As a company, building a strong security team can be a challenge. On the flip side, if you’re looking to enter the field of cybersecurity, it can be challenging to know where to start. I had a chance to discuss both these issues with someone who’s been there, Michael Coates, Co-founder & CEO at Altitude Networks.
Coates got his start in IT security through red team exercises . He would use social engineering, physical pen testing, and a variety of hacks to break into the network and applications of corporate clients and financial institutions. It “was really exciting to learn how it was actually being done week over week,” Coates said, “and then sitting down and with the CIO, the CTO and explaining these are the actual things we found.” From there, Coates spent time at the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) and served on the board. He eventually moved to Mozilla and served as Director of Security Assurance, and then Twitter were he was CISO.
Bill: How did you get started in the field of IT security?
