Alyssa Miller, a lifelong hacker, speaks about her journey from embracing her hacker roots to becoming a successful security executive. Alyssa started as a hacker in her pre-teens and found her hacker family in IRC channels during her adolescent years. Though IT wasn’t her initial career plan, she eventually worked as a developer and penetration tester in the financial services industry.
As she moved into consulting, her focus on defending technology systems and personal privacy led her to advise Fortune 100 companies on building comprehensive security programs. Today, Alyssa is the CISO at New York-based Epiq Global and still identifies as a hacker. She leverages her hacker identity to bring real change to conservative organizations’ security posture and even conquer perceptions in executive and boardroom settings.
In her keynote, Alyssa emphasizes the power of embracing one’s hacker identity, showcasing how the same attack techniques used to uncover flaws in technology can be applied to challenge and influence corporate leaders positively. Her advocacy for helping others pursue careers in hacking and cybersecurity and her dedication to open sharing of ideas and perspectives make her a respected figure in the industry.