The Bastard Academic

Following on from my last article, here’s some more information on changing industries for managers. Hopefully I didn’t put too many of you off switching careers in my previous article, where I explored what managerial life would look like in the InfoSec world. As a continuation, this post looks at which certifications are best to get you the necessary managerial competence in the field to start your new career. Some of these do include a certain amount of technical training in the course material, others just look at concepts instead. Should you choose one of those, I would recommend at least doing some research into the technical side of things. While exploring free, online learning resources might not cut it completely, they are better then nothing and will help give you a grounding for when you choose to complete a recognised technical qualification. Certifications This will be by no means a comprehensive list of certs, but it will be enough to get you started and point...

So far, a large portion of this blog has been dedicated to helping people begin their careers within the Cyber Security sector from the beginning, i.e. straight from college or university. This week, I’d like to explore the options for those looking to make the move from other career paths, specifically with an eye to those looking at managerial positions. If you are already coming from an IT background, this post might have one or two things you might find useful, but you’ll probably have access to other resources that might be better suited to your needs. I want to note here that while this will guide you through some of the options and a few certifications that will help move into CyberSec, some technical competency is a must. A good level of understanding of the technologies and principles underlying those technologies is unavoidable in this field, as you’ll see below. My suggestion would be to look at my earlier blogs and some looking around, as I won’t go into depth about t...

Yes, this is the inevitable blog about Cambridge Analytica, Strategic Communications Laboratories and Facebook, because this is a cyber security blog and this counts as compromised security. First things first, the old admonition: if you are getting something for free, you are the product. Maybe it’s not that old, but it definitely applies. Facebook offers a lot, and offers it, ostensibly, for free. Now you could say that advertising revenue pays for it, and to some degree you would be correct, but one thing the former Harvard female ranking website has plenty of is information: data. And data, particularly the specific kinds you feed the Zuckerbergian Machine every 30 seconds, is worth more than its weight in gold. Machine Learning and AI companies need as much as possible to teach their silicon brains, and advertising departments and companies love knowing how to manipulate you into buying things help you choose their products. Here’s where Cambridge Analytica, and their parent ...