Why am I interested in cybersecurity technology?
I was a communications specialist in the United States Marine Corps (USMC) for 21 years. I started my career as a radio repairman, repairing a variety of HF, VHF, and UHF tactical radios. As I advanced through my career, I became a more advanced radio technician followed by a satellite communications terminal technician. After several years as a satellite communications terminal technician, I became an instructor and curriculum developer in the same field. My last assignment was as an electronic maintenance manager, where I managed a shop that performed maintenance to electronics equipment for the 2nd Marine Division out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. During this tour, our shop deployed to Iraq for a year in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. When I retired from the USMC, I transitioned into the commercial world and began working for a Department of Defense (DoD) contracting company that executed information technology contracts.
My initial entry into the contracting world was providing expertise from my prior experiences. I leverage my satellite communications and instructional experience to support the contracting company I worked for as well as various clients. As I progressed rapidly in the Company, I began managing a variety of information technology programs. As I moved through these programs, the size and requirements continued to grow to Enterprise levels. My initial exposure to these larger programs was predominately centered around service management, which focused on availability. Security related tasks were always being executed in the background for these programs.
Today, I am the Operations Manager for an enterprise information technology contract that provides services to United States Southern Command, which is headquartered in Doral, Florida and supports users in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. With this current contract, there is a heavy focus on Cybersecurity, inclusive of defending the Department of Defense Information Network (DoDIN) and Cyber Defensive Operations. To qualify for this position, I had to obtain a Cyber Information Security Manager (CISM) from the certifying organization, ISACA. I was able to successfully acquire this certification; however, it is a managerial certification. As a manager who manages several cybersecurity professionals that provide boundary protection, end-point security, network vulnerability scanning, vulnerability mitigation, and incident analysis and response, I have the desire to gain a better understanding of cybersecurity fundamentals throughout each of these functional areas. This would help me better manage the people, processes, and tools that provide these critical cybersecurity function now and into the future.