The hacker mindset, and the curiosity and skills developed as one driven by such, are most commonly seen as contributing to offensive security. Several years ago, and unexpectedly, my journey took a shift into the defensive realm.

During this process what drove, and continues to drive, my engagement and advancement in this arena was exactly that same mindset, curiosity, and even ethically applied social engineering. This lead me to not just meet the challenge but to excel in it, maturing a security program, mentoring team members, and developing business skills and relationships necessary for progressing the organization and security culture.

My goal is to explore this experience and share a model, and use case, of how this same approach can be applied to others making similar shifts. Beyond that I make a case for how this can be applied to one’s life and growth beyond one’s career as well.