This week’s guest is Leah McLean, former Vice President and Cybersecurity Specialist for Mastercard Data and Services and cofounder of the nonprofit Whole Cyber Human Initiative. Leah shared her advice for recruiting teams looking for the next big cybersecurity superstar and explained why it’s so important for women to feel like they have a seat at the tech table.
This week’s guest is Leah McLean, former Vice President and Cybersecurity Specialist for Mastercard Data and Services and cofounder of the nonprofit Whole Cyber Human Initiative. Leah shared her advice for recruiting teams looking for the next big cybersecurity superstar and explained why it’s so important for women to feel like they have a seat at the tech table.
Megan Garza: [00:00:00] Welcome to another episode of Speed Data, quick conversations with cybersecurity leaders. I'm your host, Megan Garza, and today I'm joined by Leah McLean, Vice President and Cybersecurity Specialist for MasterCard Data and Services. Hi, Leah. Thanks for coming on today.
Leah McLean: Hi, Megan. Thanks for having me. Good to be here.
Megan Garza: Leah is a results oriented cybersecurity leader focused on threat intelligence, cloud security, and internal and third party risk initiatives. Her self professed superpower is connecting the dots and people in cybersecurity to further advance the world of security. Leah is also the co founder and co host of the CISO Diaries podcast and is on the board of and acts as an advisor to several cybersecurity organizations.
Megan Garza: including Cloud Defense and Minorities in Cybersecurity. Leah is a Chapter Lead for the North Texas Sector of Cloud Security Alliance. And if that weren't enough, Leah is a recipient [00:01:00] of the CRN Women of the Channel Award. Leah, you began your career working in public relations. What made you want to go into cybersecurity?
Leah McLean: so while I did start in public relations, I was always working for, IT and networking companies. And so technology was always really interesting to me. And I think I can say this now because I've since moved from, Silicon Valley, California, but I was grateful to have spent most of my life there because I was surrounded by technology.
Leah McLean: But I was also that type of person that in order for me to fully understand it, so I could write about it and position it in simple terms, I had to get my hands on the technology. So I would go to the engineering team. and basically ask them to show me how it worked. And they loved it because they were always looking for more help, so they would teach me.
Leah McLean: And then when I was at Cisco, they had acquired, Sourcefire, which was one of their first cybersecurity companies, they acquired. They had asked if I wanted to move to cyber. it was daunting to me, but also fascinating. Um, but I [00:02:00] said yes, and I've never looked back. So I guess, since then, I've kind of been putting my OSINT skills, I gained in PR and marketing to use.
Megan Garza: And what do you enjoy most about your role, either day to day or just overall?
Leah McLean: I love helping people. I actually love it when somebody not in cyber, comes to me and says, Hey, I want to learn more. Or, you know, I've been impacted by this personally. Can you help me? Can you, you know, teach me? I love that because it's more than just our jobs and work and impacting business, but it does impact our daily lives.
Leah McLean: I mean, I don't know about you, but I'm getting way more phishing scams, texts, emails, calls every day, and it's just increased. So when I can, um, help others to really realize how they can better protect themselves, I love that.
Megan Garza: And what do you predict to be the biggest shift in cybersecurity?
Leah McLean: Honestly, I think it's going to be a lot, with the regulations and the mandates that we see happening, uh, right now, like SEC [00:03:00] was a big one, um, DORA, even though I know that's more Europe, it's going to impact companies that have business in Europe, and then the technology, I mean, it is really quickly evolving AI is, of course, the latest buzz, but I think more importantly, it's going to be truly having an understanding of the business.
Leah McLean: And I do believe that we will see more CISOs, coming from different backgrounds with more focus on the business, not as much on the technology, or at least, have a business mindset first versus. Tech first mindset.
Megan Garza: And what advice do you have for security teams that are recruiting cybersecurity professionals, given the talent or workforce shortage?
Leah McLean: yeah, this one's near and dear to me. Um, I actually don't believe that there's a shortage. I think there's a lot of talent out there and there's a lot of people wanting to either break into cybersecurity or, um, advance further. so when I think about that, my advice to, recruiting teams would be a couple of [00:04:00] things.
Leah McLean: One, Don't look for the unicorns that don't exist. be very realistic about the job descriptions. I also think the less emphasis that we can have on, multiple certifications, the better. and look for those characteristics in people that have the soft skills, the willingness to learn, the aptitude, the motivation, the drive, because those type of people, who are willing and wanting to, jump in and learn and advance.
Leah McLean: They are going to be easy to train and anyone can build up in terms of the skill sets and the knowledge, but you need that willingness and you need that drive. I mean, I probably, without that, I wouldn't have gotten to where I am today.
Megan Garza: And speaking of where you are today, to a report from the Accenture Cybersecurity Forum Women's Council, women comprise only 17 percent of Fortune 500 CISO positions. However, the research found that when women respondents decided to pursue the CISO role, they typically succeeded in a matter of months.
Megan Garza: Why do you think that there are so [00:05:00] few women in security leadership positions?
Leah McLean: well, I do think this is changing. I definitely think we're, we do see more and more women in, in cybersecurity, which is great, and in these positions. But I also think, collectively, we really all need to do a better job, of making women, and not just women, but everyone, feel welcome to the industry, and encourage them to join and be a part of it.
Leah McLean: I once heard the term, allyship. And when men and women can support, especially men, can support women leaders and women at all levels in the field, that's really important. one of my mentors to this day was also my hiring manager at Cisco. he was very supportive and he was one of the first men who encouraged me.
Leah McLean: to ask for more money and negotiate during the interview hiring process. And I think when you have that kind of support and especially from males that will give you that voice, give you that seat at the table, it's going to open up the doors for more women to not be so intimidated by it, but to want to embrace and join.
Leah McLean: I also [00:06:00] think the groups like Women in Cybersecurity or WSIS and then Executive Women's Forum, and many others. They're really helping females position themselves for the roles that they deserve and the salaries they deserve. And I just think we need to keep adding more seats to the table with women leaders and diverse backgrounds.
Megan Garza: Yeah. the CMO at our company is a, male. And one of the things I love about him is that he is never hesitant to, promote the women on his team and encourage the women on his team and celebrate the women on his team. So. I wholeheartedly agree that, having both, women and men, encourage that participation, encourage, getting into cybersecurity, getting into tech is definitely, key to helping improve that.
Leah McLean: Good example.
Megan Garza: And, what is the most important thing to remember when working in cybersecurity?
Leah McLean: I think always be learning and always be open, to new approaches in different ways. also we have to keep sharing and helping each other and collaborating. I mean, it's not an easy job. We don't have it figured out. We don't have all the answers. But we need that, community, right? [00:07:00] And we need more people to be part of it.
Leah McLean: So the more that we can do that, I think it's really crucial to all of us who are in our day to day jobs and, still figuring it out and trying to just keep it at a minimum for the bad guys.
Megan Garza: the moment that you think that you've learned everything, you haven't, right? There's, there's, you've never learned everything. there's always going to be something more to learn. lastly, if you weren't in cybersecurity, what would you be doing?
Leah McLean: Hiking in Greece. No. Yeah,
Megan Garza: Great answer.
Leah McLean: think I need a vacation soon. Um, no, honestly, I would go into psychology. I'm fascinated and I just love how the brain works. either that or into medicine where I would want to actually, um, specialize in research for trying to further figure out, Alzheimer's and dementia.
Leah McLean: Uh, it's close to me given, uh, family, but those are the things I would do.
Megan Garza: And that makes sense, giving your answer earlier about how you want to help people, both psychology and medicine is helping people, so definitely I can see why that would be a [00:08:00] passion. Well, thank you so much, Leah, for your time today. I really appreciated chatting with you and learning more about your take on cybersecurity And for our audience, if you have any questions you'd like to see asked on a future episode of Speed Data, please shoot me an email at PR@Varonis.com thanks so much, Leah.
Leah McLean: thank you.