From Theory to Practice: Navigating my internship journey at CTA
About the author: Euysun Hwang ’24 is an FSI Global Policy Intern with the Cyber Threat Alliance. Euysun is a Ford Dorsey Master’s in International Policy candidate at Stanford University.
I am an introvert, highly conscious of how my actions affect others, possibly influenced by cultural norms. I strive to avoid causing any inconvenience, which sometimes leads me to a near-paranoid concern about making mistakes at work. To prevent these mistakes, I find it crucial to understand my responsibilities and maintain regular communication with my colleagues. When I started my internship at CTA, I was navigating completely unfamiliar territory. During my time as a diplomat in Korea, I had never used tools like Slack, nor had I heard of Confluence or Jira. Confronted with these new tools, I initially felt confused and a bit overwhelmed. Fortunately, my colleagues were very supportive. I had bi-weekly meetings with my supervisor and quickly received a new account and email. I also began direct messaging with colleagues who were working remotely, which helped me settle in.
The concept of remote working was entirely new to me, making me feel like a primitive monkey suddenly learning to use various office tools designed to assist. One of the advantages of working remotely is the freedom to choose when and where to work. I opted to work from various coffee shops, allowing me to explore my surroundings and change my work atmosphere. Interestingly, it reminded me of something I learned in a Hack Lab class: a notorious Facebook scammer was actually sipping an espresso in a San Francisco coffee shop when he was finally caught in action.
As a Cybersecurity Analyst Intern, my first long-term project was mapping cybersecurity vendors to threat intelligence output. The primary objective of the project is to map the diverse products and services offered by cybersecurity vendors to the specific types of threat intelligence they generated. The analysis was expected to facilitate the creation of unique personas that categorize vendors according to the distinct intelligence types they provide, aiding organizations in selecting the most appropriate vendors based on their specific security needs. The project comprehensively analyzes the offerings of various cybersecurity vendors, identifying the distinct types of threat intelligence they produce, such as indicators of compromise, behavioral analytics, and threat actor profiles. They were used to develop personas that reflect commonalities among vendors, offering a framework for organizations to understand and navigate the cybersecurity vendor landscape.
It was an interesting opportunity since I had a chance to analyze a broad spectrum of products and services cybersecurity vendors provide and see how each was contributing to different types of threat intelligence to the security realm. A detailed understanding of how these offerings correlate with specific types of intelligence can significantly enhance an organization’s ability to tailor its security strategies to meet precise requirements were eye-opening.
I also had the opportunity to enhance promotional and communication strategies by designing the webpage for CTA Social Network Services. The organization was in the process of expanding its membership, so a more eye-catching and engaging webpage format would contribute positively. Utilizing my experience as a YouTube channel operator, I made several suggestions for the new design of CTA’s webpage. I aimed to infuse the webpage design with a futuristic feel, emphasizing the networking image to encapsulate the essence of cybersecurity, which fundamentally revolves around connection. This design choice was intended to visually communicate the core values and dynamic nature of the field to the website’s visitors.
