Darren on why he loves working in cyber security

My interest in cyber security was sparked through home computing, and I’m old enough to have seen it mature through the ages to a point now, where I can safely say, “I’ll leave the understanding to the experts.” 

My first experience of cyber security happened when I accidentally mashed the keys of my Acorn Electron computer.  I was playing a horse racing game and the result listed all the programming code. I quickly learned how changing the text could play the odds in my favour.  As I developed my coding (formerly known as programming) skills, it always seemed to fall into a security related interest – creating a login and password screen, creating BASIC code that I thought was ingenious – listing the program in black text against a black background as a ‘security feature’, all this when I was around 7 or 8 years old. 

Do. Or do not. There is no try.

I’ve always been inquisitive, and I ask too many questions (sometimes out loud and at the wrong time) and this, combined with my drive through my teenage years to join the Army, led me to a role as Operator Intelligence & Security. 

Alongside some great security training in the physical, document, personnel and electronic areas, it also consisted of an ‘all encompassing’ 2 weeks ‘computer security/electronic warfare’.  All I remember from this; you can make someone’s CD drive open remotely (as useful then, as it is now) and that the teacher reminded me of Comic book guy in the Simpsons.  A relatively grumpy guy that when asked questions, acted as if we were stealing his secrets! 

Use the Force for knowledge and defence, never for attack.

From that moment onward, security is everywhere I look: it’s part of me. I’m always ‘seeing the angle’.  But rather than fall the wrong side of the line for my own profit, I immediately want to know a solution to fix the security flaw. 

However, I have come to realise that although security is never far away, my real skills in life are keeping a clear head under pressure, a never give up attitude (there is always a way) but above all, planning and project management.  I plan for the worst and hope for the best – probability and statistics are never far away. I can happily take spur of the moment decisions, but these are always built on the fact that I am confident the same decision will be made with the same known facts; this is my safety blanket,  

Securious has nurtured this in me, encouraged by the owners Pete & Roz and with an emphasis on enhancing the team through training, I quickly found myself completing PRINCE2 practitioner.  It all made sense and fell into place. 

Since day one at Securious, my viewpoint of Security has aligned with that of the company. We are not here to point out what’s wrong and leave you to it.  We have a fantastically gifted team that includes technical expertise our customers can draw on, and we assist in creating a greater awareness and ability for our clients to understand and improve their security, safe in the knowledge we are on the end of the phone. 

Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future…

And this is why I enjoy being in Cyber Security. It’s working with our team involved in many moving parts and helping to provide a product that really supports companies who have come to us. It’s my role as conduit, planner, carrot waver and stick prodder to the team (diplomatically including the Directors in this statement) to deliver, and as customer relations and a problem solver, that brings me satisfaction on a job well done.  

Cyber Security is multi-faceted and I will always find enjoyment watching the industry evolve and seeing our team’s response because, even though some underlying principles will never change, sometimes a problem exists that requires a new solution to keep ahead of those willing to exploit those with less knowledge and expertise.  

Securious aims to bring balance and build that cyber security confidence for clients.