My name is Ricky Smith and it’s a pleasure to be a guest blogger and hopefully inspire, give back, and keep you updated on overall cyber news or anything hot that impacts us as security professionals here at Cover6. I graduated from George Mason University with a Bachelors in Information Technology with a focus in Security.

What lead to my initial interest in security was taking my first Network Security class in high school and when I reached college I knew within the 2^nd semester I wanted to to be in the Security Profession. I’m a Senior Security Engineer with 10 years of experience supporting a government customers Vulnerability Management Program as lead Engineer on vulnerability scanning, asset visibility and web application scanning Enterprise tools. Previously I supported Implementation and integration of vulnerability assessment tools across various government customers on CONUS and OCONUS sites as a Subject Matter Expert which involved assisting unique architecture challenges, implementing best practices, and customer training as needed.

I have my CISSP, CASP, C|EH, and Security+ Certifications and currently studying for my CISM with the next certifications being OSCP, AWS, PMP, and other avenues to get my footprint out there in the cyber community. My long-term goal is to be a Chief Information Security Officer. The reason for me is because it’s a much harder task than being a pen tester but will incorporate that into my overall brand when I become CISO. I want to show the rollercoaster struggles I go through vs just showing the end result. I think we have too much instant gratification of what we see on Facebook/Instagram and want to show the work and sacrifice I did to achieve that goal.

I believe anyone can achieve their goals if you’re willing to make the required sacrifices, some will have to sacrifice more than your peers or have the grit to get the same result and some of you will just have the talent to learn or get things effortlessly When I’m not working on my career I’m working on my hobby being a Scratch DJ and in 1-2 years do my first competition. With that said I hope to get to know some members of the community. Signing out Ricky Smith