Krishna, Cybersecurity, and Your Career

As a child, I was only interested in one view of life, morality, etc. At the US Air Force Academy, I decided to stretch myself. I dropped my goal of an Aeronautical Engineering degree because, after a couple of engineering courses, I realized I wanted more. I switched to a degree in Humanities, and my foci earned me minors in Russian Language and Philosophy.

In a course on comparative religions, I finally started understanding some aspects of culture and society in other parts of the world that were not as familiar as my upbringing. It was helpful for bolstering my personal view on ethics, which was very classical and western.

Since then, life happened and I took a lot of those insights with me. Recently, I've jumped back into philosophy, mythology, and world religions. There have been some great books and audiobooks recently, like Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman (He even reads the audiobook, it's pretty epic) and Mythos and Heroes by Stephen Fry (Yes, he narrates both). None of the stories are new to me, but the way they were written/read by these amazing entertainers was just tremendous. I started looking for similar books for the Bhagavad Gita, Budha, or Zen. So far, still looking. But, I found an audiobook version of a lecture course on Hinduism.

While listening to the lesson on the Gita, I couldn't help applying my current viewpoint on the story and realized that Krishna is basically walking Arjuna through a personal risk assessment.

I know there are over a billion people out there who know the Gita very well, for the rest of you, I'll cover some of the basics.

The story goes, prince Arjuna rolls up to a battle in his chariot, he then rides the chariot out between the armies and spies family members on the opposing side. He laments that he is torn between fighting family and doing what he feels is his duty. His charioteer is none other than Krishna. Krishna goes on to discuss dharma, karma, samsara, and all of the tenants and yoga present in Indian society.

In the end, Arjuna is left to weigh the costs and benefits of each of his choices and must act based on his end goal. Does he wish to do right by his role, by his family, by his soul, etc.

Why do I have this as a basis of an article for cybersecurity careers?

Well, I couldn't help hearing the recap and thinking about our role as cybersecurity practitioners.

There is no ultimate correct path in cybersecurity. "It depends" is a legitimate answer 99.999% of the time.

The business will make decisions based on its overall strategy and its risk management appetite. And as the cybersecurity personnel within a business or consulting to a business, we must then provide the best advice, recommendations, and actions around those end goals.

This is difficult for many in our industry who wish that simple hygiene and least privilege were implemented, at least. Sometimes the organization is going to make choices. Those choices will reverberate and shape the future of the organization.

That means it is imperative that we provide good options, understanding budget, goals, and appetites for those who make decisions in the organization. Know your audience, sell to their needs, and understand that it will be easier for you to become a business person than it will be to make them into cybersecurity practitioners.

You got this.

Be strong and courageous.