Security Analyst Marsha Kimes Headlines WiCyS - TLI Event
About 40 cybersecurity professionals joined TLI alumni and faculty at a networking event and talk Tuesday evening, featuring information security analyst at Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union Marsha Kimes. The event was held at McNamara Alumni Center and sponsored by the Minnesota chapter of Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) and TLI.
The event began with an hour devoted to conversation and networking catered by event sponsor Deepwatch, followed by remarks from Dr. Allison Hubel, Director of TLI, and Dr. Patria Lawton, TLI’s Director of Graduate Studies. Judy Hatchett, VP and CISO of Surescripts, LLC., President of the Minnesota chapter of WiCyS, and proud TLI alumna offered a brief overview and history of the organization, previewing a number of upcoming events, and welcomed the featured speaker for the evening.
In her remarks, Kimes described the challenges she’s faced in her 23 years working in the Information Technology field, the last seven of which have focused on cybersecurity.
“When I started working in this field, I realized there was an opportunity to do what I like to do – to connect with people,” Kimes said, stressing the human layer, including building trust, that is sometimes overlooked in the field of cybersecurity.
One of the largest online risks for individuals, Kimes emphasized, was that people often believe that larger entities – governments, credit monitoring agencies and large retailers – are looking out for them.
“We often assume that someone out there is taking care of us. But some entities out there do that better than others. We need to take ownership of our own online security.”
She also encouraged cybersecurity professionals to leverage the trust they have among friends and family to raise awareness of the risks and to encourage best practices.
WiCyS is a networking organization for women working in the cybersecurity field that’s been growing rapidly since its founding at the University of Tennessee in 2013. The Minnesota chapter, founded in 2019, currently has about 120 members.