7 ways I make it happen: Bytesize career chat with Katerina Tasiopoulou

Katerina Tasiopoulou has scaled impressive heights in her cybersecurity career, moving from high-status technical roles such as incident response and intelligence consultant for IBM X-Force IRIS to business development manager at Hack the Box, where she has worked since March 2020.

To transition from the technical to the commercial side of security was a significant leap, but all part of her strategy for success – one that has already served her well, winning her accolades such as the BCS Personal Excellence Award in 2018 and the FDM everywoman in Technology Rising Star Award in 2020. We talked to Katerina to find out more about how she prepares for – and cultivates – a successful career in tech.

What do you do in your role on a daily basis?

I’m the leader of Hack the Box’s business development team, so I’m responsible for the strategic thinking, planning and communication needed to help organisations understand what a security breach would mean to them, and how to avoid it by upskilling their teams in advance. I come from a background of defending against security incidents, so I’ve seen how catastrophic a security breach can be to both the organisation, and the community. Now I take all my industry experience and employ it in the training field. I’m Greek so I like to talk in metaphors, and the way I explain it is, you wouldn’t want a doctor to operate on you if she’s never done surgery before, and it’s exactly the same with my field – the greater the experience, the greater the expertise.

The role involves a lot of creativity — hackers come up with different methods daily, so our training also has to be innovative. Plus, my role involves communicating with c-suites and leadership teams on a daily basis. After all, whenever a security breach happens, it’s always the CEO’s name on the line, not the analyst’s!

What is the biggest misconception people have about your role or job function?

At events such as awards ceremonies, a magnitude of women will come up to me and say, ‘I like security but I can’t join because I’m not technical,’ or ‘I don’t want to be technical,’ or ‘I’m not good at being technical’. But this is a great misconception. Security is a whole world in itself, and there are so many non-technical roles within it. I work in the business side of things and I don’t perform anything technical, alongside my non-technical teams that work in areas of HR, product analytics and marketing.

I think this misconception is compounded by the fact that women have a lack of role models in security, which demotivates them. Whenever you go to events like university fayres, or panel discussions, it is always male tech representatives speaking to these girls.

What are the core skills you use on a daily basis that are essential to your success — and how do you cultivate and expand on those skills?

I separate my skills into two categories – ‘interpersonal’ and ‘technical’. The interpersonal skills I need in this role are communication, analytical, creative and organisational. But really all the roles out there need these skills to some extent, whether you’re a public speaker giving a Ted talk or in a lab developing a robot. Communication is always key. I constantly develop these skills in my daily role and through public speaking at events, plus I’m currently pursuing a leadership MBA through The Open University.

On the technical side, security and technology is changing daily so my main aim is to always be relevant and up-to-date. I am constantly researching the tools and techniques that attackers use and the potential vulnerabilities they can take advantage of. And I’m lucky enough to be able to train on the Hack the Box platform. I think everyone should categorise their skills in this structured way – by splitting them up, it’s easier to reflect back on yourself and evaluate how to grow on each side.

What’s the biggest challenge you have in your role presently, and what’s your approach to meeting that challenge?

All my previous roles and any awards I’ve won have been based on me being a technical leader and role model. Having moved to commercial, I had to work tremendously hard to adopt new interpersonal skills, and be a hybrid manager, balancing technical and business skills. It’s a hard balance but a great combination.

Thinking about your career going forward, how are you actively preparing to continue being successful?

No one is going to plan your career for you, and that’s the same for everyone. You need to have an understanding of where you want to be, what you like and what motivates you. I always wanted to be in a leadership position and make a big impact on society in the future, whether that be through running my own business or leading initiatives, and I’m already preparing for it. All of my roles have been part of a plan.

How I prepare, and how I’ve been taught by all my managers, is to visualise where you want to be in the future and map the skills you have against the skills you need. So if you want to be a CEO for instance, you map out the skills a CEO needs from an interpersonal and technical perspective, then you put that side-by-side with the skills you already have, and then you see the differences and where you need to grow.

What’s your number one ‘get that job’ tip that’s worked for you?

Focus on your personal eminence, or brand. Every community is small, especially the security one, so people know of you before knowing you. But your personal brand also represents more than just ‘you’, it represents your motivation and the work you’ve put into achieving your goals. Things like awards really add to your brand – they give you visibility, make you a role model and can inspire others. My eminence helped my credibility – at just 22 I could walk inside a bank on fire and help solve their problems, because I had that personal brand backing me up. It makes you stand out and succeed in the job as well as motivate others during the job. So my tip would be grow it as early as possible, ideally from university, as it follows you wherever you go.

What industry trend are you most excited about at the moment?

This is the biggest shift to remote working we’ve seen in history, due to COVID. In terms of security, it opens the door to so many risks. Communication has changed and people are accessing highly sensitive data from their home network. And in general, people don’t know how to secure their home networks.

For instance, everyone has ‘IOT’ [internet of things] devices, like smart fridges, etc. Do you know how many hackers can get into your laptop from your fridge? In fact, one of the biggest security breaches to take place was in a casino, where hackers managed to access their network via a smart aquarium. Hackers are a lot more active now and it’s pushed everyone to have to think about security, which for us is very exciting.

Following an amazing 2022 Tech Awards with some truly outstanding winners and finalists, nominations for the FDM everywoman in Technology Awards 2023 are still open! Start your nomination now.