CyberWire Daily - Ell Marquez: It's okay to be new. [Linux] [Career Notes]

Episode Date: October 17, 2021

Linux and Security Advocate at Intezer Ell Marquez shares her journey from the family ranch to security. Needing a life change due to a bunch of circumstances that had occurred that left her almost homeless, Ell found out about a six week Linux boot camp that took her down the path toward technology. She fell in love security at at BSides Conference and hasn't looked back. Ell says she recently started a campaign called "it's okay to be new" noting that no matter how long you've been in the industry, you need to be new because technology changes so quickly. She concludes by offering one final piece of advice to everybody is just "be unapologetically yourself." We thank Ell 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. Hi, my name is Elle Marquez, and I'm the Linux and security advocate at Inteser. So it's really funny. I always thought that, you know, I was either going to go into the church or I was going to grow up and, you know, take over the family farm. I really felt like I had a very narrow path growing up. My parents had a little ranch in a small town in Texas,

and they had actually migrated there from their family farm in Mexico. So I grew up, you know, running the fields. I had the dream of every little kid out there. I had a pony. Really, all we did was live together as a family. I have a bit of a different start than most people. I really just needed a life change due to a bunch of circumstances that had occurred that left me almost homeless. And I found out about a program that was teaching Linux. It was a six-week Linux boot camp. I didn't even own a computer at the time, so I was having to boot off of a USB at the library. This day and age, I'm really lucky they let me do that. I just fell in love with

how much you could customize Linux and all the different things that you could do. That website that I had dreamed about, I could host it on that one machine. Like I said, it was really just the rabbit hole that I wanted to follow. I was always the artistic kind. I was always like, eh, whatever happens, happens. And my first time actually managing a Linux box, the thing that happened was a kernel panic. So that taught me really quickly that I needed to be more careful and just learn to think a different way.

I kept breaking things and I wanted to know why I did it. I just had this curiosity that it wasn't going to beat me. I was going to be able to conquer it. I wanted to be as good as everybody else. It's been a crazy, crazy journey. I started out as a Linux admin in one of the biggest managed service providers, and I really just got thrown into the deep end. I was managing strategic account, major enterprise accounts. It was terrifying, but it was one of those, you can't mess up or you're going to cost a company a lot of money. So it really dove me into studying more. Honestly, I didn't end up liking it. That was one of the

jobs that had to be done in such a specific way that I didn't feel like I could flourish. So at the time, OpenStack was the big thing. And I went from, I don't know what this is, to certified administrator in like 60 days. It was just fascinating because you were creating something out of nothing. I was lucky enough that a CEO for a different company saw me presenting and his literal words to me were, why don't you work for me? So I said, okay, let's give this a shot, right? If you don't try something new, then why not do it? And at this point, I am three years into my career.

So one job every single year. I had fun with that. I got into podcasting, education and teaching others. Just kind of really went through the base of everything that I did. Then I attended a B-Sides conference and that was it. I was in love with security. So six months ago, I got to be able to start my first security position and I'm just so excited and so grateful. The first year that I started out as an admin, and I've told this story so many times and it

still makes me reflect. It still almost makes me tear up a little bit because I'm six months in. I'm learning. I am trying everything I can. And another admin reviews my work and his feedback to me and my manager were the words, I could automate you. At that point, why even keep trying? I am putting everything that I can into this. To me, it really was an obvious sign that no matter how hard I tried, I just wasn't going to be good enough. At the time, I was working very closely with another one of my teammates, and he literally just said, OK, that's one person's opinion. And you have the choice of whether you're going to let them control your career, or you're going to do this because

you enjoy it. And because you want to be better and you want to grow for yourself. And that really just spoke to me. It was having somebody else believe in me when I couldn't believe in myself. I was so grateful for everything that everyone had done for me, for every teacher and every person that had spent the time to teach me and help me grow. I just felt like I owed it to others. I owed it to the community to give that back. I guess I've always been one of those play it forward type. Recently, I started this whole concept, and I guess I want to call it a campaign, called It's Okay to Be New. And that's the first thing that we really need to learn is that no matter how long you've been in the industry, you need to be new. Technology changes so quickly. So if you're not

new at something, you're stagnant and why bother? So if you're new to the industry, you're in the same place as everybody else. You're discovering something new and you need to understand that that's okay. That's where we all are. And I always tell people, I never want to be a subject matter expert because that means that I've reached the point that I don't feel that I need to grow more. So it's okay. It's okay to be new and you belong and just keep learning.

Do it because you're passionate about it. If I had one final piece of advice to everybody is just be unapologetically yourself. That's how you're going to stand out and that's how you're going to enjoy this journey. I've been blessed to work for a company that's just really open to my ideas. And what I'd like to do is get some more hands-on experience. I'm delving into DFIR. From there, they're going to let me, you know, really transition into the research team. I don't know what the end goal is because I think it's going to change every time I see something new that I want to chase. One of the biggest issues that I have when we talk about diversity,

specifically for myself, I keep hearing that I am from a lower socioeconomic status, that that's a hindrance to who I am and how I'm going to progress. You know, the fact that we didn't grow up middle class or higher is going to impact my journey. And I don't think so. I think it's an advantage. You know, I grew up playing with sticks and pretending that they were dolls and always just having imagination. And I mean, we taught a grain of salt to think. That's how we got into the industry that we are, that we got computers. That's exactly what I grew up with.

And we need to stop looking at diversity like it's something that hinders people. We need to stop coddling the concept. We just need to give people a chance to grow. Don't talk to me about being a woman or being Hispanic. Sit down and teach me something. That's how we're going to change this industry. Thank you. 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 compliant.