Never Miss An Episode | Subscribe Now
Home
Shows
ShopAboutWork With Us
Creative Mastermind
CyberCreatorCon2023
Never Miss An Episode | Subscribe Now

April 26, 2021

Programs for Women & Veterans in Cyber w/ WiCyS - SPECIAL EDITION

by Cyber Ranch

Listen Now

Programs for Women & Veterans in Cyber w/ WiCyS - SPECIAL EDITION

April 26, 2021 • Cyber Ranch

00:00:00

Show Notes

With us today are Lynn Dohm, Executive Director of Women in Cybersecurty (WiCyS) and Martha Laughman, Veterans Iniative Lead at WiCyS and Director of Workforce Development at Smoothstack. Lynn and Martha are here to talk about the amazing programs for women and women veterans at WiCyS. WiCyS is so much more than a conference for women in cybersecurity. Its presence spans the globe and its programs are myriad. Mentorship, student scholarships, training, special interest groups, job boards, veterans' assistance, and apprenticeships are all available. Smoothstack is a partner of WiCyS, and has created a program for women veteran apprenticeships designed to benefit all parties involved. The program is based on attitude, aptitude and intitial assessments, but requires no cybersecurity knowledge at the start. Apprentices are paid, trained, and qualified when they come out, working for employers on a two-year contract at a minimum. The program addresses employers' fears over being the first ones to hire and train new talent only to lose them. WiCyS is a phenomenal organization, and there are ample opporutnities for allies - not just women - to join. Key Takeaways 0:24 Allan Introducs Lynn and Martha 1:18 Lynn gives an overview of WiCyS' origins 2:06 Lynn explains the many WiCyS worldwide programs outside of the conference itself 6:45 Lynn introduces the veterans' assistance program 7:33 Lynn explains the origins of the veterans' apprenticeship program 8:54 Lynn explains why WiCyS chose Smoothstack and its program for women veterans' apprenticeships 10:14 Lynn explains the specific challenges and needs of women veterans 11:51 Martha shares a bit about her past, and her personal motivations 15:05 Martha elaborates on the program at Smoothstack with a very human story 17:14 Martha outlines the full process of the apprenticeship program 18:10 Martha outlines the tests for entry into the program 20:44 Martha states that employers hiring new talent suffer training overhead followed by attrition 21:40 The Smoothstack/WiCyS program pays candidates to get trained to readiness and guarantees employers two years minimum 23:40 Martha explains that cybersecurity has become a sellers' market and that jobs remain open because employers cannot pay enough 26:20 Lynn explains her motivation and drive to build such programs 27:23 Martha asks our listeners to join WiCyS, noting that membership is very affordable 28:23 Lynn echoes Martha's advice and recommends browsing the WiCyS website 28:47 Allan asks listeners to dontate to WiCyS Links: Learn more about WiCyS at www.wicys.org and on Twitter and on LinkedIn Learn more about Smoothstack at smoothstack.com Learn more about Lynn Dohm on LinkedIn and on Twitter Learn more about Martha Laughman on LinkedIn and on Twitter Follow Allan Alford on LinkedIn and Twitter Learn more about Hacker Valley Studio and The Cyber Ranch Podcast Sponsored by our good friends at Axonius
Read more

Recent Episodes

View All

November 29, 2023

12 Questions for 12 Guests LIVE! at CISO XC

by Cyber Ranch

Allan takes the show on the road again, this time at his all-time favorite conference: CISO XC! He asks a unique question of each guest, who represent a great deal of breadth in our industry: Dave Belanger, CISO at Bestow Insurance - What is the most...

Listen Now
November 22, 2023

American Thanksgiving Holiday

by Cyber Ranch

Howdy, y'all!  Allan is taking this week off to spend time with family and to give thanks for all the wonderful things in his life - including y'all! For those who don't track it, there is no Cyber Ranch Podcast four times  a year: American Thanksgiv...

Listen Now
November 15, 2023

Cybersecurity Awareness Month CALL TO ACTION - The Conclusion!

by Cyber Ranch

Warning, there might be some naughty language in this one! The challenge was issued!!!! Allan teamed up with TWO other podcasts to take on the insufferable marketing that floods the cybersecurity industry in the month of October! Who won??? "Won"? Th...

Listen Now
November 8, 2023

SEC/SolarWinds Legal Analysis w/ Evan Wolff

by Cyber Ranch

Howdy, y’all, and welcome to The Cyber Ranch Podcast!  Our guest today is Evan Wolff, partner at Crowell & Moring, and Allan's favorite cyber attorney.  Evan has led and managed 100s of investigations including cybersecurity, data breach, insider...

Listen Now
November 1, 2023

Defining Budgets with Tim Rohrbaugh

by Cyber Ranch

Howdy, y’all, and welcome to The Cyber Ranch Podcast!  That’s Tim Rohrbaugh, Founder/Principal at DefaultDenySec, former CISO for JetBlue Airways, advisor, investor: yup!  Another Cyber Ranch guest with an awesome history!  Tim and Allan were chattin...

Listen Now
October 25, 2023

The New SEC Regulations with Jack Powell

by Cyber Ranch

Howdy, y’all, and welcome to The Cyber Ranch Podcast!  We're joined today by Jacqueline (AKA “Jack”) Powell, CISO at Allianz Life and former Deputy CISO at Hanes.  She has also consulted, and has worked at Chevron, General Dynamics, and SACI.  Jack h...

Listen Now
October 18, 2023

Building Excellent Teams w/ Kymberlee Price

by Cyber Ranch

Howdy, y’all, and welcome to The Cyber Ranch Podcast!  That’s Kymberlee Price, strategic security consultant, Black Hat content review board member, former Sr. Director of Product Security at New Relic, former Principal Security Manager at Microsoft ...

Listen Now
October 11, 2023

Bad Behaviors: A Better Way LIVE! with Chris Tillett

by Cyber Ranch

Chris Tillett is a well-known figure in our industry.  He is in product management and R&D at Palo Alto Networks.  He is also a great guy, funny, and can wield the snark quite well.  He is the perfect foil for Allan Alford as the two of them take...

Listen Now
September 27, 2023

Permissions Management w/ Ron Nissim

by Cyber Ranch

Howdy, y’all, and welcome to The Cyber Ranch Podcast!  Joining Allan this week is Ron Nissim, CEO @ Entitle.  Yes, this is one of our rare shows with a vendor as a guest.  Why?  Because in this case, the vendor was more highly informed than any of Al...

Listen Now
September 20, 2023

The Cybersecurity Efficacy Gap w/ AJ Grotto

by Cyber Ranch

Allan is joined by AJ Grotto: William J. Perry International Security Fellow and Founding Director of the Program on Geopolitics, Technology and Governance at Stanford University.  He also serves as the faculty lead for the cyber policy specializatio...

Listen Now