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From security product marketing to CEO: Jennifer Steffens
This article is part of the Information Security issue of September 2017, Vol. 19, No. 7
Marcus Ranum crossed paths with Jennifer Steffens at the start of her information security career. She worked for Network Flight Recorder, a company he founded in 1997 to commercialize an intrusion detection system. Since then, Steffens has moved from product companies to services. Today she is the CEO of IOActive Inc., a global consultancy that offers penetration testing and security assessment of both hardware and software. Ranum caught up with Steffens to find out more about her extraordinary journey from security product marketing to head of a global security provider. How did you get into technology? Jennifer Steffens: I didn't grow up super heavily into technology. I was more of an outdoorsy person, but I had computers and played some games. I studied psychology in school and got my career start in sports marketing, which was a ton of fun. I worked on professional soccer and for the New York Yankees and just loved it. But I was really curious about [what] was out there, so I took a job for a security startup in Reston, Va....
Features in this issue
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HTTPS interception gets a bad rap; now what?
Should products intercept Transport Layer Security connections to gain visibility into network traffic? A new study by researchers and U.S.-CERT warn against it.
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Why WannaCry and other computer worms may inherit the earth
A vast majority of APT attacks and malware delivery happens via spear phishing. But worms have always had a place in the toolkit when the delivery method fit the mission.
Columns in this issue
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A damaging spring of internet worms and poor performance
Security is a hot topic for media outlets that report on stock markets as companies founder on corporate earnings. The financial fallout of global malware is a call to action.
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From security product marketing to CEO: Jennifer Steffens
The CEO of a global pen tester used to work for the New York Yankees. Find out how Jennifer Steffens went from sports marketing to head of a security service provider.