Diversity in Cybersecurity
An Imperative for Safe Companies and Safe Communities
By: Cris Marshall
About Myrna
Myrna was recently named to Fortune magazine's "50 Most Powerful Latinas in Business" for the second consecutive year. She has over 25 years of experience in leadership positions. She has led multiple cybersecurity transformation programs in major communications, media, hospitality, financial services and critical infrastructure organizations. CNET also named her one of the top 20 Most Influential Technology Latinos in 2014. She is also the 2018 recipient of the Maestro Award given by Latino Leaders Magazine.
Myrna Soto, Chief Operating Officer at managed security services provider (MSPP) Digital Hands is a strong proponent of not only cyber security, but that diversity is necessary for the protection of companies, communities, and even humanity itself.
Soto, a product of a “blended” Hispanic family, (“my mother is from Puerto Rico and my father is from Cuba, so I am a proud Latina with a very strong Hispanic upbringing”) was encouraged by her family to seek higher education. She was the first in her family to graduate from college, with a degree in psychology, and in so doing encouraged other family members to pursue education beyond high school.
In graduate school Soto earned degrees in industrial and organizational psychology, and an MBA with a specialization in information systems. In her words, “this is where psychology met technology.”
After graduate school she worked for varied industries such as: MGM Resorts, Comcast, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, among others. This experience allowed her to grow in many ways and pushed her career path toward cyber security.
At Caribbean Cruise Lines Soto was a manager running a call center. She felt that the company did not have enough technology in place for the security of the company and the customers. After speaking to her supervisor many times about her concerns he was able to secure a budget for her to pursue one of her “crusades and complaints” thinking she might not succeed and would go away. Soto says that being a “squeaky wheel” enabled her to receive the funds for a very successful project, and then another, and then another – which led to being recommended as an addition to the company’s IT department.
At the time what Soto was doing was not called cyber security (a term coined in 2007, according to Soto) – but rather a security division of the IT department. However, this enabled Soto to use her acquired skills in psychology, programming, and technology to make security issues “top of mind” for executives. No one really knew at that time how applicable this area would be to companies and communities in the future.
What started as growth for brand security and consumerism actually turned into a revenue generating business “imperative”. There was a growing awareness about a need for security in systems in the national arena. Like many other areas of business, the early interest in a specialized field is often overlooked until something like 9/11 happens.
Soto has been concentrated on security within corporations, but it’s also been community and consumer driven. She says that as a society we are in what she calls a “renaissance period” where people are thinking more about what they give, what they allow companies to collect. Unfortunate security breaches on a small level (identity theft, data breaches) have become common knowledge and it dictates what people provide to companies about themselves.
Soto’s company, Digital Hands, is a managing systems security provider, MSPP. Within companies it eliminates the need for repetitive work that can drive away many layers of employees. It helps companies take those employees and focus on the analytical area of the industry rather than the security of that information.
With public distrust of artificial information, or AI, Soto says the solution is diversity. Soto has been a leader in the industry and brings a Hispanic woman’s view to the process. She believes that totally protecting companies, communities, and populations – complete diversity is a necessity. She hopes that Latino leaders will continue to encourage youth to pursue careers in engineering, technology, programming, and cyber security – for the safety of all. “If they don’t see people that look like them, they may not pursue it.”