Simone is Chief Cyberstrategy Officer at CyberVista where she leads product development and delivery of cybersecurity training and education curriculums as well as workforce initiatives for executives, cyber practitioners, and continuing education. Previously, Simone was a Senior Associate at Booz Allen Hamilton in the firm’s commercial sector cybersecurity practice focusing on the creation of cyber fusion centers and the integration of cyber security operations. Prior to that, she led the firm’s all source cyber threat intelligence business in the national security and Defense sectors, including intelligence support to both defensive and offensive operations. Simone received her J.D. with honors from Catholic University Columbus School of Law and graduated from Georgetown University with a B.A. in Government and a M.A. in International Law and Policy.
How Do You Measure Expertise? A New Model for Cybersecurity Education.
The industry relies upon a strong and knowledgeable talent base to protect both commercial and national interests, but without a more universal and standardized education model we still have an overall cybersecurity workforce shortage.
This session, designed both for leaders and learners, will explore the current training landscape, describe a model for the new/emerging cybersecurity profession and introduce a career model based on skills/knowledge that are mapped to the field. Participants will leave this session understanding all the tools available for cybersecurity managers to effectively grow the profession from the bottom up, top down, and through the middle via upskilling, reskilling, continuing education and mentoring. They will understand the foundations upon which a framework can be built to address the needs of the individual and the profession as a whole. Finally, participants will recognize the optimal way to balance qualitative measures in the cybersecurity profession (i.e. degree, certifications, etc) and qualitative ones (i.e. continuing education, practice, experience).
Come see Simone at RVAsec! Register Now.



Will Gragido is a seasoned security professional with over 20 years’ experience in networking and information security. Will’s extensive background is the result of his service as a United States Marine, a consultant with the world renowned International Network Services, Internet Security Systems (now IBM ISS), McAfee, Damballa, Cassandra Security, RSA NetWitness, Carbon Black, Digital Shadows and now Digital Guardian where he leads the organization’s Advanced Threat Protection Product Line as its Director. Lead author and co-author of three Syngress Press titles
Ksenia Peguero is a Sr. Research Lead within Synopsys Software Integrity Group. She has eight years of experience in application security and five years in software development. Ksenia is a subject matter expert in static analysis and JavaScript frameworks and technologies. Before diving into research, she worked in a variety of software security practices including penetration testing, threat modeling, code review, static analysis tool design, customization, and deployment. Over the years, she performed numerous engagements for clients in financial services, entertainment, telecommunications, energy, and enterprise security industries. Throughout her consulting career, Ksenia has established and evolved secure coding guidance for many different firms, and has delivered numerous software security training sessions. Ksenia speaks regularly at events around the world, such as BSides Security in London, Nullcon in India, RSA in Singapore, and AppSec Europe in Italy. She has also served on review boards of AppSec USA and AppSec EU conferences.


