Dinah Davis: Building your network. [R&D] [Career Notes]

00:07:27
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soy6p-ImDhg

Summary

TLDRDina Davis shares her career journey from a math enthusiast to VP of R&D at Arctic Wolf, highlighting how her academic background led her to cryptography and cybersecurity. Vectra AI is highlighted for its AI-driven threat detection. Davis emphasizes the role of networking and mentorship, sharing an anecdote of meeting a pivotal mentor at a math event. She offers guidance for aspiring cybersecurity professionals to utilize podcasts and online courses to enter the field, and encourages overcoming impostor syndrome.

Takeaways

  • 🎯 Vectra AI utilizes AI for advanced threat detection.
  • 🧠 A career in cybersecurity can start from a love of math.
  • 🔍 Dina Davis transitioned from math teaching to cybersecurity.
  • 🔐 Cryptography blends real-world problem-solving with math and computer science.
  • 📱 Worked on mobile security at Blackberry during its rise.
  • 👥 Networking can significantly impact career paths.
  • 🔗 Mentorship and networking help progress in one's career.
  • 🎧 Podcasts are a great resource for learning about cybersecurity.
  • 🌱 There are ample entry-level opportunities in cybersecurity due to talent shortage.
  • 💪 Overcoming impostor syndrome is crucial for success.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:07:27

    Vectra's AI-driven cybersecurity solutions are highlighted for their ability to identify attacks that other systems may miss, focusing on significant threat events and enhancing cybersecurity teams' efficiency through attack signal intelligence. Dina Davis, VP of R&D at Arctic Wolf, shares her journey from being a math enthusiast in high school to a career in cybersecurity, sparked by her first computing course and her role implementing Bluetooth protocol in C++ for the Canadian government. Her passion led her into cryptography and working in mobile security at Blackberry. Davis advocates for the importance of networking and mentorship, recounting how a chance meeting led her to a leadership position in R&D. She emphasizes that entering cybersecurity doesn't require coding skills, offering advice like starting with podcasts or online courses to find one's niche. Despite challenges like imposter syndrome, she encourages believing in oneself and pursuing one's goals.

Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • Who is Dina Davis?

    Dina Davis is the VP of R&D at Arctic Wolf, with a background in mathematics and cybersecurity.

  • What role does Vectra AI play in cybersecurity?

    Vectra AI uses AI for advanced threat detection, helping security teams focus on crucial issues by analyzing numerous thread events.

  • How did Dina Davis start her career in cybersecurity?

    Dina Davis transitioned from pursuing a career as a math teacher to cybersecurity after discovering cryptography and computing during her university years.

  • What advice does Dina Davis offer to those entering cybersecurity?

    Dina Davis suggests listening to cybersecurity podcasts, networking, and taking online courses to start a career in cybersecurity.

  • What challenge did Dina Davis face regarding her qualifications?

    Dina Davis faced impostor syndrome because she had degrees in mathematics rather than computer science, but she realized her unique perspective benefited her career.

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    [Music]
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    you're listening to the cyberwire
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    network powered by
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    n2k around every entry point and every
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    clever attacker Vectra sees the attacks
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    others can't how Vectra has AI on it
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    vectra's AI attack signal intelligence
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    tells security teams where to focus what
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    matters it wads through thousands of
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    individual ual thread events so you
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    don't have to attackers infiltrating
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    your network Vectra has AI on it
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    attackers compromising your identities
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    Vectra has AI on it Vectra AI the
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    integrated signal powering your xdr
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    visit Vectra a/ show me to learn more
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    that's
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    vc.
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    a/ show me to learn more
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    my name is Dina Davis and I am the VP of
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    R&D at arctic wolf
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    [Music]
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    networks I really in high school I just
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    really liked math a lot I I really
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    enjoyed it I took all the advanced level
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    courses and I didn't really know what to
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    do with that so I went to the career
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    counselor at my school and I said you
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    know I'm I'm really good at math I
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    really like it I I don't know what to do
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    and and he said well you should be a
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    math teacher um and 17-year-old self was
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    pretty naive and thought okay I guess
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    that's what I should
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    do so I went off to University to become
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    a math
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    teacher and at that point I was like
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    well now I really don't know what I'm
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    going to do I'm just getting a math
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    degree here but as it happened in my
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    third year of University I took my first
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    Computing course and within two or three
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    classes uh of that first class I was
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    like this is amazing I'm like I love
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    this and so I ended up uh working for
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    the Canadian
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    government and that was my introduction
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    to cryptography and as it happens the
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    job was to implement the Bluetooth
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    protocol in C++ for the research team so
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    they could evaluate it as part of AES to
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    see if it was Secure or not so for me I
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    just found that security and
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    cryptography specifically was this
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    perfect mix of real world problem
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    solving and Mathematics and computer
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    science all combined into one ball of
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    Happiness um and so that really kicked
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    off my trajectory into a more security
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    focused
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    [Music]
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    career I went back to University to
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    finish my last year and so I I did my
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    masters in in cryptography uh but then I
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    was you know looking for a job in 2001
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    or 2002 that wasn't a good time to look
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    for a job in Tech uh it was right after
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    the bubble had burst and I was having
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    such a hard time finding uh finding a
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    job uh but I had gone to a little
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    security conference in the summertime
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    and I had met some people from
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    Blackberry that was exciting cuz
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    Blackberry was you know not even quite a
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    big thing yet in at that time um so for
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    the next eight years I worked on the
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    bleeding edge of mobile security at
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    Blackberry on the security team and it
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    it was amazing it it was an amazing ride
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    I am so glad I got to do that
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    [Music]
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    I had gone to a um it's called think
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    about math and it's this program that
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    the University of waterl runs for girls
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    in grade nine and they bring them in and
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    they and they have them meet all these
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    women who have graduated with math
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    degrees and and we talk to them about
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    you know what we actually do as a job to
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    to show them what kind of careers they
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    could have and while I was there um I I
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    met a lady named Kim Trump and her title
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    was VP of R&D and right before the event
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    kind of started I ran up to her and I
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    said Kim I want to talk to you after
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    this don't leave okay because um I want
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    to do what you do someday so I would
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    really like to talk to you about how you
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    got there and as it turned out like
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    maybe 2 or 3 weeks later we we had a
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    lunch and she convinced me to come work
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    for her where I then got to run the
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    whole R&D team for her and I am now the
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    VP of R&D at arctic wolf so it it was
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    amazing right had I not had that meeting
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    uh you know who knows where I would be
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    probably still doing something
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    interesting but um it's all about you
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    know getting out there and and not being
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    shy to talk to people right and building
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    your network it's also why I do
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    everything I can to connect people as
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    much as I can because I know how
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    valuable it was for me uh in my career
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    uh that I just you know giving people
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    the intro you don't have to do a lot for
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    them you just have to give them the int
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    to the next spot and then they can they
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    can do what they can do
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    [Music]
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    [Music]
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    right you don't need to know how to code
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    to get into security sure it'll help you
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    it's going to give you again like you're
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    saying a different perspective as you
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    come in but there's so many things and
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    so many easy starts to go into it right
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    so often times you can get like a
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    library card and then get LinkedIn
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    learning and you can start taking
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    courses from LinkedIn that way there's
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    so many courses online my favorite thing
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    to tell people is to just start
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    listening to the podcasts because it's
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    the easiest thing to do and it starts to
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    immerse yourself in that world and
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    you'll start to see you know which
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    stories that come out on these podcasts
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    you get more most interested in right
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    which might point you to the direction
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    of of where in cyber security you want
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    to go so I think there's a lot of
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    entry-level positions that people can
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    can come into and we have such a deficit
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    in you know having enough talent to fill
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    all these roles I think it's a amazing
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    opportunity impostor syndrome is just
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    that syndrome and you know I would often
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    feel like I wasn't quite good enough cuz
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    I had two math degrees and not a
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    computer science degree right that I
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    didn't know computer science as well as
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    everyone else that I was working with
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    but I just brought that different
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    perspective I knew how to code but I
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    also had all this great Rich experience
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    in cyber security that many of my
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    co-workers didn't have at the time so I
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    think it's really just believing in
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    yourself and and going going for it
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    right go for what you believe in
Tags
  • Vectra AI
  • cybersecurity
  • math education
  • career path
  • Bluetooth protocol
  • cryptography
  • networking
  • impostor syndrome
  • podcasts
  • entry-level jobs