Breaking Badness Cybersecurity Podcast - Voices From Infosec: Jake Bernardes
Jake Bernardes, Field CISO of Anecdotes, joins the Breaking Badness Cybersecurity Podcast in this week’s episode! We’re sharing Jake’s background and path within infosec along with what’s intriguing him about the industry currently, how conferences and in-person events can still play a role in community involvement, and we’ll touch briefly on American history.
Infosec is Part of Your DNA
We’re fortunate to speak to guests who have a nonlinear path to infosec, and Jake is no exception, but one of the interesting ideas he brought to the table is while he didn’t necessarily grow up thinking he would go into security, he was intrigued by manipulating computer games and getting them to do things they weren’t supposed to do, and in that way, security has always been in his DNA.
Jake and Kali discuss how there’s likely a number of kids and folks out there who have similar interests and infosec is in their DNA too, but what if they just don’t know what careers are available to them? Jake describes how as a seasoned infosec professional, it’s up to people like him to give back to the community to bring the next generation into the field who might not have known about it otherwise.
But once you’re in the infosec industry, how do you continue to grow and find a path you want to take? This is where good mentors come into play. Jake shares that a mentor, Ben Jepson, gave him opportunities that threw him out of his comfort zone and exposed him to new skill sets and people so he could grow his abilities and network.
Maintaining Connection
Kali asked Jake about his thoughts on conferences like RSAC because that’s how Jake had initially heard of the podcast. He can discuss it from different angles, but ultimately he believes there’s still a place for conferences such as these. While we can work remotely, there’s something to be said for getting together in-person and meeting or reconnecting.
There are great ways to stay in touch with friends and colleagues using Slack communities (and he gives a shout out to the CISO Society). You just have to decide how much you want to be involved, but there are plenty of excellent ways for those in the infosec community to stay connected and continue to learn and grow from one another.
Can’t Have a Conversation Without AI
You can’t have a conversation in infosec these days without talking about AI. Has the rollout been too quick? Jake would say perhaps it’s not that it was quick, but too loud. His position is there are a number of organizations who rolled out an AI product possibly to stay part of the conversation, but is unsure if there was consideration to the question: “does this make the product better?”
The buzz around AI has calmed down a bit, and Jake is pleased to see more of a trend toward the basics. He’s noting that there are a number of organizations (perhaps due to Covid and the current economic climate) who are reevaluating their tech stack and deciding if what they have is truly serving them. There’s a shift to refocus on what improves risk management rather than the newest, coolest thing.
Hamilton – More Than A Musical
Jake has many interests outside of the infosec realm. He’s into SheffieldUnited FC and is a keen cyclist and marathon runner. He also has two young kids who keep him very busy. Jake is also interesting as an English person who’s become intrigued by American history – specifically Hamilton. He got into it like a lot of folks did – through the hit musical, but he decided to learn more about Hamilton as well as other founding fathers (though Kali and Jake agree it would be great if we could learn about all history through choreographed numbers).
Be sure to listen to the full episode for more about Jake’s background and thoughts on what’s currently happening within infosec!
That’s about all we have for this week, you can find us on Mastodon and Twitter/X @domaintools, all of the articles mentioned in our podcast will always be included on our podcast recap. Catch us Wednesdays at 9 AM Pacific time when we publish our next podcast and blog.
*A special thanks to John Roderick for our incredible podcast music!
