CyberWire Daily - Dr. Jessica Barker: Cybersecurity has a huge people element to it. [Socio-technical] [Career Notes]

Episode Date: October 6, 2024

Enjoy this encore episode where we are joined by Co-founder and socio-technical lead at Cygenta, Dr. Jessica Barker, as she shares her story from childhood career aspirations of becoming a farmer to her accidental pivot to working in cybersecurity. With a PhD in civic design, Jessica looked at the creation of social and civic places until she was approached by a cybersecurity consultancy interested in the human side of cybersecurity. She jumped in and the rest is history. Having experienced some negativity as a woman in cybersecurity, Jessica is a strong proponent of diversity in the field. She suggests that newcomers to the industry follow what interests them and jump in. And, we thank Jessica 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. of you, I was concerned about my data being sold by data brokers. So I decided to try Delete.me. I have to say, Delete.me is a game changer. Within days of signing up, they started removing my personal information from hundreds of data brokers. I finally have peace of mind knowing my data privacy is protected. Delete.me's team does all the work for you with detailed reports so you know exactly what's been done. Take control of your data and keep your private life Thank you. JoinDeleteMe.com slash N2K and use promo code N2K at checkout. The only way to get 20% off is to go to JoinDeleteMe.com slash N2K and enter code N2K at checkout. That's JoinDeleteMe.com slash N2K, code N2K. My name is Dr. Jessica Barker,

and I'm the co-founder of a cybersecurity company called Sygenta. I really wanted to be a farmer when I was very little. I loved animals, I still do, and I guess I had a very romantic idea of what it meant to be a farmer. I probably didn't realise how much hard work goes into that, but that was the first thing I can remember wanting to do as a job. When I was going through school, I've always been very interested in people. So I always felt that I would work with people. But at the same time, I did. I joined kind of electronics type clubs with my friends.

But as I got to my GCSE, so as I got to kind of age 14, 15, 16, I sort of felt like, OK, to kind of age 14, 15, 16, I sort of felt like, okay, so the tech stuff is a hobby and I need to focus a bit more now on what I'm likely to do or the kind of area I'm likely to work in and that's going to be with people. So I moved away then from tech. I started working in urban regeneration and I worked on social inclusion projects. And from there, I worked with the University of Liverpool, who suggested, was I interested in maybe doing a PhD? So I actually then moved to do a PhD in civic design. And so then I was looking at kind of the creation of societies and the creation of social and civic places. And from there, I ended up in cybersecurity.

It was a complete accident that I then ended up working in cybersecurity. It's not something that I had planned and in fact I was approached by a cyber security consultancy who you know through kind of six degrees of separation had heard about my research and although it was in a different area this was kind of about 10 years ago and they recognized that somebody working on the human side of cyber security would be interesting from that kind of business consultancy angle. So I essentially got approached out of the blue, was I interested in exploring working in cybersecurity? And so I googled, what is cybersecurity? And went from there. and it was interesting you know the first year was kind of I mean so much learning which I really really enjoyed I think that was partly what got me hooked was there was this whole new world to

learn about and I love learning and love a new challenge so that was really interesting and then somewhere in that first year, I started to realize like, oh, I do look at these problems in a different way to the people I'm working with who are more technical. And I started to see actually the way in which cybersecurity has such a huge people element to it. We do have an issue in cybersecurity with a lack of gender diversity, a lack of diversity in general, you know, when it comes to ethnicity, neurodiversity, it comes to ethnicity, neurodiversity, socioeconomic status and lots of other issues as well. So I have faced discrimination, I have experienced harassment and other issues,

but I have beyond that experienced an overwhelming amount of support. There have been men early on in my career that were incredibly supportive and helpful and really helped move my career forward and champion me. So my experience has been far more positive than it has been negative. But that's not to deny the fact that there have been those negative elements as well, unfortunately. Don't be put off by how much there is to learn. It's a very broad field and it gets very deep as well. So just follow what you're curious about, follow what interests you. You know, there is so much information and guidance out there that engage with that. Share what you're learning. So whether that is by networking,

whether that is by having a blog or starting up your own podcast or, you know, video blog, whatever it might be, but find a way of really sharing the information that you're absorbing and make sure that you engage with the information that other people are sharing as well. Don't stand in your own way. There's going to be enough other people who will do that for you. So champion yourself. And when

it comes to putting yourself out there, whether that's applying for a job or giving a conference presentation, whatever it may be, feel the fear and do it anyway. It's the only way to grow. Your business needs AI solutions that are not only ambitious, but also practical and adaptable. That's where Domo's AI and data products platform comes in.

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