December 2019 - Alyssa Miller

New Year Brings Change, a New Role with a New Company

In a previous post I announced that I would be leaving my current role shortly after the new year. On New Year’s Eve it seems appropriate to share with you the other half of that story. It’s time for me to announce where I’m going and what I’ll be doing.

So let me get right to the point. I’m excited to announce that I’ll be joining Snyk Ltd. as an Application Security Advocate. Snyk develops software and performs research to help organizations find, fix, and monitor vulnerabilities in open source dependencies of their code. In my new role, I’ll be socializing strategies for how organizations can ensure security of open source dependencies. My focus will be on interaction with development and business leaders. I’ll be working to bring greater awareness of how open source challenges can be addressed.

A focus on new responsibilities

I’m truly excited to have the opportunity to re-focus on Application Security. Those of you who know my background understand that AppSec has always been my core strength. In this new role, I’ll be primarily responsible for key activities for which I have tremendous passion. Those will include creating content and various public appearances to drive the open source security and DevSecOps message.

Passion and vision

I’m really looking forward to joining Snyk. I believe in their vision of solving the challenges around open source dependencies. Their focus on research and integration as part of a DevSecOps approach really resonates with me. Their strong and steady growth model also means that I’ll have the chance to grow my career equally as dynamically. So in the end I feel like this is the right role at the right time for me.

I appreciate all the support I’ve gotten over the last year from my security community. 2019 was a phenomenal year for me personally. I look forward to continuing my growth in 2020. Happy new year to you all and I look forward to seeing where we can take our security community in the new decade.

Announcing a new development as 2020 approaches

Looking back at 2019, it has been a tremendous year for me from a personal and career development perspective. I’ve been very fortunate to elevate my involvement in the security community. I’ve documented much of it in this video I made in response to a challenge from Jane Frankland. Looking ahead to 2020, I have many new opportunities on the horizon that are very exciting. However, first I need to say goodbye to 2019.

The Announcement

As 2019 comes to a close, so does my time working for CDW. I made the decision to leave my role in their security practice and begin a new exciting chapter in my career. I’ll save the announcement about that until shortly after the new year. For now, I want to reflect back on how amazing this, somewhat brief, chapter of my life has been.

Over the last 18 months, I worked with some amazingly talented people in their security practice. I remember asking, when I was first approached by their recruiter, “CDW does security consulting?”. Over my time in the practice, I had the opportunity to really drive market awareness of the practice in the security community as a whole. We always joke about this 20 year-old practice being the company’s best kept secret, and it’s true. However, it was my personal mission from the start to change that.

Alyssa giving a keynote speech — My role afforded me the opportunity to interact with business and security leaders in all new ways

My role afforded me the opportunity to interact with business and security leaders in all new ways. Not only did I speak at security conferences, I also was able to get in front of executive and industry specific audiences. Each opportunity allowed me to socialize new perspectives on how to solve the challenges around cyber security. Additionally, I interacted with so many wonderful people and forged new connections that I cherish greatly. I owe so much of my personal brand growth to my employer.

A Difficult Decision

It was a tough decision to leave my current role. I managed two teams of amazingly skilled individuals whom I care about very deeply. However, I believe they are in good hands. I have no doubt the security practice will continue to excel and bring value to their customers. Words cannot describe the honor of working with these wonderful people and helping coach them in their own career development. I’m looking forward to seeing all the great things each one of them will accomplish.

I have an extreme amount of respect for the organization I leave behind and all the good they have done and continue to do for the IT industry. It’s hard to leave a company when you know there is more you could accomplish there. However, I’ve got an exciting opportunity on the horizon that I simply could not say no to.

When appropriate, I will announce what my new opportunity is all about. For now, I wish to simply pause and reflect on all the great things I’ve been fortunate to accomplish as part of my current role. I’m going to enjoy the holidays and as the new year begins dive into something new and thrilling.

Hacker, Researcher, and Security Advocate

Month: December 2019

An Exciting Start to 2020