The Tortora Brayda Institute and the Association of US Cyber Forces presents a new series to help bring awareness to the cybersecurity industry.
Cybersecurity as a job description is so encompassing. There are so many different jobs that fall under the category of cybersecurity, and there is not just one path to get there. Join TBI and AUSCF as we dive into different jobs in cybersecurity.
Each month we will have new speakers coming in to discuss:
--What is their job title?
--What do they actually do in their job?
--How did they got there (education, previous jobs, etc.)?
--Advice for those entering the field or looking to make a change within the field.
This month we are excited to bring the CTO of South Carolina Emerging Tech Association to share his journey with you!
Les Aker is the CTO of South Carolina Emerging Tech Association. Les is a Computer Scientist and Cryptographer who is semi-retired and living in Port Royal.
He spent most of his career working at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC, the US Navy’s corporate research facility, founded by Thomas Edison more an 100 years ago. Les worked in the Center for High Assurance Systems, a nice way of saying he's been hacking computers for more than 40 years. If you’re doing the math, you figured out that means Les's been hacking computers since before the transition to the Internet.
For about 8 of those years, he also had additional duty doing what the Navy called “The Columbo Job”. Les was the lead investigator reporting to the Inspector General for all hacking investigations. He handled hundreds of investigations during those years. It was a reference to the old TV show, because the Admirals thought it looked like Les wandered around aimlessly asking smart people stupid questions until he figured out who was responsible for the computer crime, like the Peter Falk TV character. More than 50% of the people Les identified made a plea deal immediately, and less than 10% of his cases remained unresolved.
Les is now semi-retired and living in Port Royal, SC, where he is the CTO of the South Carolina Emerging Tech Association.
Join Nathan and Les for a dynamic conversation!
