope that for my two sons, that I've shown that tenacity and hard work really can bring success in a technical field and that I'm possibly cooler than they think I am. But I hope that my legacy would be that I've made a difference from Black Cloak. Did you know the easiest way for cybercriminals to bypass your company's defenses is by targeting your executives and their families at home? Black Cloak's award-winning digital executive protection platform secures their personal devices, home networks, and connected lives. Because when executives are compromised at home, your company is at risk.
Starting point is 00:09:29 In fact, over one-third of new members discover they've already been breached. Protect your executives and their families 24-7, 365 with Black Cloak. Learn more at blackcloak.io.

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