What I Learned Speaking About Why Security Teams Struggle to Work Together

Hey everyone! I am back today to share my adventure of speaking at different events and today I will be sharing my experience about discussing how different teams in the industry struggle to work together.

Prep

Let's be honest, I wasn't sure how to interpret a talk like this. I never sat down and debated, just mostly sharing my thoughts. So I wasn't sure what position to take. I wanted to kinda get an idea about how different sections like GRC, security, and software engineers actually felt about these kinda problems, and upon researching and discovering how people felt. It felt like most people would like to come to an agreement, it was never about which position was better. It was mostly trying to find a middle ground, but unfortunately, trying to balance governance and innovation doesn't work well together, so this is a hard situation. So I gathered my opinion and waited.

The Talk

To be honest, I was a little nervous because I wasn't sure how the atmosphere would be. Would be polite, or yelling? I was nervous because I was thinking about how to be respectful while maintaining my personal brand. Plus, it was a late event for me because I currently reside in Vietnam, and that event took place at 1am Nigerian time.

But the event was very professional, and the language spoken was so respectful and polite! It was very nice listening to others share their thoughts, and most of the people speaking were well-educated and had a ton of industry experience, so I learned a lot and was thoroughly impressed with the thought leaders in Nigeria! I feel they have some powerful people there, and they are working hard to develop something amazing.

I had a lot of fun sharing my ideas about the current topic. I wasn't so nervous because of a lack of sleep, plus the environment was pleasant. I was able to speak clearly and in a structured way to convey the idea. Even though the topic was abstract, it was really fun to tackle such a big topic!

Soo what was your opinion?

So maybe by this point you're tired of experience and want to know my opinion? Well, I will give it to you.

I have worn many hats and paid attention to different sections of the industry. I firmly believe we find balance. As we start to use more innovative processes, we will learn to secure them and develop our skills and knowledge. That also requires governance to follow suit, and I think it's possible if we all take our time and outline what we are truly trying to accomplish. BUT because most of the problem is AI, we know this is a topic with a lot of WHAT IF's, so we need to define what that means first. I believe it's difficult to define at the moment because AI isn't slowing down. There will be a slowdown, and eventually, we can start to define it more clearly. But I think everyone has the same dream of unity, and we can achieve it, but communication is a must!

Final Thoughts

Overall, I am very satisfied with the situation; I learned a lot, and I got to improve myself as a speaker and share my knowledge more deeply! Thank you, APISec University Nigeria chapter! That was an amazing get-together, and I am glad I got to be part of such a great turnout. I hope to be part of another one in the future!

Thank you!

Until next time..