Episode 16

Paul Cummings - U.S. Navy Veteran Turned Cybersecurity Warrior and Servant Leader; President and Founder of Whole Cyber Human Initiative

Published on: 3rd February, 2022

About Paul Cummings:

Visionary Paul Cummings is a retired 20-year US Navy Information Systems Technology Chief, currently working as an Information Systems Security Engineer and Cyber Security Research Engineer for Stephenson Technologies Corporation. He brings a comprehensive background in executive-level planning, managing IT and Cyber Security teams, and program management derived from both global and domestic maritime operations.

Mr. Cummings has led 15 Navy War Fighting Ships and 176 Information Security Managers and Security Network Engineers to support over 7,000 enterprise users, enforced a 95% patch management and hardening efficiency for five consecutive years with less than 24 hours of critical service downtime. Built and Established a 38-person Cyber Protection Team and managed a $6M training budget that led the team to be fully qualified a year ahead of schedule and successfully led a large-scale incident response operation which was awarded the Department of the Navy IT Team Excellence Award for 2017. He has helped realign budget for personnel by forecasting Life Cycle Ends and computer system upgrades. Paul’s career is supported by CompTIA CASP, and he is the recipient of multiple awards for outstanding performance and professionalism.

His dedication to the success of others has led him to establish Veterans Breaking into IT/Cybersecurity Mentorship Campaign, an organization where he hosts monthly engagements with transitioning service members, veterans, military spouses, and aspiring civilian professionals found on YouTube under Paul Cummings Veterans Breaking into IT Cyber. He actively volunteers with Vets2Industry, Npower, Evolutionary Skills Development Network Discord, and Vicious Vineyards Discord.

Career is supported by CompTIA CASP and receipt of personal achievements awards: Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Joint Service Achievement Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal (3 awards), Navy Achievement Medal (4 awards), and the Navy Good Conduct Medal (5 awards), Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, and Department of the Navy IT Excellence Award 2017.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-cummings/ 

WCHI: https://www.wholecyberhumaninitiative.org/ 

Episode Highlights:

00:00 - Background and How Paul Got Into Cybersecurity

  • Uncle was his recruiter
  • Was bored of the 9 to 5 jobs
  • Took ASVAB
  • Started as a computer repairman, moved to help desk than ISSM
  • Intro to cyber was in Iceland with an introduction to Red and Blue Teams

5:30 - Assignment in Iraq

16:00 - Complaints on Certifications

  • Certifications and the demands around having them
  • Difference between military and civilian requirements
  • What happened to the CISSP?

25:00 - Importance of STEM

  • Middle School and High School - Why not get a monitor, computer and raspberry Pi?
  • Colleges - Very few doing it, but failing globally - Defining Cyber in IT
  • College classes requiring classes that are not needed....follow the money

31:00 - The different options in Cybersecurity

  • Do personality tests and Cybersecurity tests

37:00 - Transitioning and Recommendations

  • Focus on skills that compliment where you know 
  • For those in transition, look at the the people in your industry

Final Thoughts

Teach your children Digital Citizenship EARLY!

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About the Podcast

The CISO Diaries
The path to cybersecurity leadership is not a direct route and it's those divergent routes that create the amazing stories and histories of leaders who are driving security to keep businesses and people safe.

We’re Leah McLean and Syya Yasotornrat and we intend to give CISOs and cybersecurity professionals a place to be their authentic selves. These are the unedited stories told of how they got into cybersecurity, the real struggles they’ve persevered through, personal anecdotes that make them tick, and leadership advice based on experiences.

We aren't the kind of cybersecurity podcasts that focuses on the technologies, or recent incidents. We are the podcast that focuses on the people behind the headlines and the incredible diversity of experiences and backgrounds. (And it's not lost on us that we're two awesome female hosts)!

Let's face it: we are a cybersecurity tribe and we need all hands on deck!

We hope you enjoy our CISO diary entries.

After all, we're only human, right?

Special thanks to our sponsor, Cyber Future Foundation, a non-profit global cybersecurity executive leadership community, where leaders, thinkers, and futurists discuss and develop actionable guidance and frameworks for a trusted and safer world.

About your hosts

Syya Yasotornrat

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Syya is a tenured tech sales professional with her time at SonicWALL and Hewlett Packard (HPE) with some hospitality at the Walt Disney Company and IT recruitment experience in the mix. She is currently a podcast strategist and consultant, helping others to bring out their voice and legacy through podcasting. She loves to learn and talk about anything, so feel free to reach out!

Leah McLean

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Leah is Vice President, Cybersecurity Specialist at Mastercard. She is focused on implementing strategy and programs to evolve cybersecurity risk management approaches and cybersecurity awareness and training. She actively contributes in community working groups to advance cybersecurity risk management and third-party risk. Leah is also a mentor to candidates breaking into cybersecurity careers, and collaborates with employers to rethink their workforce and hiring strategies.
Leah is a co-founder at Whole Cyber Human Initiative, a non-profit focused on redefining how we identify, train, equip, advance knowledge, and build workforce development within IT and Cybersecurity. She also volunteers for Cyber Future Foundation, a non-profit driving workforce development initiatives and private and public sector collaboration.
Previously Leah held senior level roles as a cybersecurity practitioner at Armor, a cloud security company protecting data for SMB and mid-market customers, Apstra (acquired by Juniper Networks), A10 Networks and Cisco Systems. Leah serves on the Board of Advisors for Cloud Defense, Inc., a breach visibility cloud security startup and is on the board for the Cloud Security Alliance North Texas Chapter.
Leah holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, with an emphasis in International Relations from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is an active outdoor junkie always chasing adventure.