Jun 2021 – Aug 2022 · 1 yr 2 mos · South Africa · Hybrid

Apr 2021 – Present · 4 yrs 11 mos · Remote · Remote

• As the Founder of Cyber Queen, I am dedicated to empowering women in cybersecurity by providing the necessary tools, strategies, and support. I have worked tirelessly to address the lack of female representation in the industry and simplify online safety for all.

Feb 2019 – Jun 2021 · 2 yrs 4 mos · Johannesburg Area, South Africa · Hybrid

• Head of Cyber Security for Alexander Forbes Group, Accountable for; Group Cyber Security Operations, Cyber Incident Response and Cyber Threat intelligence and Analysis at Alexander Forbes.
• Accountable for Vendor Management with various partners
• Daily management of security operations (incidents, policy breaches, training etc), escalation to group business continuity and CISO for relevant cyber incidents
• Cyber awareness training across the group
• Responsible for upkeep of cyber security strategy, policies and standards
• Accountable to categorise new IT security threats and vulnerabilities, security operations management
• Functional ownership of all security systems and services – AV, VM, SIEM, DLP, Firewalls, SOC monitoring
• Management of the Purple Team (Penetration testers and Cyber security analysts)
• Security Operations:
• Accountable to ensure all security systems are fully operational and optimally configured. Management of all security operational processes – vulnerability management, anti-virus management, network security management, Data Leakage Prevention, intrusion detection etc, management of security service provider performance management, operational reporting (including performance management reporting).
• Incident Management (Detect and Respond)
• Accountable for 24 hour Cyber Threat Hunting, external and internal to the organisation, Daily monitoring, analysis and reporting of incidents and cyber related events, Investigation and analysis of potential incidents and the escalation to group technology CIO, CISO and Group business continuity management, managing incident response activities from an information security perspective – containment, eradication and remediation, post incident investigations, reporting and recommendations.
• Responsible to oversee offensive security practises for the group, vulnerability management and holistic security assurance. Provide security assurance for cloud migration and applications.

May 2018 – Apr 2019 · 11 mos

• Threat Intelligence Specialist dedicated to mitigating risks and improving the Information Technology Security capability maturity with regard to resilience against cyber-attacks. Using evidence-based data, context, indicators and mechanisms to formulate and share actionable intelligence about existing and/or emerging cyber threats to Standard Bank and other financial institutions.
• Establishment of a cyber threat intelligence strategy and proactive identification of cyber-threats.
• Implementation of a defined cyber threat intelligence strategy through various programs of work.
• Development of threat models for all critical technologies (application and supporting infrastructure) in order to identify key risks that may result in confidential data loss or financial loss.
• Support the Head of Cyber Security with input into the IT / Cyber Security investment plans.
• Develop business cases to secure the budget for improvements in the cyber-security maturity.
• Guidance on approved Cyber Threat Intelligence projects and ensure delivery on time and within budget. Create awareness of cyber-security threats within the IT community.
• Stay abreast of technology trends and the implications on Cyber-Threats e.g. mobile, cloud and social.
• Provide insight and intelligence into effective cyber-security threat management.
• Development of the required functional and technical security standards as identified through proactive threat modelling or from lessons learnt from cyber security incidents. Conduct research to get a clear view of new and emerging threats; and produce analytic reports in a fast-paced, product-driven environment.
• Analyse threat information reports to contextualize any possible impact to the bank and advise on countermeasures
• Correlate information feeds pertaining to cyber threats from open source, commercial subscriptions and other security related teams and events

Oct 2017 – Apr 2018 · 6 mos

Dec 2015 – Oct 2017 · 1 yr 10 mos

Aug 2011 – Nov 2015 · 4 yrs 3 mos

• In my current role, I am an escalation security engineer that deal with most critical and lengthy issues that would take time to resolve and the basic troubleshooting steps has already been completed by my fellow team engineers. Below are a list of most but not all of the tasks performed in my current role.
• Firewall Installation, Configuration and Administration – this includes Cisco, Fortigate, Checkpoint, TMG, Palo Alto etc.
• VPN configuration (SSL, IPSEC) and Troubleshooting with the various different technologies.
• Bluecoat Proxy-SG Configuration and Support
• Cisco ACS Administration and Support
• Maintaining agreed SLA with clients, and resolving all incoming issues and requests.
• Research, test, recommend and implement new security technologies in the different client environments.
• Traveling to clients for implementations, meetings or support when necessary.
• Creating documentation, RCA’s, SOP’s and AS-builds when a new solution has been implemented.
• Creating Diagrams (LLD’s) for each client environment.
• Backups and restorations on client’s environments.
• Previous Position at Dimension Data ITO:
• ITO - Alexander Forbes Based Security Engineer
• Responsibilities:
• Antivirus management – EPO 4.6 and 5.1 as well as VSE 8.8, MSME, MSMS, Encryption, HIPS and DLP.
• Firewall and web proxy management, URL filtering, reporting, investigating and restricting access. Products – Websense and zScaler cloud proxy as well as ISA and Checkpoint.
• Installing, configuring and maintaining checkpoint clusters.
• Documentation – Creating SOP documents as well as Visio diagrams when required.
• Vulnerability management – Running Nessus scans and also responsible for getting the vulnerabilities remediated by all involved parties.
• Managing PKI infrastructure.
• Mobile device management – Xenmobile, Checkpoint Capsule
• Managing Multifactor authentication within the environment, Entrust Identity Guard.

Jan 2009 – Jul 2011 · 2 yrs 6 mos

• Firewalls:
• Installation, configuration and maintenance of Checkpoint R65 / R70 firewalls.
• Installation, configuration and maintenance of Checkpoint Connectra VPN
• Installation, configuration and maintenance of Checkpoint Smart Console products. Working intensively with Smart Dashboard, Tracker, Update and Smartview monitor.
• Checkpoint administration using SSH.
• Maintaining the Checkpoint blade structure, IPS, VPN etc.
• Installation and maintenance on the checkpoint Safe@office devices and Checkpoint appliances.
• Drawing and designing network and security diagrams
• Dealing extensively with clients, attending meetings and discussions with clients.
• Solving network and firewall issues
• Email Content Management:
• Installation and Configuration of Mail Marshal
• Configuring rules and text sensors
• Releasing emails through the console
• Generating reports.
• Web Content Management:
• Installation and Configuration of Web Marshal
• Writing Rules
• Creating Access groups
• Generating reports
• Antivirus:
• Working with Mcafee antivirus, EPO 4.0 and 4.5
• Installation, deployment and management of Virus Scan 8.5 and 8.7
• Documentation:
• Document all processes takes to resolve issues.
• Helpdesk and Client integration:
• Deal with clients on a daily basis to try and resolve various issues that they have.