Alina Tan — Div0's Car Security Quarter (CSQ) Lead & Founder and Women In Cybersecurity (WICS) Co-Lead —spoke at Black Hat Asia 2020 Day 1 morning — sharing her journey on switching from a non-cybersecurity to a cybersecurity career path.
In her talk, she spoke about her exposure to cybersecurity during her schooling days (in Singapore Polytechnic (SP) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU)) and how she transitioned from a non-cybersecurity analyst (in Koch Industries) to a cybersecurity practitioner (in Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH), and now the Land Transport Authority (LTA)).
Alina is an active contributor in the cybersecurity ecosystem. She combined her training in Electronic Electric Engineering (EEE), love for car racing, and skillset in cybersecurity — working as an automotive cybersecurity engineer with LTA in the day, and contributing to the automotive cybersecurity community (both locally and internationally) any other time of the day. In recognition of her effort, she was awarded the Top 20 Women In Cybersecurity in Singapore 2020 award earlier this year.
Alina ended her presentation with a couple of advice for aspiring cybersecurity practitioners:
Cybersecurity is an ever-changing landscape — be inquisitive and ready to learn
Never give up and seek mentorship from the industry and community
Keep yourself updated on the latest cybersecurity news
Always pick up new knowledge and skills