Div0 featured a cybersecurity career discussion panel — titled "The Hackers' Playbook: Hacking Your Career In Cybersecurity" —over lunchtime on Black Hat Asia 2020 Day 1.
Moderated by our very own Div0 Crew — Damian Goh (also Community Build at Pentester Academy) — were our esteemed panellists:
Paul Hadjy, CEO & Co-Founder, Horangi Cyber Security;
Eugene Teo, Senior Director of Security, UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group); and
Daniel Hamid, Managing Consultant, Centurion Information Security.
Div0 specially assembled this panel of well-known cybersecurity team builders to share with the audience how they can start or advance their cybersecurity career.
Paul founded a successful cybersecurity startup that is now global.
Eugene is a seasoned cybersecurity leader with extensive experience in building cybersecurity programmes and teams in billion-dollar multi-national corporations (MNCs).
Daniel is in charge of training and building up one of Singapore's most successful pentesting company.
More than 60 members of the community took part in the discussion panel and downloaded many valuable insights from our panellists. Some insights shared by our panellists include:
Many aspiring cybersecurity practitioners say they are passionate about cybersecurity. But they have no work to show/prove their passion. Don't just say you are passionate. Do it, show it!
There's no shortage of aspiring cybersecurity practitioners who want to learn. However, there's a lack of drive on how they can contribute to the organisation. Continuous learning in a fast-moving industry like cybersecurity is important. However, you should also focus on how you can apply your skills.
Cybersecurity is not just about technical skills. In fact, picking up technical skills is the easy bit. Shaping your attitude and mindset in how you deliver the promise your clients entrusted in you plays a much bigger role.
An essential characteristic to have in the industry is Grit — the passion and sustained persistence towards long-term achievement.
In a wide discipline like cybersecurity, it is important to collaborate and bounce ideas with fellow practitioners — that's how you push the boundary.
The mad rush to get all the fancy certifications is not healthy. There's no point being certified but you still can't get a complete grasp on security controls or even the fundamentals. Focus on building up your skillset, not the alphabets behind your name.
What was very heartening to see during the Live Q&A segment was that the chatbox took on a life on its own. The audience was also sharing advice on top of the panellists'.
Unfortunately, 30min is too short and we had to close the panel discussion with many questions from the audience unanswered.
Div0 has a #career channel on our Discord chatroom i.e. the Div0 Digital Kampung, and we encourage everyone to keep the conversation going.