Day In The Life: Practice Profiles
Explore what a day in the life of our Associates looks like and let it inspire you to become a part of Australia’s next generation of cyber security experts.
What does your CyberCX Academy pathway look like?
The CyberCX Academy Program offers you the opportunity to start your cyber career journey in one of our twelve specialist cyber practices. You may be someone who thrives on client-facing relationships, helping to identify the customer’s security needs and providing advice on cyber best practices. Or you may be technically minded, keen to learn about code, use tech tools, implement security solutions, test solutions, or monitor client systems.
Our subject matter experts will guide you through the process to ensure your area of specialisation is a match to your personal attributes, skillset, and career aspirations. You don’t need to be a cyber expert. We are on the lookout for people who have the right attitude, aptitude, and a willingness to learn.
“Through the Academy, we were given the tools to hit the ground running. Being in a consulting job role, it was the focus on ‘job readiness’ which really set me up for success. We were trained with the knowhow of those who have done it, lived it, and built it. I was able to take academic and theoretical learning and apply it to real-world scenarios and experiences.”
Ailie Houlihan – Consultant, Strategy and Consulting
Strategy and Consulting
Pathway: Consulting
As an Associate Consultant in Strategy and Consulting, I work in a team that provides strategic and advisory services to private and government clients. A typical day could include conducting cyber security reviews, drafting cyber security strategies, or developing materials that keep a project running. I help with client workshops that help to establish the current state of client security operations and draft recommendations to uplift and improve client’s security readiness.
“I come from a background in linguistics, with experience working in international relations and law in Japan. I became interested in transitioning my career into cyber, but I wasn’t looking to go back to full-time study after recently completing a Masters in another field. The CyberCX Academy program was a perfect opportunity for me to gain foundational knowledge about cyber security as well as get hands on experience working in the industry.”
Thea Dixon – Associate Consultant, Strategy and Consulting
Governance, Risk and Compliance
Pathway: Consulting
As an Associate Consultant in Governance, Risk and Compliance, I help clients to uplift their business performance and cyber resilience. I provide cyber security best practice advice on governance processes, risk management, and compliance obligations. I conduct research, conduct client workshops, assess security controls, document control gaps and draft reports.
“The vast majority of the skills and knowledge required for my role can be taught to anyone. I think the most important attributes to have coming into the program are perseverance and a willingness to try new things.”
Gil Yahalom – Consultant, Governance, Risk and Compliance
Managed Security Services
Pathway: Technical
As an Associate Consultant in Managed Security Services (MSS), I work to protect our customers’ digital assets. In MSS we are broken down into two parts – an operations function that monitors our customer environments 24/7 in a Security Operations Centre (SOC), and an engineering function that designs, builds, operates and maintains security infrastructure for customers. As a SOC analyst I monitor, triage, and respond to cyber security incidents for our customers.
“I’ve worked in a range of jobs and got experience from a wide range of fields, including military, security, public transport and freight and logistics. I had no technical experience prior to the Academy, and I still feel like I have a huge amount to learn. But so far, the journey with CyberCX and the Academy has been very positive and I’ve received mentoring and support from everyone I’ve asked.”
Brennan Harvey – Consultant, Managed Security Services
Security Testing and Assurance
Pathway: Technical
As an Associate in Security Testing and Assurance, I help identify, manage, and mitigate vulnerabilities by testing applications and infrastructure within customer environments. I research emerging technologies to understand the threat landscape and its actors. In a typical day I might conduct a penetration test of a customer’s digital assets using security scanning tools and techniques and open-source tools to locate vulnerabilities. I also work on creating detailed reports to provide our customer with the findings so they can better understand their exposures and potential vulnerabilities.
“After graduating university, I worked in the health industry as an orthoptist. I realised in the long-term I wanted something different but still wanted the aspect of helping people and using critical thinking. I stumbled upon the CyberCX Academy program on LinkedIn and saw videos of people who had a similar career path to cyber security, coming from a totally unrelated field. I thought it was too good to be true. I applied and was accepted, and before long I had started in the CyberCX Academy.”
Zoe Hoo – Associate Security Consultant, Security Testing and Assurance
Cyber Capability, Education and Training
Pathway: Consulting
As an Associate in Cyber Capability, Education and Training (CCET), I help our customers meet their cyber security learning and development needs, as well as rehearse and plan for cyber security events. I design and run workshops with our customers’ senior executives and boards to simulate real life cyber security scenarios to test and uplift their ability to respond. Our specific, tailored training programs helps to build the capacity of technical, operations and cyber security teams.
“The support I have received from the CCET team, and the camaraderie from my cohort has been unlike anything I’ve experienced in a previous workplace. I will always be grateful to the Academy team for giving me, and people like me, a chance. I am so glad that as part of the CCET team I can now reach out and offer a hand to new Associates coming through and pay it forward.”
Claire Batchelor – Associate Consultant, Cyber Capability, Education and Training
Cloud Security and Solutions
Pathway: Technical
As an Associate in Cloud Security and Solutions, I work to provide clients with secure cloud and data solutions that provide automation, scalability, and resilience. I also provide business data insights to help clients make informed decisions and improve profitability. A typical day might include assessing a cloud solution against a security framework, helping to develop and execute a strategy to migrate client data to ‘the cloud’ or advising clients on which cloud solution best fits their needs. I also support cloud transition projects and manage existing cloud arrangements.
“At CyberCX, the opportunities are boundless, with a community that’s eager to back your learning journey and facilitate your chosen path. You’re in the company of exceptional people who are all dedicated to fostering both individual and organisational growth.”
Nicholas Tillack – Cloud Security Associate, Cloud Security and Solutions
Identity and Access Management
Pathway: Technical
As an Associate Consultant in Identity and Access Management (IDAM), I help customers maintain appropriate access to their most critical information and resources through the management of digital identities. I also help customers with transformation projects, supporting the team to deploy and install customised IDAM solutions. A typical day might include performing health checks on a client’s environment or reviewing connections to ensure everything is running smoothly. I might also perform testing to check IDAM systems are integrated correctly and the client is happy with their operation.
“My university degree is in Civil Engineering, a far reach from the realm of cyber security. After university I landed a job in concrete manufacturing and supply, working on major infrastructure projects. However, after working within the construction and manufacturing industry for around five years, whilst enjoying the purpose, the work itself did not challenge me. I needed a change. A career in cyber security would allow me to fulfil my purpose of helping the citizens of Australia, while remaining an interesting challenge due to its ever evolving nature.”
Taylor Topperwien – Associate Consultant, Identity and Access Management
Digital Forensics and Incident Response
Pathway: Technical
As an Associate in Digital Forensics and Incident Response, I work in a team of analysts to investigate and respond to cyber incidents. I provide digital forensics services to help clients understand what has happened in a cyber breach, assess the damage, and recover. I also provide guidance, planning and incident response playbooks to help clients prepare and respond to cyber incidents. I search for malicious activity in client networks, or the signatures of certain actors, and piece together events by creating a chain of evidence. I’m curious about the cyber security threat landscape and how bad actors seek to attack governments and businesses.
“My favourite thing about working at CyberCX is the team. They’re always supportive and I’ve never felt afraid to ask questions when I’m unsure. I’ve been guided and supported during my journey here at CyberCX and am continuously learning new things from my colleagues.”
Suyash Tripathi – Associate Investigator, Digital Forensics and Incident Response
Cyber Intelligence
Pathway: Technical
As an Associate in Cyber Intelligence, I work with a team of intelligence analysts to provide real-time intelligence support to some of the region’s most high-profile cyber incidents. Using dark web monitoring and other security tools, Cyber Intelligence provides threat information to inform the decisions of internal and customer security teams that will help secure communities and organisations. A typical day might include using threat intelligence technologies to upload and disseminate technical information, preparing research and analysis to support intelligence products or assisting in the development of strategic threat assessments for customers.
“To succeed in my role, the most important quality someone can have is a passion for problem solving. When developing tools, we invariably encounter obstacles that require both persistence and creativity to solve. The ability to keep approaching the same problem from different angles is often the key to success.”
Alexander Trewartha – Technical Cyber Intelligence Analyst, Cyber Intelligence
Network Infrastructure and Solutions
Pathway: Technical
As an Associate in Network and Infrastructure Solutions (NIS), I help customers protect their digital assets and infrastructure through the design and implementation of technology capabilities. In a typical day I might assist a customer to configure a firewall or work with the team to review networking solution options for a client. NIS Associates sometimes specialise in certain firewall solutions such as Palo Alto, Checkpoint and FortiGate.
Phriendly Phishing (A CyberCX Company)
Pathway: Consulting
As an Associate in Phriendly Phishing, I help customers deliver simple, effective, and measurable phishing simulations. This helps to train and build a workforce’s resilience against the most common, costly and difficult to detect security threats – the phishing email. In a typical day I might support the sales teams with escalations and support issues across various tools, systems, and processes. I could be working with third parties and internal teams to find resolutions or solutions for our customers. I work across multiple software platforms such as Jira, Confluence and HubSpot.
