Check out your Company Bowl for anonymous work chats.
Far from the data-driven crush of the SOC or endless reporting spreadsheets, we wanted to ask people about people. We cast our net wide and asked everyone from front-line teams to those who run industry bodies for their opinions on the human element of cybersecurity. Meet the people behind the screens in our latest eBook.
As part of LGBT History Month in the UK, we’re catching up with Paul Thomas, Engineering Manager, to find out why being open matters.
As part of our Life at Immersive Labs series, we catch up with Steph McCrary, Sales Development Representative, to discover just what Black History Month means to her - and why we should be celebrating it every month.
A day in the life of Aidan, Backend Developer I first heard of Immersive Labs through a TechCrunch article about its Goldman Sachs investment way back in January 2019. I thought the concept of the platform sounded insanely cool and I was very impressed with some of the customers listed. I thought nothing more of it at the time, until a few months later when I found myself browsing open positions on LinkedIn. I was working as a software engineer up in Liverpool, without any real intention to leave, but every now and then I'd just have a look to see what opportunities there were around the country. A bit like how I would sink hours into Zoopla looking at multi-million-pound houses around the Lake District, ogling like a child with his face pressed up against a sweet shop. Just like that child, I was only ever looking. I never had any intention to apply to any of the posts. That is until the company name on one of the job listings jumped out at me: Immersive Labs. I checked out the website and there it was, that super cool company from the article I had read a while back…
We have a Podcast and as part of our series on the Psychology of Cyber, we're joined by special guests, Rebecca McKeown and Swati Singh to discuss the human challenges that are inherent in cyber crises. We take a deep dive into how do organizations prepare for the worse – and how their all important human capabilities factored in. Rebecca McKeown is a Psychologist specialising in how humans respond in pressurised situations. She is a guest lecturer at Cranfield University and has worked with the UK's Ministry of Defence to help the armed forces build more agile human assets. Swati Singh is the Head of Business Information Security and Resilience at Close Brothers, and has 20 years of IT industry experience working in multinational companies. Oh and we have Chief Cyber Officer, Max Vetter too, who might pipe up at some point...
What is AppSec, and why do you need it? People often assume that application security, or AppSec, focuses solely on the security involved in an app or service’s development. Wrong. This is a vital part of it, but there are several other areas that are equally as important as the code used in development: design, operations, maintenance, testing and deployment. AppSec ultimately covers the security of an app from inception to deployment, use and maintenance; it’s a process spanning the application’s lifetime, and you must be there every step of the way.
A day in the life of Nurah Muhamad, Senior Manager, Customer Success Starting a new job during a lockdown isn’t something I’d ever imagine doing, but these aren’t exactly ‘normal’ times. While I’ve had great conversations with everyone over Zoom prior to joining, I was worried about missing out on the office culture, having been unable to meet anyone in person. Six weeks in and I’m (pleasantly) surprised at how remarkably adaptable everyone in the company is. I certainly save some time not having to commute into work and it also helps that Immersers have been so wonderfully welcoming – with so many fun events and get-togethers to help us stay connected. And if they can get all of this done virtually, I can’t begin to imagine what they typically get up to IRL
How Immersive Labs is helping keep young hackers on track Creating a secure, exciting space for young hackers to equip themselves with skills is essential, or else they could be tempted to practice illegitimately. Bug bounty providers such as HackerOne are excellent playgrounds for advanced hackers, with one teenager Santiago Lopez making millions through the platform. Even he admits, however, to being tempted by cybercrime – and most teens aren’t at the level required for ethical hacking. Immersive Labs creates a safe proving ground for young people to test out cyber tools and problem solving techniques. Our approach to skills development puts real malware and threat actor techniques in the hands of those who will eventually be tasked with opposing them. Content is designed to progress users through the concepts, tools and techniques required for a career in cybersecurity, making it an invaluable resource for aspiring hackers. This is why we provide the Students’ Digital Cyber Academy and the Neurodivergent Digital Cyber Academy to qualifying individuals for free.
On Sunday we honoured those who served in the military and remember those lost during the 2 world wars and other conflicts, Read about the experiences of James Murphy, Gareth & Jordan, veterans who through our partner TechVets have been able to equip themselves with new cyber skills. Immersive Labs is committed to increasing diversity in the cyber security industry, one of the ways we do this is through the Veteran's Digital Cyber Acadmey. Which helps veterans from any military background in the UK and US to reskill and develop hands-on cyber skills for free. By registering, you will have access to labs that cover everything from cybersecurity basics to malware analysis and threat hunting. The VDCA is available to any military veteran that is currently unemployed or employed outside of cybersecurity. To apply, please contact our partner, TechVets. If you’re already employed in a cyber-based role and are a military veteran, please contact enquiries@immersivelabs.com.
The cybersecurity landscape is, traditionally, not very diverse. There. We said it. In 2019, just 20% of the workforce in our industry comprised women, and people of colour represented even less. So why isn’t the cyber realm more welcoming? As hackers get more sophisticated and inventive, cyber teams need to stay ahead of the game with more diverse ideas, creative strategies, and out of the box problem solving skills. However, it’s difficult to achieve this if everyone on your team is from a similar background with the same cookie-cutter experiences. Being more diverse will simply cover more bases when it comes to threat attack vectors. For example, younger workers may be more familiar with modern threats such as smishing (SMS phishing) and vishing (voice phishing) – terms that older generations may be less familiar with, while some studies prove that male-oriented teams gauge risk differently to those with a more of a female influence. Here are 4 ways to build a more diverse cybersecurity team.
