I just wanted to say to the troops and people who have served
in the United States military, no matter what branch it might be, Happy Veterans
Day! It is through your sacrifice that
the United States has become the land of hope and the powerhouse of democracy
that it is today, despite all of the dirty politics going on. Thank you for your service!
It’s also interesting that this morning, I came across a
news article that the headline basically stated: “Why military people make great Cyber
employees”. Believe it or not, I agree
100% with this statement. Through the podcasting
and tech writing that I have done, I have come across many people from the US military
who have either worked in Cyber (or are continuing to do so), or have even
started their own Cyber businesses, and they have been very successful at it.
So, why do former members of the military make great Cyber
employees? Here are a few reasons why:
1)
They can adopt to newer forms of technology:
Not all members of the military
serve in an electronics kind of role. Some
have served as commandos, or even as drill instructors. But whatever it is, it seems that veterans
have a much easier time to quickly pick in learning newer technologies than
say, a college graduate. The reason for
this is because of the intensity of the bootcamps they go through, members of
the military have been taught how to transition quickly from one scenario to
the next in a quick fashion. For
example, if they are on the shooting range one day and taught how to use a
rifle the next, the learning curve will be much lower than for say, the average
civilian.
2)
They take understand the mindset of the enemy:
This comes down to the fundamental
question: Why do we have a military? Well, the answer to that is obvious: To protect us from the enemy. Back in the days of the Cold War, it was the
Soviet Union, and now it is the Cyberattacker.
Who ever we are fighting, the soldier of today has to take the mindset
of what the enemy is possibly plotting, and how they will carry that out. This is the same type of mentality that Cyber
workers are told to take, especially those of Pen Testers and Threat
Hunters. But veterans have that huge leg
up: They already know how to do it, because
they have been trained extensively in how to do it.
3)
Leadership is needed:
One of the biggest complaints
amongst Cyber workers is that their so-called leader, which is primarily the CISO,
does not know how to lead. They may talk
tough in front of the Board of Directors, but deep down, they are scared to
death about holding onto their job.
Therefore, it is very difficult for them to learn to be a leader. But not people in the military. As far as I have seen from the videos on You
Tube, the recruits are taught how to be leaders from the moment they arrive at
boot camp, and the skills that they have learned in this regard, are groomed continuously. So the moral of the story here is if you want
a CISO to lead, get a veteran. They will
take the ball a lot further than a civilian would. And they just won’t talk tough. They will deliver.
4)
The Cybersecurity landscape is changing:
As many Cyber workers can attest
to, there is no such thing as a typical day in the office. It’s never a 9-5 kind of thing, and this is
where many employees get burnt out at.
They want to leave right when the clocks hit this time, because they are
so mentally drained. But people who come
out of the military are trained to work at all times of day and night and even
in the most extreme of conditions.
Probably the best example of this are the SEALS, Delta Force, and other special
commando forces. So thus, they will have
more stamina to put in extra longer hours, and work anytime as and when needed
to do so. And also, veterans can handle the
stresses of a constantly changing environment much more so than a civilian
could, because their minds and bodies have trained that for years.
5)
There is more to Cyber than just digital:
Whenever we think of Cyber, we
always think of digital assets, and this is rightfully so, because this is all
we hear about. But remember, Cyber also consists
of the other side of the coin, which is the physical security aspect as
well. This typically involves securing
the main points of entry and exit externally and internally to the business. In fact, the Cyberattacker of today is now focusing
on this realm, because everybody’s attention is still focused on the digital,
so physical security gets very little attention. This is where Social Engineering
comes into play, and if a Cyberattacker is smart enough, they can enter in
through a doorway pretty easily, undetected.
But people who are in the military not only get training in Cyber stuff,
but they also get trained in the physical aspects as well. After all in a warfare situation, some of the
stuff involves house to house and building to building searches.
My Thoughts On This:
Well, there you have it, why veterans have a higher edge up on
Cyber skills than what most civilians have to offer. But it doesn’t mean that you should ignore the
latter. A great Cyber workforce would include employees from both sides of the fence. Another boon that most veterans have is that
they can still receive continuing education for almost free, provided the government.
So there is no extra financial pressure for the organization
in this regard. So if you hire a vet, and
they want to get a cert, most likely the government will pay for that, and the
respective bootcamp that goes with it.
Finally, former military people don’t have chip on their shoulders. Their mentality will most likely be
(depending upon the individual), “Let’s roll up our sleeves as a team, and get
the job done!!!”.
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