Careers in Cybersecurity + Building a More Inclusive Culture

When a school wins Club of the Week they get very cool swag like Girls Go CyberStart pop sockets, stickers, tote bags and pens. They even get a huge GGCS banner to celebrate their school. But no doubt the best part is winning a visit from Microsoft cybersecurity professionals! These are the teams who hack the Windows operating system to secure it for more than 1 billion people around the world, protect Xbox from physical attacks and cheating, research the latest attacker techniques against emerging tech like IoT devices, industrial controls and smart cities and come up with creative ways to protect them, and more. Here’s a closer look at who they are, how they got their very cool jobs and what they look forward to sharing with students on their visits.

Glaucia Young

What do you do in your job?
I help protect more than one billion Windows and Microsoft customers from malware, fraud, and privacy breaches. Over my 21-year career, I’ve had a strong passion to provide users and companies with safe, productive, and intelligent computing experiences.
What was your path to cybersecurity? It started in college —my B.S. final project was a guide to admins to secure their Linux-based infrastructures. In Microsoft I’ve had roles in security testing/pen testing, as well as engineering of security solutions, and data analysis/research.
Any advice? Cyber security is a world-wide topic, and as such, we need a diverse team of defenders to succeed and stay a step ahead of sophisticated adversaries.

Andrea Lambert

What do you do in your job?
I work to ensure the most critical vulnerabilities are getting attention. My primary goal is to help ensure individuals are using technology responsibly, do not need to think about their data, digital and even physical safety and security.
What was your path to cybersecurity? I was introduced to cyber security while doing research for a government project to find new high performance and cyber solutions from tech and academic industries.
Any advice? My message to anyone unsure about their path is to be thoughtful about what is a realistic plan for your life’s needs and priorities including your career and then move towards what fits within that and what feels right.

Hayley Call

What do you do in your job?
I build software features, incorporating security concepts like fuzzing and address sanitization, that drive the security of platforms and applications.
What was your path to cybersecurity? I am a recent computer science /government undergraduate and was initially interested in international security policy. I was introduced to cyber security by meeting the founders of my University’s information security organization. I interned with SAVR during the Summer of 2018.
Any advice? I hope to continue paying it forward by inspiring others to explore cybersecurity. Cybersecurity has an ever-increasing impact on all facets of society and on every person. We need more and more people from every background to learn how to research, test, and develop ways to push back against those wanting to steal information and attack critical systems.

Dana Huang

What do you do in your job?
I work to implement security in products such as: Windows, server, mobile/phone, Windows 10 product waves, cloud OS, and edge devices.
What was your path to cybersecurity? I was raised in China, have a BS degree in Biomedical Engineering and then I earned my MS degree in the U.S. In 1996, I joined Microsoft as a developer on the Windows Security team. Since then I’ve worked on almost 20 product releases in various roles ranging from developer to my current leadership role.
Any advice? I believe in collaborating and mentoring people with diverse perspectives because we as a security industry need people from all races, genders, and countries.

Ron Aquino

Vision: I initiated the partnership between Microsoft and Girls Go CyberStart because I want to drive awareness of cybersecurity as a meaningful and impactful career path. I care deeply about education and awareness of this field and in creating advocates for women in cybersecurity. I see the Girls Go CyberStart mission as an amazing program to drive more diversity and inclusion in our industry.
What do you do in your job? I’m responsible for ensuring that the Windows, Xbox, Azure, and IoT platforms used by 1 billion customers are shipped securely. To accomplish this, I lead many areas including: Penetration Testers, Security Tooling Engineers, Vulnerability Researchers, and Security Program Managers.
What was your path to cybersecurity? Prior to Microsoft, I had 15 years of startup experience leading multiple Security/Trust/Safety organizations at eBay and Upwork, where I built the strategy to keep customers safe, increase user trust and improve user experience.