Fascinating Stories of Women in Cybersecurity

Consider this blog as one of the series I post on the topic of #WomenInCyber:

• We are on the Right Way but Not There Yet (October 2019)
• Women Blazing the Trail in Cybersecurity (February 2021)

Interviews - October 2019

• How did you make your move into the cybersecurity field and what do you like the most about your job?

Adrienn Loerincz, Security Expert, SAP

"I had a strong interest for security and my colleagues recommended me to my manager who nominated me for the Product Security Expert position. Cybersecurity provides me the possibility of continuous growth. Every day I learn something new."

Andrea Werle, Global Director Cybersecurity Incident Management and Digital Forensics, SAP

"Prior to working in cybersecurity, I had been working in both network and systems administration roles. Having that technical experience, paired with both security and software dev exposure, made for a natural transition to security in both policy and practice.

SAP has the most amazing people – the folks I work with every day are the best thing about my job. I also think having the opportunity to defend the important work that we and our customers do is a great honor."

Anne Marie Colombo, SAP

"I was recruited into a job and became very interested in the topic. Learning something new everyday (is what I like the most about my job)."

Arathi Vade Lakshman Rao, Expert Security and Compliance, SAP Digital Supply Chain

"Having already a background as a developer, then into quality and testing, while I handled Program & Project Management responsibilities, I often encountered Security topics , which deeply interested me and this eventually led me to be a full time Security Professional. Information security skills are in demand in our industry and would also give me a well rounded profile.

Security of data and information assets is a mission critical expectation of our customers, in a digitally interconnected world. As Security professionals, we aim at expanding the businesses to grow safely while protecting them from various threats. I also enjoy active interaction within and outside of the security community for sharing knowledge and experience in this field."

Archana Karnik, Security Architect, SAP

"I was happy doing Java architect role for online brokerage platform, until my ex-manager volunteered me to work with pen testers to fix identified issues. Few times, I got involved in digital forensics and SIEM for the brokerage platform, but the real deep engagement into cybersecurity came when I played significant role in PCI-DSS compliance efforts. I passed my CISSP certification and made my career choice as Cybersecurity.

Multiple roles I have to play each day and the ever evolving skillset I need to develop to do a 5-star job. Also no 2 security problems are alike, so I have to craft tailor made solutions to those problems. Creativity and out of the box thinking is practiced daily by me!!"

Birgit Hess, Cloud Security Awareness Lead Europe, SAP

"I figuratively speaking stumbled across the topic as no one else in my team wanted to take care of it. It was love at the first sight.

I love to learn and this topic gets never boring. In the area of security things are changing at the speed of light. It is giving me a lot of satisfaction to stay on top of the things and invest my time in a relevant and very important area. "

Brittany Barksdale, SAP

"I began my career in the traditional IT analyst role, but took an internship that exposed me to the vast cybersecurity field. It was an exciting time (post Wikileaks), that was quite intriguing, and therefore kept me on that path moving forward.

There’s a new challenge on the security horizon every day that keeps us all on our toes."

Carrie Graham, Cybersecurity Solution Advisor, SAP

"I started with an internship in cybersecurity marketing for SAP and am now getting more into the customer and pre-sales side with a security certification (CISSP).

What I like the most about my job is participating in Customer Meetings – presentations about SAP security strategy and our security product/services portfolio."

Erica Laung, Senior Director of Engineering, SAP

"I was a platform development manager. In 2012, after SAP acquisition, my manager considered application security a good opportunity to expand my horizon. The team started from ground up and was built tightly aligned with SAP objectives in product security.

The cybersecurity industry is ever changing and frequently innovative. To get the job done well requires sense of urgency and staying calm and focus at the meantime. It is a job function highly recognized by the leadership level."

Galina Shelest, Security Architect, SAP

"As long as I remember I was always working in IT. I made my path from Jr. System/Networking Administrator to Sr. Security Analyst. But I was always passionate about security, more about how we can protect ourselves, our surroundings, our Customers, Our Company.

I love my job because it brings me new challenges every day. So many attacks, exploits, vulnerabilities are published every day, so we have to know how It can affect our customers’ environments and bring awareness to other teams. Learning attacks paths, how attackers think, how they exploit vulnerabilities have attacker mindset help us being proactive in our job, stay up-to-date and never be bored."

Kathrin Nos, Chief Development Architect Security, SAP

"My decision to move from application development into technology development, my main motivation was to learn more about technology. The fact that I landed in a department working on cybersecurity development was a combination of chance, luck and the fact that the topic of security sounded exciting to me when I applied and started looking into it a bit more in detail.

My favorite mode of work is looking into complex technical challenges. Cybersecurity is full of such challenges, so I have a huge “playground”."

Lada Gonchar, SAP

"I volunteered to be Security PO for Finance, because I was always interested in software security.

I like, that security is very dynamic area with constantly changed environment, and communication with different areas."

Marina Plag, Security Expert, SAP

"I attended a hands-on training how to hack Web applications in 2011 and got interested in security. I continued to learn privately and applied for a job to establish a penetration testing team in my development area six months later. I negotiated the working conditions that I needed to reconcile work and family life (75% part-time and home office).

Technical challenges, variety of topics and the security community - is what I like the most about my job."

Patty Wong, Security Solution Expert, SAP

"Have been in Compliance role but more and more time spent on Cybersecurity topics.

I like continuous learning. Learn to Live and Live to Learn. Knowledge learned is relevant to both personal and professional life. At this age where cyberattack is a question of when you will get hit and not if you will get hit, learning how SAP’s mission is always to protect and team up with customers with a shared responsibility mindset is definitely the way to go. I support and embrace SAP’s security posture that make my job even more rewarding."

Sailaja Vadlamudi, Security & Privacy Owner IEG S/4HANA, SAP

"I was asked by management to drive this topic. This is ever evolving and challenging field and I like it."

Shruthi R Patil, Security Expert, SAP

"As a computer science graduate, I had a choice to get into cybersecurity job and it’s hard not to choose this field. I like that its new everyday , there is so much to catch up and you can never be an expert – it is life long learning and can never get boring."

Shubhangi Sheel, Security Expert, SAP

"I pro-actively took some tasks related to security, since I wanted to explore the area. Then, there was an opportunity to fill for a lead security expert and I proactively took it to gain experience.

I liked the fact that it helped me understand the bigger picture through complying with various product standards for my application; as well as , to understand how ultimately everything funnels down to the codebase. In my role, I also enjoyed to understand the impact of government laws in different countries on our organization."

• How does cybersecurity affect your life?

"Security is such an integral part of life, as important as literacy. My favorite motto is “Think Security”. It became a habit, a way of life. It’s turned ON by default." - Adrienn Loerincz

"There’s a lot at stake, especially with this job. However, even in our personal lives we rely on our banking, health, and personal data to be protected. Beyond that our houses, cars, and all sorts of IOT devices are capable of so much more than they used to be. It’s concerning to think of the possibilities if these devices were misused." - Andrea Werle

"I am constantly reminding my family to be careful!" - Anne Marie Colombo

"Cybersecurity Paranoia continues at home too and my kids have been the patient listeners to many talks I have had with them about cyberbullying, social media and digital safely, 2FA authentication, importance of privacy and consent." - Archana Karnik

"You turn a little paranoid after a while but that’s ok. At least you can’t get tricked to easily although there is no guarantee. (We security people sometimes tend to be a little presumptuous regarding our skills…) To the very least I can also ensure my family and friends develop an awareness although not always a safe behavior." - Birgit Hess

"As a cybersecurity professional, my job has been to help ensure that companies take the necessary precautions to safeguard their data from intrusions, manipulation and is available at all times for use. Driving this point home every day in the professional setting has forced me to think a particular way, and therefore do the same with my personal network of family and friends - making it a personal goal of mine to ensure that their personal data is safe and educating them on how to stand up the necessary safeguards." - Brittany Barksdale

"Always keep eyes open to what is happening in news and everything in life. Get high remarks in family and friend gathering. " - Erica Laung

"I try to incorporate security into my attitude and act accordingly." - Kathrin Nos

" I found I was listed on the target of Equifax data breach which happened in 2017. I immediately put a security freeze on my credit report. I believe what I learned from my job really helped me to act fast to make a quick decision to protect my most valuable asset, personal information." - Patty Wong

"Cyber Security and Cyber Hygiene are key in connected world today. Fortunate to be working in this domain, enables me to advocate and attract coach and mentor many men & women around me. (inside and outside SAP)." - Sailaja Vadlamudi

"It has taught me to find another way to break anything , find an alternate way of doing anything – hack all things." - Shruthi R Patil

Cheers!