Companies with structured mentoring programs are estimated to have a retention rate of 72% for mentees, compared to 49% for employees without mentorship. Likewise, one report has shown that 93% of men and 83% of women recommend their organization as a great place to work when allyship is actively practiced. I can’t emphasize enough the importance that the relationship between mentor and mentee is bidirectional. The fresh ideas, innovation and different ways of thinking from mentees and mentors can be extremely valuable and help everyone grow. Also, having studied leadership at college, I learnt very early on that leadership doesn’t just mean everyone around the circle with the leader in the middle. To lead well, you have to put the appropriate others in the center of the circle in certain circumstances and situations. When everyone does their part to both lead and follow; and include people from different backgrounds, experiences and at different stages of their careers, real change happens.
As part of International Women’s Day on the 8th of March, I had the opportunity to speak with Taylor Pyle, a Cybersecurity Engineer at Viasat on her experience with both cyber and mentorship. She currently serves as a Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst and talks about her career progression and the male allies and mentors who have helped her, as well as how she is helping others.
Taylor, tell us a bit more about your role and your responsibilities
“I have been working at Viasat for six years now and I’ve held a variety of different roles. My journey started as an intern, then progressed to a software engineer role working on Android applications, and finally to my current role where I started on the Dev team in the SOC. As a SOC developer, I was able to gain knowledge and grow my skill set in automation and infrastructure as I helped to maintain the monitoring infrastructure for our analysts. After about one and a half years, I became the lead for that team, which was a fantastic opportunity, especially as I had only been out of college for a couple of years.
“I am very interested in cyber threat intelligence and was keen to partner with the CTI team to gain more exposure to this type of work. The threat intelligence team manager supported my involvement which led me into the role I am in today.
“I have a lot of autonomy, which I enjoy. The team is open to new ideas and willing to bounce ideas off each other and there is a strong collaborative nature. I help manage and maintain our TIP (ThreatQ) and I create automation and integrations with other security tools. One of the changes I have been able to influence is how we can share information better about what we have been tipped on or found, by using ThreatQ as our single pane of glass, as well as encouraging collaboration with other security teams.
“Another area I’ve been able to influence and help with is our threat modelling process. This involves taking a technology or a particular network, figuring out what the threats and vulnerabilities are, and determining what we can do about it such as implementing different detections and mitigations. As a result, I’ve been able to create some changes in our environment and improve our security posture. This includes leading multiple threat models throughout the company and redefining our processes. For example, it used to take months to complete a threat model, I’ve shortened that down and focused more on what is important to make these models more helpful to the stakeholders.”
What are you most proud of in your career?
“My proudest achievement is how far I have been able to get in my career. I was the only person in the CTI team and had to learn very quickly. I was also thrown into the deep end with certain leadership positions but somehow, I survived.
“One of the challenges I experienced was when I switched to the CTI team. A few weeks after I transferred, the only other woman, who had been a big influence on me, took on a position in a different company. I was excited to work with and learn from her, and I was sad when she left, but happy for her because it was a great opportunity. At that point, I was the only member of the CTI team, and this was a whole new field for me. I had to Google threat intelligence tips and tricks and I worked through her old SANS workbooks in my free time. I also researched fundamentals and tried to pick up where she had left off. However, six months later a new SOC manager joined, and he was heavily experienced in threat intelligence and he became a fantastic mentor. I believe he provided real ally-ship to me and the rest of the team.”
What challenges do women in technology face, and how can we address them?
“Women encounter significant challenges in male-dominated fields. I am the only woman on the team, which can be a bit daunting at times, but my male colleagues are very supportive. Being the only woman in meetings, I had to learn to stand up for myself and share ideas and not just sit in the corner, even when the conversation felt male-dominated or I was unintentionally overlooked. It can be easy to be in the minority and feel like you don’t have a say, but you do.
“I think another aspect is sometimes we just don’t share the same hobbies. It is harder to make small talk or contribute to conversations at social events because I don’t have anything to contribute. I think it is okay for others to still have these conversations and talk about their interests because this helps to grow relationships. What I do is I listen and try to still engage in the conversation. I try to find small ways to contribute whether it be “oh my friend plays that game or has been watching that show” or “didn’t something happen with this team?” that I had read in a headline. From the other perspective, what I have seen working is just asking what you did this weekend or ‘have you checked out this place?’ Others will take an active approach to understanding what your interests are and find common ground that then helps with future conversations.”
What advice would you give someone looking to break into technology?
“Find something they are passionate about by testing different avenues. There are so many different areas within cybersecurity and technology that someone can go into. Also, network and learn from other people’s experiences. They may be able to give you a unique perspective on how you could break into a certain field and learn.”
If you had to pick one mentor that had the biggest influence on you, who would it be?
“My current boss, Damon Rouse, has been an amazing mentor to me. He has helped me to network with others and is supportive in helping me grow my career. He has a great understanding of what good looks like and has a vast background in threat intelligence and IR and I learn a lot from him.”
What can be done to encourage more women into the industry?
“A couple of things: getting younger kids more involved in understanding that this is a job field to consider for their future. When I was younger, I had no idea this career existed.
“I also volunteer to help children learn programming once a week, sadly there is only one girl in the class so we need to put more attention into driving exposure to close the gap.”
Why is it important to have women in leadership positions in the tech industry?
“Having more women in leadership positions in the tech industry helps to bring different perspectives and ideas to the table. It gives other women role models to look up to. My first mentor and boss, Lauren Medica, was and is someone I still look up to and she inspires me and other women in the industry.”
What qualities do you feel make a good leader?
“Empathy and understanding are good leadership qualities that help you to be able to meet people where they are. At the end of the day, everyone is human, we all make mistakes, we all have personal lives and a leader is someone who supports the person in their career and outside their career, so that they can be their best self.”
Now the fun question. Give us a fact about you that most other people wouldn’t know.
“I love food and trying new places to eat, but I love CAVA, a Mediterranean quick eats place. I go there at least every other week, sometimes once a week.”
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