I'm Mary N. Chaney, ESQ., Information Security & Privacy Expert - MIC drop!

The CISO Diaries

This week we have the pleasure of having Mary N. Chaney, someone who's had one heck of a journey through our industry. Mary is a former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent where she investigated cybercrime and served as their Information Systems Security Officer. Currently, she practices cyber law for her own firm, specializing in helping the CIO, CISO and General Counsel understand each other to protect the enterprise. She also founded and runs Minorities in Cybersecurity, Inc., a non-profit focused on support, leadership and career development for women and minorities in cybersecurity. There’s more to her journey, so have a listen!

Mary's Social Media:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marynchaney/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/marynchaney

Highlights:

0:00 – Intros and Mary’s Background

• How a bad grade motivated Mary to do better and ultimately go to Law School
• Take a weakness and turn it into strength
• Tasking herself to graduate #1 in her law school class

4:45 – Mary’s Career With the FBI

• Learning how to fight, difficult scenarios
• Cybercrime Squad in LA - having fun fighting fraud and going on raids
• Collateral duty as acting CISO for LA Field Office
• After personal travels, the challenges of entrepreneurship and consulting
• “It never ends up the way it ends up!”
• Not all FBI jobs are the same or always in the street or “suit and tie”

10:06 – Where does an International Bad@ss come from? Is it genetic?

• Krav Magra gives you confidence! Especially for the ladies
• Confidence gives mental toughness
• The value of sports, authenticity and importance of having a fighting spirit
• Mary’s discovery of Ancestry DNA test…and Amazon Warriors?!? ·
• Importance of working out and building resiliency
• Dynamics of confidence and other issues between women and men
• Get to know yourself
• Self-Doubt and Imperfection – What is perfection?
• Focusing on learning opportunities vs. mistakes
• Silencing the self-doubt earlier in career

23:00 – Mary’s CISO Journey and Pivoting

• Life after the entrepreneurial “learning experience”
• 2012 – Mary’s five year goal to be a CISO·
• Mary’s experiences with GE Capital·
• Great transparency from her manager, mentors and building allies·
• Overcoming the setback after learning dynamics of mentorship and trust
• Pivoting from the CISO journey
• How Dak Prescott and getting away from the NorthEast area brought Mary to Dallas, TX

33:42 - The formation of Minorities in Cybersecurity

• Finding satisfaction in giving to and developing other minorities to break down walls from within and other organizations
• Corporate reputations in attracting minority talent
• Building relationships and soft skills to create opportunities vs submitting resumes online
• Taking power back and not allowing setbacks to derail goals and dreams

Mary Chaney's Final Thoughts – Just get it done!