CyberWire Daily - Lauren Van Wazer: You have to be your own North Star. [CISSP] [Career Notes]

Episode Date: June 19, 2022

Lauren Van Wazer, Vice President, Global Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs for Akamai Technologies, shares her story as she followed her own North Star and landed where she is today. She describes her career path, highlighting how she went from working at AT&T to being able to work in the White House. She shares how she is a coach and a leader to the team she works with now, saying "my view is I've got their back, if they make a mistake, it's my mistake, and if they do well, they've done well." Lauren hopes she's made an impact in the world by making it a little bit better than before, and discusses how she doesn't let anyone stop her from her goals. Lauren shares her outlook on her experiences, calling attention to different roles in her life that made her journey all the better. We thank Lauren for sharing. 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. Hello, my name is Lauren Van Wezer, and I am Vice President Global Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs for Akamai Technologies. So I wasn't someone who had a particular profession emblazoned on my forehead from when I was young. I enjoyed doing a lot of things, everything from language, mathematics, outdoors. But I had a father who was a PhD engineer and who said to me, okay, Lauren, you know, you like doing so many things, but you'll never pick up an engineering textbook

for fun on a Saturday night. But you would pick up something in history or languages. And so why don't you give that a shot? And so I went into engineering. I have a BSc in system science engineering. Very few women in my field at the time. There were 5% women in my major. Believe it or not, that was not yesterday. And there are only 9% women in my major today. yesterday and there are only 9% women in my major today. I think having had an engineering background has made all the difference in the world in my career because I think engineering gives one an analytic and rigorous approach to problem solving, which I ultimately became a lawyer later on. And it's sort of two disciplines that have a different way of looking at problems analytically. And I think the engineering background was a great grounding.

It also has given me a fluency in technology, which has been critical in all of the work that I've done. I work in an area where law, technology, and policy overlap. And so having that technical background gave me a fluency that has been very valuable. So I was a network engineer for AT&T in Northern Virginia, doing network planning for Pennsylvania and Virginia, and then decided to go to law school at night, got AT&T to pay for law school, which was my first successful bit at advocacy. Then I clerked for a federal judge and went into private practice after that. But I think what was interesting was even though I was an environmental lawyer, it was always in areas that were deeply, heavily technology-based. So, I mean, leave it to the engineering degree,

within 10 years of re-entering the workplace, having been a stay-at-home mom, I was doing cybersecurity policy at the White House. I was the lead for cybersecurity policy in the Office of Science and Technology Policy, dual-hatted with the National Security Council. Security Council. So every job in the White House is a temp job. And so, you know, really needed to think about what I was going to do next and had the very fortunate opportunity to start the public policy function at Akamai Technologies. And it's been marvelous. In two weeks, it'll be nine years that I've been at Akamai. And I've started and grew the function to a worldwide function. I've got purview in over 140 different countries around the world. So I'm tracking cyber everywhere. It's not a job for someone who likes sameness.

It involves interpreting, monitoring legislation and regulation around the world. So for a company like Akamai, it's cybersecurity, internet regulation, things like net neutrality. It's advising the company on positions to take. So briefing my senior executives, briefing our board, and basically I'm the one-stop interface with all things in terms of the government. So I don't have government sales as part of my function, but any other interaction

our company has with the government is something that I'm a part of. I'm definitely like a coach, leader, and collaborative. We necessarily have to be collaborative. I've got a small team, and we're interfacing with very senior leaders around the company and around the world. And I view my empowering of the people who work for me

as the most important part of managing them. And so my view is I've got their back. If they make a mistake, it's my mistake. And if they do well, they've done well. I hope to have made an impact in the policy area that make the world a little bit of a better place. The Girl Scout motto, wanting to leave a campsite a little better than when you found it. So I've had a career working to promote getting broadband.

I worked at the FCC for a long time, getting broadband to places that didn't have it before or improving cybersecurity. I've had a key role in facilitating Wi-Fi technology, just having been able to have a seat in the front row at some of the major technological transformations we've had in the past 20 plus years, and have had a little role in helping to make them happen. Just do it.

Don't listen to any naysayer. You have to be your own North Star. I mean, nobody would have said, oh, geez, you're a stay-at-home mom. Oh, you know, within a decade, you'd be at the White House, right? Just don't listen to anybody. It's your career ladder. You make it what you want. And it's natural for it to have twists and turns,

so don't get discouraged. Take the risks and do things that you think will be really cool and be an engineer or do something technical. It's just been an extraordinary journey for me. Hey everybody, Dave here. Have you ever wondered where your personal information is lurking online? Like many of you, I was concerned about my data being sold by data brokers. So I decided to try DeleteMe. I have to say, DeleteMe 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. DeleteMe's team does all the work for you with detailed reports so you know exactly what's been done.

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