1.
10 Years To CISO
@stuhirstinfosec

2.
Disclaimers;
I like memes & gifs.
I’m not an ‘expert’ or a
‘thought leader’, but I’ve
learned some stuff along the
way.
@stuhirstinfosec

3.
Who Am I?
@stuhirstinfosec

4.
@stuhirstinfosec

5.
@stuhirstinfosec
Talk Outline;
- how did I end up here?!
- what have I learned?
- advice/musings

6.
@stuhirstinfosec
One of the questions I
get asked the most is…

7.
@stuhirstinfosec
HOW DID YOU
GET INTO
INFOSEC?

8.
@stuhirstinfosec

9.
@stuhirstinfosec
It never really crossed
my mind that I would fail

10.
@stuhirstinfosec
BUT FAIL, I DID!

11.
@stuhirstinfosec
‘Take calculated risks’

12.
@stuhirstinfosec
Plan?!
What plan?!
My only plan was to get back to a
good job… & it took graft

13.
@stuhirstinfosec
Advice
Does your existing
company need more
Security people?!

14.
@stuhirstinfosec
Advice
My first Security
course was
immensely important

15.
@stuhirstinfosec
Skyscanner,
DevSecOps,
Squads & Tribes

16.
@stuhirstinfosec
I turned down the chance of….
For….

17.
@stuhirstinfosec
Here, I learned about
• Agile
• DevOps
• Cloud
• Automation
But I had a lot to learn about Security!

18.
@stuhirstinfosec
Advice
I learnt SO MUCH
from people who had
simply already solved
many of these
problems!!!

19.
@stuhirstinfosec
Sometimes
‘making the leap’
doesn’t work out

20.
@stuhirstinfosec
Life and careers are
NEVER smooth!
But you’ll sure as hell
learn a lot…

21.
@stuhirstinfosec
“Cyber at scale”, but
too slow for me
It’s ok to fail.
But you’ve also got to
know when to move
on

22.
@stuhirstinfosec
Beware the
Burnout!

23.
@stuhirstinfosec
Advice
I reached out to
someone on LinkedIn
to ask about roles. It
got me a job.

24.
@stuhirstinfosec
Accept change.
It’s constant.

25.
@stuhirstinfosec

26.
@stuhirstinfosec

27.
@stuhirstinfosec
Junior Analyst - £20k p/a:
- 10+ years experience
- CISSP, CISA, CISM, Masters, All The
Certs
- AWS, GCP, Azure, All The Clouds
- AppSec, CloudSec, SecOps, Risk,
Compliance
- Serverless, Kubernetes, ML, AI,
Buzzword Bingo

28.
@stuhirstinfosec
Advice
Make the leap before
you feel ready???!!

29.
@stuhirstinfosec
Lifelong Learning,
Public Speaking &
Bravery

30.
@stuhirstinfosec
Research!!!!

31.
@stuhirstinfosec

32.
@stuhirstinfosec
If you’re not brave
enough to offer
opinions, how will
we disrupt or
change anything?
Step forward.

33.
@stuhirstinfosec
Community

34.
@stuhirstinfosec

35.
@stuhirstinfosec
Bad Advice?!

36.
@stuhirstinfosec
“You need to be more
technical”
“You need to be able to code”

37.
@stuhirstinfosec
To Wrap Up…

38.
@stuhirstinfosec
- Take calculated risks
- Utilise other people in the industry
- Appreciate not every career move will work out
- Beware the burnout
- Don’t wait for the dream job to land on your lap -
hustle!
- Take the leap before you’re ready?!
- Immerse yourself in community & opportunity
- Be yourself

39.
THANKS!
@stuhirstinfosec