Working as an intern at GFT as a Cybersecurity Analyst for my first 50 hours has given
me exposure to the company’s procedures and history, experience in meeting and
effectively communicating with others in a professional environment, and reading and
writing reports to effectively provide proper cybersecurity protocols and
recommendations for companies.
GFT has a rich company history and extensive procedures that they require all
employees to follow. In my first 50 hours, my supervisor took the time to go over GFT
and what services they provide and how they make an impact for other companies in
various fields like engineering and cybersecurity. I also got to attend multiple orientation
meetings where I got taught about what the company will expect for me as an intern,
and best practices to follow to be successful in my time with GFT. Some of these
practices include consistent communication, being proactive with tasks, and staying
curious to learn as much as possible with the time I have working as an intern.
Communication is a huge part of keeping efficiency at GFT. Since GFT works mostly
remote, communication isn’t always as easy as it typically would be working in person at
an office. Thankfully, they taught us the best practices when sending emails and how to make the most of the times you get in meetings by note taking and using AI to make
meeting summaries that can be viewed later.
The most valuable part of my first 50 hours was being able to implement cybersecurity
policies and practices that I have learned into a real world setting with the guidance of
experienced experts around me. I was able to sit in on meetings where GFT would
evaluate various companies current cybersecurity practices and I was responsible for
recording the meetings main points with note taking. After the meetings I would go to
the AI note taker and collaborate the notes together to form a summary that would be
edited and delivered to the client. We then would use these notes of practices such as
what their current response plan is, who has access to what data and hardware, what
ports are open on their network, and how sensitive information is stored and sent. Then
I was able to collaborate with others to use guidelines from large cybersecurity
organizations like NIST and CISA to outline ways to correct practices that may be
leaving them vulnerable, and a plan to implement it in a practical cost effective way.
Being able to collaborate and see the knowledge of other analysts who have even
worked for government agencies responsible for establishing these rules helped me
learn from and make relationships with them. Then I also had the privilege to meet the
the safety and security director for GFT. He told me about his experience in
cybersecurity and what information and characteristics has helped him progress in his
professional career.
Overall, the first 50 hours I have worked with GFT have been insightful and already
incredibly beneficial in my growth as a cybersecurity professional. While it was a little bit
intimidating at first, once I got the chance to interact with the company procedures and others it did not seem as bad. In the upcoming weeks I will be taking trips where I will be
able to walk around SCADA systems for analysis, and interview workers there go gather
information on their current processes.