Rewriting How Security ‘Speaks Cyber’
– Courtney Hardy
The article portrays the personal journey of the author, who transitions from a career in marketing and communications to becoming a technical communicator in the cybersecurity field.
After leaving her marketing career to prioritize her family, she takes on a purchasing job at a local factory.
In this new role, she discovers a passion for technical communication while writing work instructions, policies, reports, and designing user manuals, learning modules, and databases.
The author then joins the Business Information Security Office (BISO) team to work on employee security communications, awareness, and education.
The BISO team recognizes the importance of strong security practices and incorporates the knowledge of different business groups’ unique goals and workstreams.
This collaborative approach allows the Security Operations (SecOps) team to develop and deploy security measures more effectively.
The author utilizes technical communication skills to improve security presentations and workplace campaigns.
By incorporating graphic design and storytelling elements, she successfully translates complex cybersecurity concepts into more accessible terms for employees.
This leads to a better understanding of the employees’ role in security, resulting in a decline in noncompliance cases and increased user interaction and comments on the Security 360 Workplace page.
The success of the author’s work in technical communication within the BISO team leads to the growth of her team, which becomes BISO UX (User Experience).
Within this expanded team, new technical communication strategies are developed, including User Persona Development & Analysis, Security User Behavior & Trend Analysis, and Security & Usability Metric Analysis.
These strategies further enhance the user experience and effectiveness of security practices.
Furthermore, the author’s expertise in technical communication is recognized as she presents at a national security conference, where she discusses the importance of technical communicators in rewriting how security communicates in the cyber world.
She also becomes part of the Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS) Speaker Spotlight Program, which aims to empower and spotlight female professionals in cybersecurity.
Moving forward, the author aims to continue elevating the role of the technical communicator and innovation in cybersecurity communication within Parsons and the industry as a whole.
She highlights the importance of diversity and female representation in the cybersecurity workforce and expresses her enthusiasm for future opportunities to raise awareness of the work being done in the BISO UX group through various platforms.
Link: https://www.parsons.com/2023/10/rewriting-how-security-speaks-cyber/