This is the 5th part of the podcast's return after a brief hiatus. 

Daniel Ayala continues his interview of me. In this fifth part, we will discuss the start-up resources we provided in our Hang Out A Shingle presentation, what I am doing with Accel Consulting, selling to CISOs, tips to avoid when presenting cyber services, the selling to CISOs Master Class we are developing, and so much more!

This is the 4th part of the podcast's return after a brief hiatus. 

Daniel Ayala continues his interview of me. In this fourth part, we will discuss my first forensic litigation case, the importance of data governance, the myth of cyber, why I am tired of cybersecurity conferences, and so much more!

This is the 3rd part of the podcast's return after a brief hiatus. 

Daniel Ayala continues his interview of me. In this third part, we will discuss what I am doing as a Special Master and Court Appointed Neutral, the reasons I think there will be a continued convergence of legal, cybersecurity, and data privacy, why I decided to start another consulting firm, data valuation, and so much more!

This is the 2nd part of the return of the podcast after a brief hiatus.

Daniel Ayala continues his interview of me. In this second part, we will discuss how I got started in the industry, defining moments of my career, my first computer, early entrepreneurship, characteristics I look for in professionals, the toxic cybersecurity gatekeeping, and so much more!

After a hiatus, the Cyber Security Interviews podcast is back!

A lot has happened in my life over the past 18 months. I have endured death, despair, divorce, and car theft, to name a few traumatic events that made me take a break from several endeavors.

However, it has allowed me to reprioritize many things to understand where I am now and where I want to go.

This is the first of several episodes where Daniel Ayala interviews me. In this first part, we will cover mental resiliency, the importance of taking time off, how to be your best, and so much more!

Leeann Nicolo is the Incident Response lead at The Coalition and specializes in digital forensics and cyber investigations. She has conducted investigations into ransomware, phishing, hacking, data breaches, trade secret theft, and employee malfeasance. Leeann has investigated thousands of digital devices and has extensive subject matter expertise in Windows enterprise forensics, mobile device forensics, business email compromise, cloud security, and ransomware.

Prior to joining Coalition, Leeann worked at Kivu Consulting in Denver and Kraft Kennedy in New York City overseeing complex cyber investigations and discovery matters for law firms and large multinational corporate clients. She conducted her undergraduate studies at the University of Albany in Information Systems, then achieved my Masters of Science in Cybersecurity at Pace University. She is also a SANS Lethal Forensicator Coin Holder and on the GIAC Advisory Board.

In this episode, we discuss her start in information technology, how she made the move to cybersecurity, the discrimination she has faced in the industry, becoming a manager, strong women role models, mentoring others, and so much more.

Where you can find Leeann:

• LinkedIn
• The Coalition
• Wall Street Journal

Shannon Brazil is a Senior Cyber Security Specialist working within a CIRT of a Canadian Fortune 500. She has been in IT for over 12 years, with the last three years in Cybercrime investigations with law enforcement and recently moving into the private sector to focus on Digital Forensic analysis and investigations and Incident Response.

As a hobby, Shannon dives into OSINT CTFs, helps promote young women to enter the STEM industry through Technovation - an innovative program for young entrepreneurs, and offers mentorship to those looking to venture into Cyber Security. She is also a course designer and developer with her local college that aims to arm the new generations with tactics, techniques, and knowledge in becoming experts in Digital Forensics and Investigations.

In this episode, we discuss starting as a chef, skills learned from culinary arts, moving from IT to investigations, burnout and self-care, mentors she follows, why she mentors others, diversity and inclusion, and so much more.

Where you can find Shannon:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Website

Cimone Wright-Hamor works at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) as a cybersecurity researcher while pursuing a Ph.D. in Computer Engineering at Iowa State University. She has spent the last decade of her life interning at a variety of organizations. She has had ten internships at more than six different organizations, including public and private industries ranging from Fortune 500 companies like Microsoft to successful startups such as Smart-Ag, state government, and national laboratories.

Cimone has spent the last five years of her career working in the cybersecurity field. While completing research, she has helped protect the infrastructure for the State of Iowa and ensured that startup companies are developing software with security in mind.

In this episode, we discuss getting started in information security due to responding to an incident, an early upbringing which prepared her for cybersecurity, bridging theory to engineering, teaming with dev and security teams, the importance of project updates, increasing diversity in the industry, and so much more.

Where you can find Cimone:

• LinkedIn
• blackcomputeHER
• PNNL

Jenna Waters is a Cybersecurity Consultant at True Digital Security where she specializes in information security program development, industry compliance assessments, threat intelligence, and cloud security controls. She is an experienced professional who consults with companies across multiple industries in achieving security-related best practices and/or regulatory compliance objectives related to risk management and compliance frameworks, and various privacy laws throughout the United States.

Jenna began her career in the United States Navy working under the U.S. Fleet Cyber Command at the Naval Intelligence Operations Center (NIOC) and with the National Security Agency (NSA). Afterward, she graduated from the University of Tulsa with a degree in Computer Information Systems. Jenna is passionate about sharing her knowledge of cybersecurity with business owners, public policy leaders, and healthcare, financial, and tech industry members. When she isn’t busy helping her clients protect their customers’ data, Jenna is a voracious reader, aspiring hobbyist, and dog mom of two.

In this episode, we discuss starting cybersecurity with the U.S. Navy, tying spoken languages to coding languages, leading and managing people, building an information security program, getting leadership buy-in, using frameworks for resiliency, diversity and inclusion, and so much more.

Where you can find Jenna:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Blog

Nato Riley is an Integrations Engineer at Blumira and the Co-founder of Cloud Underground. Nato provides infrastructure, code, and security across all his efforts and is focused on helping Blumira build the most effective and efficient SIEM on the market for small to mid-sized businesses.

He is the host of the “Nato as Code” and the "Cloud Underground" productions on YouTube, the creator and maintainer of the Olympiad platform, and the founder of notiaPoint (now known as Cloud Underground).

In this episode, we discuss starting in technology repairing computers, going to school for public speaking, finding passion in information security, trying too hard to pass certification tests, going out on his own, mentorships, burnout, diversity, and so much more.

Where you can find Nato:

• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Nato as Code - YouTube
• Cloud Undeground - YouTube

Sara Avery is a Regional Sales Manager at Zscaler. She has held various positions over the past 20 years in the Information Technology field and discovered her passion for information security 15 years ago. Her career has largely been spent in sales and account management with a laser focus on my customer's success. Sara's tenured experience in cybersecurity has given her a strong understanding of the complex technology and intelligence required to keep enterprises secure.

From a young age, she was raised to be a strong female and leader. Her mother, along with other trailblazing women, campaigned to start the Equal Rights Amendment in Colorado in the early 1970s. With a passion for helping others, Sara wanted to start a group that would help, mentor, learn and guide women and founded Women in Cyber Security, ISSA Denver. Her vision was to find a way to inspire and support women in all areas of information security, as well as develop and mentor the younger female generation for the future of the dynamic and ever-changing world of information security.

In this episode, we discuss her early start with Y2K, why she helped start Women In Security with the Denver ISSA chapter, the evolution of communications with workstyles, getting young girls into STEM, how she is championing equality at work, dealing with gaslighting, mansplaining, and microaggressions, removing the stigma of "the hacker," and so much more!

Where you can find Sara:

• LinkedIn
• Women In Security - ISSA Denver