Women in STEM: Courtney Jones, First Line Security Analyst

Courtney Jones is a First Line Security Analyst at Airbus Protect. Her role is to detect and investigate threats within our UK-based SOC. Here are some insights into her life at Airbus.

Can you briefly talk about your professional journey to date? 

It hasn’t been a long journey so far! This position is actually my first in the industry since graduating. 

I recently graduated from Cardiff Metropolitan University with a first-class Bachelor of Science degree in Software Engineering with honours. I then followed this with a master’s degree in Advanced Computer Science – from which I graduated with distinction. I was also awarded student of the year during my master’s.

What do you enjoy the most about your job? 

I really enjoy how investigative the job is. As an analyst, your job is to search for potential vulnerabilities and threats. When we find them, we spend a lot of time looking at where they came from, how they happened, why they happened, and how we can prevent them from happening again. Sometimes, getting the most information possible about a specific incident involves a lot of detective work. When you find a crucial piece of evidence it can be quite exciting, and really rewarding when you get to share it with your colleagues. 

What keeps you interested in cybersecurity?

First and foremost, the changing cybersecurity environment keeps me constantly interested and open to learning. With all the new technologies and advancements in security, there’s always something different to learn and explore. The threat landscape is also constantly changing, with attackers from all over the world developing new ways to target systems and networks on a daily basis. This means that no two days at work are the same, which as you can imagine, makes the role both exciting and interesting. 

I also think that, because our day-to-day lives heavily revolve around technology, everyone should have at least a passing interest in cybersecurity. At least enough to keep their devices, networks, and personal data safe from cyber criminals! 

What attributes make someone a great candidate for a role in cyber? 

I think that anyone who is interested in learning and adapting their knowledge or experience would be perfect for a role in cyber. The skills that we use in cyber can be easily transferrable from other jobs, so even candidates without a background in cyber or tech are likely to have desirable skills. Roles in cyber are all about problem solving, investigation and communication, so candidates with any of those attributes would thrive in a cyber environment. 

What advice would you give to somebody who wants to work in cyber?

Don’t ever be afraid that you don’t know enough. Since cyber is constantly changing, we are all learning on a daily basis. This means researching new threats, vulnerabilities and attack traits to make sure we’re always ahead of the curve. Understanding that there’s always something new to learn is incredibly important for anyone interested in a career in cyber. 

With that, you should never be afraid to ask questions. Everyone in cyber has their own individual experiences and understanding of situations. By asking a particular question, you might spark a discussion with other analysts [which raises new] scenarios or probabilities that may not have previously been considered. 

Collaborative work like this is really what makes cyber such an even playing field.  

Want to join our team and take the next step in your career? See our current openings here. 

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