CyberWire Daily - James Hadley: Spend time on what interests you. [CEO] [Career Notes]

Episode Date: November 22, 2020

Founder and CEO of Immersive Labs James Hadley takes us through his career path from university to cybersecurity startup. James tells us about his first computer and how he liked to push it to its limits and then some. He joined GCHQ after college and consulted across government departments. Teaching in GCHQ's cyber summer school was where James felt a shift in his career. As a company founder, he shares that he is very driven, very fast and also very caring. James offers advice to those looking to get into the industry recommending they chase what interests them rather than certifications. We thank James for sharing his 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. I'm James Hadley, founder and CEO of Immersive Labs. I was given a computer by my dad when I was about eight or nine years old. And after that, I became a bit of an addict in terms of geeking out. So first of all programming but then also trying to find ways of doing things that it shouldn't do, be it try to get to programs that should have been you know not have the capacity

to run or to try and find ways of getting to different parts of the operating system that might have been blocked. So when I was at school they didn't really have much in the way of computer studies, either as a qualification or as a side subject. So at 16 I went to college and specialised and did a two-year course in computer studies and it was after that that I applied for and joined GCHQ. I spent the next 10 to 15 years consulting across government departments, the UK Ministry of Defence and some commercial organisations including spin-outs from Betfair, a trading platform. And then it was prior to starting Immersive Labs where I had probably my most fundamental career change, which is I became an instructor

where I was teaching cybersecurity as part of the GCHQ Cyber Summer School. Well, what I identified was academic background had very little bearing or influence on how individuals developed over the course of the summer school. And I realised that passive classroom-based learning doesn't really suit the people or the pace of cybersecurity. And that's because the content is dated very quickly and it's quite one-dimensional, so it doesn't really get the creative minds in the room engaging. so it doesn't really get the creative minds in the room engaging. I think I'm a very driven individual. One of the things that I'm most proud of at Immersive Labs is the speed of which we've grown over the last three and a half years in the marketplace.

So I'd say I was very driven, very fast, but also very caring as an individual. fast, but also very caring as an individual. My favorite part of what we do is speed. So we react to what's happening in the world very quickly. So for example, within four hours of WannaCry hitting the headlines and crippling the National Health Service here in the UK, we were able to get a practical hands-on copy of that lab to all of our customers within four hours. So I think the thing I'm most proud of is the speed of which we can react to helping our customers.

As a solo founder, it's quite a lonely experience building a technology company because you essentially have to learn everything across the whole organisation yourself for the first time, be it sales, marketing, customer success, technology, support, investment, for example, share options. Everything that needs doing in the company is the first time that you're doing it. And I'd say the biggest challenge was probably doing it alone use the internet everything to get into cyber security is available on the internet it's free to acquire and learn don't get hung up or focused on certifications. For me and for the Immersive Labs value proposition, certifications based on multiple

choice exams aren't a true barometer or evidence of capability. And instead, spending time on what actually interests you, for example, blog posts or research, and then try and get that across to prospective employers because that will go a lot further than pieces of paper. I think now in the world that we live in everything works, it's quite seamless. So for example if you take cloud computing or uploading files or sending emails everything works and that's because obviously computing is a global, worldwide accessible item for the majority of developed countries. When I was younger, sort of going back 20, 30 years, you could actually fix a lot of the things yourself because you had to.

Or if something didn't exist, you had to create it because it wasn't ubiquitous. didn't exist you had to create it because it wasn't ubiquitous and I think because things don't work you have to apply that troubleshooting and perseverance mindset to achieve your outcomes whereas there's now because the world is so interconnected and so global you rarely get a chance to have to troubleshoot or fix something because if it doesn't you'd probably find just another supplier or another device to use in order to achieve your outcomes. There was no copying and pasting of code from the internet. You had to figure it out yourself. Thank you. security 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 compliant.