 In this, you know, in this context, I want us to see beyond just penetration testers and red teamers. You know, whenever hackers are mentioned, ethical hackers now, mentioned, you know, many people, where their mind goes through is, oh, they're talking about penetration testers, oh, they're talking about, you know, those guys that breaks into systems, finds vulnerabilities, and then, you know, recommend remediation for those probabilities. Now, in this context, we are not just talking about red teamers. We're not just talking about pen testers. We are talking about black individuals who are subscribed to a system of growth and over time, as transitioned into a competent, competent individuals who are skilled, you know, and can bring, you know, their cybersecurity skills to solve, you know, security problems. So what I mean in short is that I want to create, you know, black competent cybersecurity professionals who are hackers in their different domains. That is, it might be in a GRC, governance risk and compliance. It might be in, you know, SOC, you know, Security Operations Center. It might be other domains like risk management and the rest. But what we are saying is we want to create more black, you know, hackers in those domains, people who know their onions, you know, black people who know their onions, black people who are competent to deliver, you know, in those, in their chosen domain, not necessarily in the penetration testing domain or in the offensive domain. It might be in the defensive domain, it might be in the purple teaming, it might be in the, you know, orange teaming, in the white teaming or whatever teaming it is in cybersecurity. So we want to create more black individuals who will represent the black community in each of these domains and we won't have them, you know, so many in those domains. And for you to have that, there are systems, individual, you know, cybersecurity enthusiasts, black cybersecurity enthusiasts or black cybersecurity professionals must subscribe to for them to attain that height. And that is what I will be discussing with you this morning. OK, so my name is Shegma Alaniyan. Yes, Shegma Alaniyan for short. I'm a vulnerability remediation analyst with S parties in vulnerability remediation, risk mitigation, mitigation, planning, development and whatever you could, you know, think of around mitigating risk, you know, filling up compliance gap, identifying risk, residual risk in systems and applications. This is what I do as a vulnerability remediation analyst. I'm also a cybersecurity analyst, research and development analyst. Medially, I focus on identifying security loopholes or security problems or security gaps in small and medium businesses, you know, making research on, you know, how best they can mitigate some of these gaps or feel some of these gaps. And also I write a lot of articles that addresses small and medium businesses, security issues. OK, I'm also a security awareness advocate and trainer. I'm so passionate about, you know, end user education, awareness within security, awareness within organization of holding security culture within organization and within the society at large. And I do so by, you know, engaging in speaking, presentation and the rest. I also train cyber security awareness to people. And right now I've trained more than 500 female tech enthusiasts in cyber security awareness across seven African countries. You know, and I also give back to the community, you know, by, you know, joining different organizations, non-governmental organizations. I won't mention names, but some of those you might know, cyber safe foundation, Diary of Arcaz and the rest. So in those communities, I speak and I train cyber security awareness. OK, so I'm also the co-founder of Cyber Safety Media. This is like a small state of that, you know, I co-founded, you know, to help roll out different cyber security awareness talks and and materials that relates to, you know, helping people to stay safe online and help people to get people informed on cyber security, best practices. I also lead, I mean, this speaker at Cyber Safety Webinar. This is a monthly webinar that I co-host you know, I co-host this webinar every month where we talk about latest trends in cyber security, latest scams in cyber security and latest concepts, concepts and terminologies that people need to get used to, end users now immediately need to get used to. And I'm trying to relate, you know, technical stops or technical concept to non-technical audience, end users who are not so tech savvy. Then this year also, I was, you know, thanks to Blacks and Cyber Security, I was awarded BICA 2022, I signed the Cyber Practitioner Honorary Award. And this is all about me. Of course, you can check me up on LinkedIn and Twitter. So let's just continue this, just if you do it about me. OK, so you can attain any height when you have the right systems there to support you. You know, we're talking about creating more Blacks hackers, you know, Black cybersecurity professionals who are competent in their chosen domain in cybersecurity, who would come out, fielders, you know, field cybersecurity jobs, positions, you know, in the industry. So for them to be able to attain that, you know, the systems that they used to, you know, that they were used to support themselves, that they were used to help themselves, you know, to attain that height, to get to that height where they will be able to, you know, solve cybersecurity problems in different aspects. OK, so for you to attain this height, right systems, right systems, there are different systems, but the right one and the ones that we help you to attain that height as fast as possible. OK, so cybersecurity growth systems and compasses platform processes, process and people, then compasses, platform, process and people. Now, it means that for you to be able to grow when it comes to cybersecurity, for you to be able to grow to that height, to that level where you become relevant in the industry, where you become, you know, someone who people want to listen to, who's opinion matters, you know, in the industry. You must, you know, subscribe to these three three components of growth systems, which which are platform, process and people, which are platform, process and people. So now talking about growth systems, you know, talking about growth systems, we see here that you don't just grow, you know, in cybersecurity, you don't just grow in that there must be systems that support you. Of course, I've said that before, that helps you to grow. Now, these systems have components. They have components and can also be said to be group of the categories which is platform, process and people. Now, growth systems can be a holistic model to strategically and sustainably grow a career, you know, strategy, sustainability. It means you're strategic about your growth and then you are applying component systems that help you to sustain is any growth. So it's not as if you're getting to a point and then you stop it, you know, you are you are evolving, you are evolving, you are growing. You have a continuous growth. You have a continuous growth and then you take into consideration, you know, key cross practice linkages, which is between a platform, process and people. What do I mean? I mean, you need a platform to thrive. You need to subject yourself to process of learning and credibility, process of learning and credibility. You know, this process is what we help you to sustain, to make your voice head and also to make people, you know, trust you, trust the quality of value that you're releasing, you know, in the industry. Also, you need to connect and learn from people of like mind and also people who have gone ahead of you. You see now that this is strategic and then subscribing to this continuously, we help you to sustain a steady growth in the industry. OK, so this growth system is now divided. I divide this into five, which are very, very key, you know, to launching you into a very rapid and sustained growth. Number one is virtual internship and then, you know, categorizing it on that the growth system components, it is, you know, it comes and fit in on that platform. Then we have and on practice categorizing this on that, you know, the components of the system when it comes to, you know, growing, continue to continue to grow in the industry. And on practice falls on that platform. And then also cyber security certifications, you know, falls on the process while some of the communities falls on the people, professional networking, like LinkedIn, platform that LinkedIn falls on the people, you know, now having all this. As you as your support system, you know that your growth will be very rapid, you know that your growth will be steady. You will be able to sustain a substantial growth if you subscribe to all this. Now, people who are starting out, cyber startups, you know, enthusiasts who are trying to get their foot grounded in the industry needs to subscribe to these systems, needs to support themselves with these systems for them to be able to achieve more in a very little period of time. You know, and then the first one is virtual internship. You know, I know internship is when you actually, you know, you are you were taken in as like a staff or a worker who is, of course, learning on the job and also delivering values while you're there. Of course, that is what internship is. You have entry level experience or zero to like one year experience in a particular field and then you are trying to get the experience, industry experience in that particular field. You go for an internship, you know, go for an internship where you will learn while applying what you are learning, you know, to also deliver value in whatever company or industry you find yourself. OK, so now virtual internship, I don't define what internship is in that manner. Virtual internship replicates work at top companies, you know, like a replication, like a snapshot of work at companies, at top companies. And then it connect enthusiasts or, you know, people who are just starting out in the industry to those companies themselves. It means that with virtual internship, you know, cybersecurity enthusiasts can leverage on different cybersecurity projects, you know, the way it is done in the industry. You know, it would replicate, it would give you a snapshot of the way cybersecurity projects are being done in the industry and then workloads for career growth. So it means that you'll be exposed to different projects, different workloads that that replicates real life, real life, real life, you know, workloads that are being done, that are being handled by real staffs in an organization. So that platform, virtual internship platform, provided with, you know, that opportunity to interface with real workload, real life workload, real life projects, you know, as it is in industry, the way staffs, the way staffs in different organizations, you know, the way they approach those kind of projects you've been interfacing with those projects and then to give you an opportunity to work on them and then learn how those projects are being carried out. OK, so in only five to six hours, you know, you can actually learn relevant tools and skills necessary to complete tasks that replicate and employees work with it. So it means just like, you know, seeing a day in the life of a day in the life of a cybersecurity analyst, it means the day to day task, the daily tasks that a cybersecurity analyst, you know, does, you know, on a daily basis, what the task that they carry out on a daily basis. So it means within five to six hours, chunks of those tasks, you will have the opportunity to interface with chunks of those tasks and then learn relevant tools and skills necessary to complete those tasks. For example, you know, triaging and that, you know, trying to investigate incidents, you know, those kind of tasks, you see them, you see them the way it is in an organization, you know. And then these are different kinds of organization, you know, top organizations at that, like the Lloyds, like BWC, EY, Antares, NSN Young, you know, these organizations, you know, they put out some of these workloads as they are staff, you know, normally interface with them on a daily basis. OK, so advantages of virtual internship. So now before I will go into the advantages of virtual internship, there are virtual internship platforms, you know, available. Free of charge means you wouldn't need to pay any amount for you to access them. An example is Forage, Forage.com. You know, Forage.com is a virtual internship that different top companies have subscribed to, you know, to present some of their workloads that staffs, you know, interface with on a daily basis to present it to enthusiasts. So what you do is you sign up on that platform, you have access to these workloads from different companies like the Lloyds and the rest. And then, you know, they have videos of, you know, instructions on how to go about some of these tasks. And then when you complete it, you have the opportunity to submit, you know, your completed task that is your project, you have done the task, you have the opportunity to submit and then few staffs or certain staffs assigned, you know, to these virtual internship platforms from those organizations will review your submitted work. And if your work stands out amidst other works that have been submitted for the same task, you will be contacted. I've seen, you know, testimony from cybersecurity enthusiasts and other, you know, starters in the tech world who have given testimonies about how they got an interview with some of these top companies and eventually landing a job. Do you see that? You know, so it is very easy. It is a easy way to interface with real world projects. Industry inclined tasks, you know. So what are the advantages of, you know, such virtual internship? What do you stand to gain in telling virtually? Number one is industry insights. Industry insights, you know. Exposure to the skills and qualities necessary to thrive in the industry. So it means that the skills and qualities that are necessary for you to thrive in the industry, you will get so much insight into some of those skills and qualities because those tasks and projects are tailored, you know, towards helping you to gain insight to know more about those skills and qualities that are needed for you to try. And then number two is project-inclined tasks. Exposure to modules and tasks that simulate industry-related projects. These modules, these tasks, they simulate like a snapshot of industry-related projects like in Deloitte, the way a cybersecurity consultant, we address, you know, an issue of PCI DSS, Women's Card Industry Data Security Standard. Now, you know, you will be interfaced with a simulated form of that kind of project. And then you will have an exposure to diverse organization, work culture and business values. For example, you know, these platforms and these projects expose you to diverse organizations, work culture and business values. For example, you will learn about, for example, if you are virtually in 10-width, let's say PCWU or NSM Young, you will learn from that virtual internship, even though you do not visit the organization physically. From that virtual internship, you will learn the culture, the work culture, their core values, their business values. You will learn from participating in such virtual internship or participating in such projects. Four is exposure to potential employers. I said at the time that you submit your project to the partner employers on virtual intentional platforms. And then you have the ground to showcase your work to these employers. And they also have the platform for them to view your work and then contact you if you do, if you actually do a very good job. If you submit something that even beats their expectation, if you submit something that even be the expectation of the employer, or you even submit a solution that beats the solution of their own inner staff. You have the potential of now having the opportunity to interface with employers directly, being in contact with them. They will contact you. You can check out forage.com, forage.com. You see testimonies of different entry-level tech individuals who are at the opportunity to be called upon by employers because of their outstanding performance when it comes to deliverables during their virtual internship with such employers. Then we have relevant experience. You gain, you know, you have engagement with activities that sponsor experience in the industry. Of course, you know, experience is is is is one of the challenges that entry level jobbers or job seekers or cybersecurity starters have in this industry. You know, experiences is one of the challenges. They do not have industry experience. They do not interface with the production environment where they will do the real thing, you know, using the real technology, you know, to access real organizations network, but via virtual internship, you have that opportunity to engage with activities that sponsors experience in the industry. It means that if an organization is uploading their workload, the real workload, like a replication of the real workload that they do on a daily business, it means that for you to complete that task, you will gain such experience that you would have gained if you actually visited or if you are actually a staff or an employee in that organization as an entry-level individual or as a cybersecurity staff. OK, then the last one here, advantages of virtual internship. The last advantage here is you are open to job opportunities, face-to-face with job opportunities in the partner organizations. So these organizations, what they are trying to do is, you know, train you, espouse you to skills and qualities needed in the industry for you to thrive. And then if you exceed their expectations, if you exceed their expectations, they reach out to you and then they offer you real internship, not virtual now, real internship where you can, whether we move it, you know, in time with them and work on real-life projects. You know, this will help you, this will actually help you to to gain a lot of insight into how work is being done in the industry on deliverables when it comes to cybersecurity. OK, let's quickly move on to the next system, growth system and on practice and on practice. This cannot be oversized because cybersecurity startups or people who are just starting out in cybersecurity, they know no organization gives them that, you know, that privilege to, you know, learn with production environment, you understand. So and that is why a percentage or a certain level of experience is required even to start as an entry level job in cybersecurity. So it means that employers, you know, have that confidence that at least you can handle some technologies and some tools professionally or ethically so that you don't cost more problem than what problem you are supposed to solve. OK, so and that is why answering the practice comes, you know, very, very helpful in participating activities rather than passively reading a resource or attending a class. You know, so it means that, you know, just going through a resource or reading will not actually give you that feel or give you that, you know, that competence in some activities that release to cybersecurity. Of course, you might not have the opportunity to interface with a production environment where you carry out this thing in real time or in a real life project, of course, but there are platforms that are being designed, you know, to replicate some of this practical, you know, practical jobs or tasks that helps you to actually learn the skill and learn how to handle some of these technologies ethically and professionally. So learning and growing by doing through experiencing something. So it means that while you begin to engage and practice, you will begin to learn and begin to grow by doing. So the more you do this practice, there's a thing that says practice makes perfect. So it means that while you are doing, you can make all the mistakes you want to make because this is not a production environment. It's just like a staging environment where, you know, scenario have been, you know, carved out as like a gamified stuff as a gamified task that you can actually play around with. So even making mistakes will not affect any, you know, any company's network or any company's workstation. You'll be able to do learn and learn and we learn using our own practice. OK, this will give cybersecurity and teachers an opportunity to enhance themselves in a learning environment while putting their acquired skill to use and building new ones. So it means that you will be in a learning environment where you can mentor yourself, where you can immerse yourself to a deep learning experience, you know, where you can put your acquired skills to use and then learn new ones. For example, cracking a password. You know, that is one of the abilities, ability to crack password that you need to, you know, have as a cybersecurity professional, of course, you know, because if you come in handy, most especially via a penetration tester, you know, cracking a password now. You know, no organization as a starter or as an entry level job, no organization will give you maybe their logon environment, their website logon environment or logon environment for you to practice password cracking or practice brute forcing. You understand? But as on practice platforms, we give you that opportunity to practice with fake websites. Well, I don't want to say fake. Let's see. So that doesn't mean something else, you know, with a simulated, simulated, a simulated website or simulated environment that helps you to practice brute forcing, helps you to practice password cracking, helps you to use Metasploit, helps you to break into virtual machines, bypass authentication and the rest. You do these things which, you know, having a rest of mind that you are not compromising a real organization's metal or that you are not having any negative impact on a real organization metal. OK, so benefits of ants on practice. Now, before I even move to benefit of ants on practice, you know, some of these as ants on practice platforms, tri-hack me, cyber defenders at the box, you know, these platforms give you this leverage to be able to perform practical, you know, perform practical. You know, ants on, practical ants on tasks that we have to develop the skill and the ability to do some of these tasks, you know, and then these will help you, you know, to grow while you're trying to get your food into the industry. So what are the benefits of ants on practice? Cyber security enthusiasts can develop expertise through a blended approach of instructor-led videos, of course, instructor-led videos on some of these platforms that help you to see how it is being done. Then you can also replicate the way it is being done. Learning path, different learning path, quizzes and ants on exercises, ants on exercises, where you do it, what you have learned in instructor-led video or what you have learned in your work through, you can actually practice them. You can do them on your own via ants on exercises. You know, cyber security enthusiasts can learn cyber security through short demified real-world labs, you know, labs that shows you what, what an attack, what an attack looks like, a cyber security attack looks like and how, you know, investigating such attacks, investigating an attacked website, investigating a compromised website, breaking into virtual machines using Metaspoids to bypass authentication, brute forcing and the rest of them. So this gamified real-world labs helps you, you know, to learn these things without compromising a real organization network. Cyber security enthusiasts can take their cyber security skills to the next level through gamified ants on training experience. You can take it to the next level. I've seen, you know, entry-level job, job out, job seekers, cyber security starters, enthusiasts, people are just starting out. I've seen some of them who are very passionate about, you know, hands-on practice, who have practiced so much on platforms like Try Help Me, having, you know, becoming, you know, part of the top one percent on the platform. You know, it means you have learned so much, you have got so much skill, practical skills that you can actually use during view, view watch and projects. OK, so cyber defenders, enthusiasts can practice, validate their skills and acquire the ones they need, you know, as much as also GRC governance, risk and compliance. Compliance enthusiasts also, you know, can also learn from industry experts, you know, I believe there are, you know, hands-on practice that in the future will be released with labs that can help you to develop your GRC skills. OK, third system of growth is cyber security certifications. You know, this also cannot be oversized. You know, certification exposes you to cutting-edge specialized and vendor neutral technologies. So there are technologies that you use to, you know, to accomplish or to deliver values, help solve security problems in the industry. And then certifications help you, exposes you to some of these, you know, modern and cutting-edge specialized. Sometimes they are specialized based on the fact that, you know, those technologies and these certifications, some of those certifications are supporting certain technologies and then we have vendor neutral certifications that are not necessarily supporting certain specialized technology, but covers, you know, holistically a certain domain in cyber security. So certain industry skills cannot be gotten without certification. That is very correct. Certain industry skills cannot be gotten without certification. For example, networking skills. Of course, you can learn online via MOOC, massive open online courses, of course. But for you to get the skill required actually to implement, you know, some of these, you know, technologies, some of these tools, you need certifications that teach you how to implement without implementation. For example, firewalls, you know, there are different types of firewalls or different examples of firewalls from different vendors. For you to be able to know the configuration of some of these firewalls, you need to learn it from, you know, the vendors who manufacture the firewalls or who develop the firewalls, whether logical or physical, you know, and then you can start with free cybersecurity certifications available and then migrate to paid ones. You can then migrate to paid ones. You know, I normally advise in cybersecurity statuses or enthusiasts to start with free ones, free ones that will introduce you to the basics and foundations of cybersecurity, basics and foundations of some of these tools and technologies that we get to inform theoretically, then you can begin to migrate to paid ones that will actually, you know, help you to dive deep, deep into some of these technologies and some of these skills. So what certification offers you? The first thing certification offers you is credibility, credibility, the quality of being trustworthy. It means that the certification, you know, employers can have this confidence that you can be trusted with certain technologies and certain tools. You know, they have this disknowing with certifications that you can be trusted, that you are trustworthy, that you are trustworthy, that they can commit certain tasks into your hands and then you'll be able to professionally use certain tools and technologies to actually deliver on those projects and those tasks, then validity. Also, this showcase, you know, this helps you to show that you are an authority in a particular domain or in a particular technology. This validates your knowledge and your understanding of certain tools and technology, certain terminologies and concepts in cybersecurity. This is why certification is very key, is very key. And it is a process that you must subscribe to. This is a process that you must subscribe to. You keep getting certified in different technology. Of course, you might know those technologies, you might know how to use it, you might know how to wield, you know, be skilled in using those technologies, skilled in certain areas of cybersecurity. But of course, before you are able to show any employer or before you are able to show anybody how skilled you are by doing some of those things, you know, certification can go before you to get them informed that you actually know what you are doing, that you actually know about those technologies, that you actually have the knowledge, you know, to carry out those tasks or to perform those tasks and to deliver, you know, professionally in those roles. OK, so the next, you know, system of support is the cybersecurity community. This is extremely important. This is extremely important. You know, the community together of cybersecurity professionals from all walks of life to learn and grow together. You see that to learn and grow together from all walks of life, you know, to learn and grow together, there is nothing as important as learning and growing together in the community, which is what Black cybersecurity is doing fantastically well. They are doing it fantastically well. They are, you know, bringing people together from all walks of life, from different cultures, Blacks, you know, from Black communities, from all walks of life, you know, to learn together and grow together. You know, cybersecurity community sounds as good as strategic and functional vehicle for engagement and collaboration on trends, risk, threats, impact. Now, some of these things you might not even get to know them and you need to stay abreast of all trends in cybersecurity as somebody that is just coming up, because some of this information gives you that ability to stay, you know, to stay on the cutting edge of information as it is being released, you know, in the industry. And this even gives you an edge, you know, when you go for interview. You know, this helps you interview or your employer to know that you know what you're doing, you're passionate about the community or you're passionate about the cybersecurity ecosystem, you know, even though you don't have all the skills, you know, this can show your passion that, OK, I belong to a community, this and these are what I do, this and these are what I do to give back to the cybersecurity community. These and these are, you know, some of the, you know, services, community services that are engaged in via cybersecurity communities. And then these are some of the information that I've been able to gather. These are some of the knowledge I've been able to gather. These are the impacts, you know, I've been able to have on other people. So community, this showcases how passionate you are. And then it helps you get an edge over other candidates even doing job interview, OK, so for engagement, collaboration and trends, you know, you get to, you know, have first hand information on trends in cybersecurity. There are communities, risks, you know, imagine threats, the impact some of these threats are having, the control measures, the good practices associated with all aspects of cybersecurity related to people, process and technology in community, because you know why community contains, you know, cybersecurity experts, subject matter experts from all walks of life. In short, you can, you can have access, I'm still going there, you can have access to, you know, cybersecurity leaders, cybersecurity subject matter experts. Within a community that you wouldn't have had the opportunity to, you know, meet or even interact with outside the cybersecurity community. So what communities hovers you? What community offers you? What community offers you? Access to industry experts. As I've been saying, you have access to industry experts. There are industry experts, cyber leaders that you might want to connect with, that you wouldn't have the opportunity to connect with them outside cybersecurity communities, you know, outside cybersecurity communities. Now, every, from my own experience, every expert in cybersecurity that I long, you know, to connect with or I long to meet with, I long to meet with, I've actually met with them through communities. Communities brought us together. I thought it would need to, you know, go through the stress of saying, how do I meet them? How do I connect with them? You know, just by belonging to the community, we just want programs that would come, you know, being invited to speak and boom, that is it. We'll get connected and then, you know, you have access to, to, to cyber security experts, industry experts, you get mentorship from them. Mentorship from them in communities. Access to eating opportunity. There are certain opportunities in the industry that you cannot get outside cybersecurity or outside communities, outside communities. There are several opportunities I've come across. I belong to the area of, to the area of other communities, the area of other community. And there are several opportunities that I've gotten from that community, for, for, for being a member of that community that normally, naturally, I would not be able to get them if I do not belong to the community. Because sometimes those kind of eating opportunities are just, you know, shared within the community. I could remember like last year, you know, there are certain, you know, slots that was given to the, to the community of Dario Vacas, to the community of Dario Vacas for internship slots, like 10 of them. Now, that kind of opportunity is not, is not published publicly. So it was, it was released within the community. And the only people that got those slots came from the community. And I know blacks inside the security also will have hidden opportunities like this that is not open to a non-member of communities. You know, these are the opportunities that communities give. You grow, you see, by this you are growing. By this you are learning. By this you are, you are, you are, you are meeting, you are getting closer to, you know, your destination. As you have pictured it when you started out, you know. Also, community gives you the ability or the, gives you the opportunity to, to actually to participate in conferences like this, participates in conferences like this. Then let me share experiences from cyber status conference. Very wonderful conference that was organized by Dario Vacas. I was part of, you know, the, the, the committee, you know, put this together and it was an awesome moment, you know, meeting with different cybersecurity experts from all walks of life, you know, from different, you know, from different geographical location, from across the world. Now, now, cyber status conference, you know, is an hybrid conference that brought together our own professionals from around the world who are eager to talk about their triumphs, their setbacks and the greatest advice needed to secure a job and examine cybersecurity. Do you see that for you to attend such, you know, a conference as a starter? You know what that means? You are going to learn from the best of the best in the industry. You are going to learn how to learn your first job or even how to learn the second job or even how to learn your third job. You will learn from their mistakes. You will learn from their experiences so that you will make the mistake they made. Now, experience it from this conference. You know, this is a picture of one of the subject matter experts that actually came from Kaya, you know, he's a wonderful man, Dr. Bright. He's a wonderful black hacker. You know, you can check him up on LinkedIn. Black hacker, you know, ushied from his wealth of experience, you know, given perspective to the ingredients for cybersecurity career growth, you know, ingredients, different ingredients for career growth, different principles one can apply to one's life. These are the things that make some of us. Communities made us. And I know I'm speaking some, you know, cybersecurity professionals mind in this conference right now. Community made us. You know, this is another picture, you know, showcasing a life hacking demonstration from one of the community members. This guy learned almost everything is showcasing from the community. You know, because there is flexibility, the community provided platform for people to learn from one another and even learn from cybersecurity leaders and experts in the industry. A member. Now, when this guy is joining, was joining this community, he wouldn't have even know that one day in a conference like this, in an international conference like this, he would be demonstrating a hacking demonstration or a hacking demo, you know. So these are the things that community offers you. Exposure. Networking with people that matters in the industry. And by so doing, you are growing, you are growing. This is another section of the of the conference, you know, where we have different experts from diverse tech world. Or tech domain, discussing, you know, about virtual reality, non-fungible talking, blockchain and Web 3.0, you know, discussing opportunities for cybersecurity in these domains. So it means that communities brings together experts even from the tech domain to help you to discover what opportunity lies in there for you as a cybersecurity enthusiast. There's another panel of community members who just made their way into cybersecurity job arena. These ones just got like from them, from Dario workers. These ones just got, you know, their job and they are sharing their experience. They are sharing their experience. So far, how they got him, what they are doing right now, what their daily job is, you know, and what it looks like to have a job as a cybersecurity professional. This is what community offers you. These experiences from, you know, people and even from members of such community. I know that a lot of cybersecurity professionals in this conference right now have, you know, had the opportunity to gain from some of these advantages from Blacks and cybersecurity communities. OK, professional networking, which is the fifth, the fifth network, the fifth growth system. Professional networking, which is a platform, LinkedIn, is social media platform for professionals. Now, why use LinkedIn? Now, I know there are different social media platforms. We have, you know, Twitter, we have Instagram, we have Facebook. Now, all those ones are just for normal social activities, you know, connecting with family and friends, meeting people about your life. And then maybe sharing some of your few achievements here and there. But what made LinkedIn so special is that this is tailored, made platform for professionals. This is not where you come and say, I'm just today I am eating fried rice or today I'm eating ganangelo rice. OK, now this is not a platform where you do that. This is a platform where, number one, you network socially with professionals in different domain and different industry. You know, LinkedIn offers quality access to networking among professionals. So the platform of them built in such a way that it is tailored towards networking among professionals. You know, and it helps you to build quality connection with industry experts. So it means that when you're coming to LinkedIn, you are coming with that, with that knowing, with that ideology that you're coming to network with industry experts, people that matter in the industry and for the purpose of career growth and development. Number two, job posting. LinkedIn makes it easy to reach a higher number of recruiters and get access to jobs across different locations. Yes, I know indeed and the rest, they are job platforms. But, you know, LinkedIn has made it so easy that why you make work with professionals, you also have access to job posting. And even by having access to job posting, you can easily, you know, reach out to employers who post certain jobs and then, you know, speak to them directly, network with them, make connection with them. That even gives you more leverage than just applying randomly to jobs on job websites. You see how LinkedIn stands out now. You are not just getting job postings. You are having the ground for you to actually reach out to job posters or recruiters. And then, you know, tell them about you and tell them about your interest in some of those jobs that they've posted. Number three, you build personal brand. You know, LinkedIn helps you to build a personal image for your personality, a professional image for your personal personality. The goal is to be visible to quality audience. Now, the goal is not just to be visible to everybody. The goal is to be visible to quality audience, audience that matters, that we have one positive, one or more positive impact on your career growth. And then LinkedIn will help you to get that done. Quality visibility to quality audience, quality visibility to quality audience. Number four, generally leads for business. Of course, if you also have a business as a cybersecurity consultant with LinkedIn, you can generate quality leads to a freelancer as a freelancer or as a business owner, connected in because of communities that put your service offerings and then you push your service offerings to them. You see that? Very fantastic. Now, number five is exposure to other opportunities. Every other opportunity that's touching professional growth can be secured using this platform. Every other opportunities have seen people got picked just by one single post. Now, let me share with my experience. The first job or the second job I got, I got that job via one post on LinkedIn. The post went via. I made one post and the post went via. And this CEO don't reach out and the rest, the series history. Now, the cybersecurity research and development analyst, you know, role and also I've gotten only two opportunities to speak at conferences. I've spoken at more than 15 webinars and conferences. Now, this came to be because I leveraged LinkedIn. Because LinkedIn exposed me to opportunities that helped me to grow my profession. So use it for your advantage. So let's talk about LinkedIn hack. How do you position yourself to take advantage, to leverage this platform, this networking platform for your career growth? Number one is have a divine purpose. Why are you coming to LinkedIn? You know, don't just jump on LinkedIn, define why you want to use the platform and what you long to accomplish. Define why you want to use the platform and what you long to accomplish. Don't just jump on LinkedIn. So if you do not have a divine purpose, then you will not be able to optimize your profile to fit that your goal. Then have a well optimized profile. A well optimized profile helps you to build a professional email from the brand. This will help you to stand out when you optimize your profile very well, you know, in accordance or according to your divine purpose. It will help you to stand out. Now, there are ways you can optimize your profile that we help you to any time that they search. And it's somebody getting a role that pertains to you, you will pop up. Your profile will show up. You know, and that will give you edge over other people who don't know who doesn't have an optimized profile. Number three, have a well-written CV or resume. Have a well-written CV or resume. Develop a well-written resume or CV to send out, you know, to applications. Have a payload made resume. You can also have a custom cover letter written to fit each application. A well-written resume. They just add the way you are doing it. These are the ways you take advantage, you leverage LinkedIn for your career goals as a cybersecurity enthusiast. Number four, develop a social communication skill. There is a way you communicate on LinkedIn is not the same way you communicate outside of LinkedIn. Your communication on Instagram might be different based on what Instagram is all about, but on LinkedIn, you must develop a professional way of communication for you to secure a lasting network on LinkedIn. You must sharpen your social media communication skill professionally, professionally, sharpen it professionally. Make strategic, the fifth one, make strategic connections. Now, don't just connect to anybody. Don't just send random requests, be strategic about the requests of connection requests to make, connect with relevant individual communities. For example, you are a cybersecurity enthusiast who is looking forward to, you know, become competent in penetration testing and maybe proper teaming. And now the connection or the connections you are sending out is to somebody who is who works in a in an hotel as a chef. I don't know how will a chef help you to achieve your goal? That's misplaced prior misplaced priority when it comes to connection, you know, making connections or connecting with a musician. How would it mean? Of course, yeah, relationship matters, of course, but relevant one matters most. Then communities that different communities you can join on LinkedIn, you know, blacks and cyber security, your workers, she hacks, Kenya and the rest of them like that can join them, they have different value that they rode out as a community that you can take advantage of. OK, so how do you gain visibility? On LinkedIn, even as you're starting out or even as you're growing as a professional in the industry, number one, always share engaging and informative content. One of the things that have helped me to gain so much visibility in the very short period of time is my posts and my engaging and engagement with other people's posts. My posts and my engagement with other people's posts. And I make sure that every industry expert and subject matter experts that I come across on LinkedIn, whenever they make a post, I make sure that I get in their comment session and I make sure that I contribute value value. I contribute in such a way I contribute excellently. In such a way that, you know, people will be able to learn from my contribution. From there, you gain more visibility, you gain more connection. Number two, always use relevant hashtags on your posts. For example, if you're making a post, you know the post you're making is about cybersecurity career or maybe about cybersecurity job arena or something around you should know that there are even hashtags that we have that would help you to make your post go viral like carriers, like cybersecurity carriers, as cyber security carriers, as that InfoSec carriers, as that cyber jobs, as that tech communities, you know, relevant hashtags that makes, you know, it gives it widens the visibility of your posts. Number three, always engage with posts from professionals and experts. I just said that now. Make sure that you engage the post because they have more visibility than you have. So by posting, by commenting and getting their own posts, you are gaining more visibility also. The next time you make a post, because they are engaged in their own posts, they also will replicate it. Number four, learn the professional way of communication. I've said that, learn the professional way of communication. There is a way you communicate. There is a way you, you know, interact with people in there. Professionally, you don't just come and just talk anyhow, you know. When you reach out to, maybe you have, you send me an email, a personal message to a cybersecurity expert, there is a way you should accord yourself. There's a way you should compose, craft, you know, craft your posts or your message. Share posts that are relevant or related to cybersecurity for companies and leaders. I do this a lot. And in short, I've noticed that I gain, sometimes I gain more visibility by sharing the post of other companies for leaders. So this way, you can take advantage of linking for your growth. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for this opportunity, you know, given to me to speak to you today on, you know, creating more blacks, hacker, more black hackers, growth systems and cybersecurity in two years. You know, these are systems, you know, that will help you, you know, to to grow systems of growth that would, you know, help you to sustain rapid growth and a very little period of time in the industry and also expose it to so many opportunities in the industry that, you know, you might not naturally have, you know, opportunity to to get. Thank you so much. Here is my contact information. If you have any question, you want to ask anything at all or you want clarification or clarity on something related to cyber security or anything, you can reach out to me or LinkedIn. My LinkedIn, here is my LinkedIn profile and then on Twitter, you reach me, reach out to me on Twitter. Also, thank you so much. We are in cyber security for this opportunity. And I look forward to, you know, connecting with each and every one of you on LinkedIn. Thank you so much. Bye.