What 15 Years in Security Teaches About Building a Sustainable Cyber Career

Cisco Talos recently published an interview with security researcher Ryan Fetterman, who has worked in security for about 15 years. He began in consulting in the Washington DC area, working with federal agencies and government clients, before moving into research. That early period gave him training, certifications and his first hands-on exposure to security operations.

A turning point came when he started querying large volumes of log data and building visualisations and analytics in Splunk. He says it was the first time the work felt like a natural fit. That led him to join the Splunk research team, SURGe, and after Cisco acquired Splunk, he moved into Talos. His advice for newcomers is that the urge to pick a specialty early is understandable, but in his experience a specialty cannot be rushed.

The interview introduction also touches on the realities of detection engineering, including the creative and often frustrating ways attackers change their tactics to stay ahead of traditional defences. It also covers project-based learning and the importance of stepping away from the keyboard to avoid burnout. Note that this summary is based only on the opening of the conversation, so those themes are not covered in detail here.