Women In Security Magazine Issue 12

Page 38

Catherine Dawson Associate Solutions Engineer at Cloudflare

L

ike so many Australians Catherine Dawson

FROM SALES TO CYBERSECURITY

lost her job as a result of the COVID

Starting in what was primarily a sales role, Dawson

pandemic. However, her redundancy turned

was soon drawn to the technology behind what she

out to be a blessing in disguise, enabling

was selling. “It wasn’t until I was exposed to the

her to pursue an interest in cybersecurity

presales engineering profession first-hand that I found

that had lain dormant since her undergraduate

myself wanting to learn more about the underlying

days studying for a degree in criminology and

technology: computer networking, web application

criminal justice.

security, and cybersecurity frameworks,” she says.

“There was a unit of work that covered fraud and

After that her transformation into a cybersecurity

cybercrime which exposed me to the patterns of

specialist was rapid. To better develop her technical

offending and cybercrime victimology,” she says.

knowledge Dawson gained a postgraduate

“Whilst the course focused on the broader societal

qualification in networking and cybersecurity and

impact of cybercrime rather than the underlying

at the same time was successful in applying for

technology, it marked the start of my introduction to

Cloudflare’s Associate Solutions Engineering program:

the industry.”

a year-long intensive training program that developed her understanding of Cloudflare’s product portfolio.

So, jobless, Dawson dived straight into cybersecurity,

38

securing a business development role at

“When I first started my position in business

cybersecurity and Internet infrastructure company,

development, I did not think it would be possible

Cloudflare. “The role was the perfect entry point,

to transition to a solutions engineer role given my

because it gave me an opportunity to learn about

non-technical background,” she says. “The technical

industry trends, develop fundamental skills in

knowledge required to architect security solutions

cybersecurity technology and work strategically with

for customers seemed like an impossible aspiration.

customers,” she says.

It wasn’t until a position in the Associate Program

W O M E N I N S E C U R I T Y M A G A Z I N E

J A N U A RY • F E B R U A RY 2023


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Articles inside

Saman Fatima

4min
pages 154-155

Roshni Bedi

6min
pages 148-150

Tshering Wangmo

6min
pages 152-153

Savannah Dockerty

3min
pages 146-147

Sheida Sabeti

2min
page 151

BISO – no that is not a typo

9min
pages 126-130

Different perspectives

10min
pages 136-140

Identity proofing, identity verification and fraud prevention

5min
pages 131-133

Incident response competition

6min
pages 141-145

managing risk and resilience

8min
pages 116-119

a rewarding profession

3min
pages 134-135

Taking a proactive approach to cybersecurity

3min
pages 114-115

or nothing

3min
pages 108-109

Engagement with an impersonator

8min
pages 100-103

changing career through recruitment

6min
pages 76-78

Balancing risk and productivity in a hybrid world

4min
pages 106-107

experience and professional fulfillment

3min
pages 104-105

Don’t get poor fast

3min
pages 90-91

material risk grows

3min
pages 92-93

after 12 years in finance

2min
pages 74-75

Why I became a cybersecurity expert

2min
pages 72-73

operator in the Australian Army Reserves

3min
pages 64-65

early careers

10min
pages 66-71

Cyber is not your get-rich-quick option

3min
pages 62-63

Reshmi Hariharan

4min
pages 50-51

Farah Chamseddine

4min
pages 48-49

Martina Saldi

4min
pages 46-47

Holly Wright

5min
pages 44-45

Dr Fauzia Idrees Abro

1min
page 43

Johanna Williamson

6min
pages 40-42

Get-rich-quick crypto scams

2min
pages 14-15

Lisa Ventura

3min
pages 30-31

Catherine Dawson

3min
pages 38-39

Rachael Greaves

6min
pages 35-37

Belinda Stewart

3min
pages 20-21

Kao Hansell

3min
pages 16-17

Jenna Salvesen

6min
pages 32-34

Melanie Truscott

4min
pages 18-19
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