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Francesca

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I have had an interest in IT security for a long time. Back in the 1980's I owned a Commodore 64. Games on the C64 were "copy protected", and I spent many a happy hour understanding how to overcome these various copy protection schemes.

Wind forward a few years, I had an Amiga computer. In 1990, I noticed a load of Amiga floppy disks suddenly stopped working. What was up? A virus (called "Lamer Exterminator II" if I recall) had taken up residence on my machine, and was busy corrupting all my disks..

Ak!

All that was a long time ago, but it kindled my interest in the subject. These days, I frequently find myself explaining to work colleagues, friends and relations how to fix things after the latest worm infection, and how to make their computers secure.

These days, I spend a proportion of my time at work on IT security related issues. I read around the subject a lot - perhaps I'll post a recommended reading list here someday.

In 2002, I attended the "Security Essentials" course run by the SANS Institute. I went on to gain my Security Essentials qualification (GSEC). My paper which formed part of the qualification is available in the SANS Reading Room. I'm now a member of the GSEC board, and devote some spare time to voting on other student's practicals

In 2003, I studied for, and passed, another SANS qualification, GCIA (certified intrusion analyst). My paper which supported the qualification is available at the posted practicals section on the GIAC site.

Just before Christmas in 2003, I was invited to act as a pannelist at a prestigious security conference, run by Information Age magazine. I've done presentations before, but sitting on stage and responding to questions in real time is a fresh challenge!

In December 2004, I took part in an interview about IT security for the "Managing Growth" magazine.

In 2005, I decided it was time to take on a new challenge, and become a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP). After a lot of hard work, and a gruelling six hour examination, I successfully gained the certification.