Wired to Learn
Betty Cardiel from Softtek tapped into her ability to rewire her mind to absorb all the information and new technologies she had to learn in order to become an expert in cybersecurity.
By: Bill Peden
With over 25 years in Information Security, Albertina (Betty) Cardiel, the Risk and Data expert, has participated in helping clients across the globe enhance their cybersecurity knowledge and preparedness. Betty Cardiel is passionate about security and has successfully crafted her career to combine her expertise in technology and with her love of training. She believes by focusing on instilling confidence in clients and the new generation of tech users, she can improve their technical knowledge, safety skills, and capabilities.
Betty Cardiel serves clients in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia at Softtek, a Mexico-based global information technology company. Although today she is recognized as an Information Security Leader working for the largest private IT vendor in Latin America, Betty Cardiel admits she got her start in the information technology business purely by accident. After receiving a scholarship to university in Spain, the Mexico native studied abroad and graduated with a degree in computer programming. Returning home to Mexico, Betty Cardiel entered the technology space in the 1990’s where she worked on programming the IT curriculum for local schools. She later used prodigal programming skills on conversion commerce projects in the midst of Y2K scare. A year later because of the tragic events of September 11th 2001, she sought out to improve the cybersecurity in her home country. “September 11th made the whole world more conscious about cybersecurity.” This started her journey. Betty Cardiel began investing in herself and creating business propositions to develop cybersecurity curriculums. Mexico was full of talented programmers and entrepreneurs but there were not many people with experience in information securities.
Betty Cardiel not only needed the assistance from the universities and government, she had to help herself by changing her whole mindset. She says going from programming to cybersecurity was like learning a new language and just as she had devoted her youth to computer programming, she had to make a pivot and become passionate about learning the ins and outs of cybersecurity. This ability to reteach herself and evolve with the ever-changing technology landscapes has helped her become a top cybersecurity trainer.
In 2012 Betty Cardiel began studying the legislation in place for cybersecurity in order to help companies stay in compliance. She believes that the more she knows on the subject of cyber laws, the less time and money the business has to spend to get their company into compliance. "If you are spending 75% of your IT budget meeting regulations and making your business more efficient something is wrong.” She believes much more of that money could be going towards cybersecurity awareness and user training.
Now at the forefront of cybersecurity Betty Cardiel believes time spent on awareness campaigns for not only businesses but the youth is the most valued. “The innovative destruction is never-ending,” she says. “The platforms are made for the young people to get hooked. Just because tech is made more accessible and makes our lives easier, doesn’t mean that it is safer.” Betty Cardiel invites young Latino children, especially females and introduces them to cybersecurity. The response she gets from middle school and high school students has been very promising. She believes that the natural curiosity of the Latino community, especially the kids, will help lead to new ways of combating cyber attacks. “It’s creativity that leads to the workarounds we need.” In 2011 she began a non-profit training Latino youths on cyber safety, with specificity to “sexting”. In 2016 as she began traveling to globe more frequently Betty Cardiel moved her family to Dallas, Texas where she could be close to the international airport. She was asked to give a TEDx Talk in 2018, and the acclaimed video displayed to the unknowing world how much of an outstanding orator she was. Although Betty Cardiel has certainly reached an expert level, it's safe to say, her own thirst for knowledge will never be vanquished.