Georgia Weidman Discusses Penetration Testing and Running a Successful Cybersecurity Business

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Inner Circle Podcast Episode 035

I’ve been a fan of Georgia Weidman for years, so it was an honor and a privilege to have her join me on the Inner Circle podcast. She is the author of Penetration Testing: A Hands-On Introduction to Hacking, and she is the founder and CEO of both Bulb Security and Shevirah. She is also one of the cybersecurity professionals featured in the Tribe of Hackers book that Marcus Carey and I discussed in a previous episode.

To be honest, one of the reasons I first became aware of Georgia is because she is a female in cybersecurity. Not just a female in cybersecurity–but a leader in cybersecurity who is also a woman, like Katie Moussouris, Wendy Nather, Lesley Carhart, Jennifer Steffens and many, many others. Thankfully, that list does seem to be growing, but we also seem to have a long way to go yet. We touched on how nice it will be when we reach the day when we don’t feel it necessary to call out the fact that someone is female or put them on a separate pedestal because of that–where a cybersecurity professional is a cybersecurity professional regardless of gender, gender-identity, race, or other factors, and that we just compare people based on their own merits.

We did not focus our podcast conversation around women in STEM or cybersecurity roles, though. The podcast focuses on the purpose and value of penetration testing for organizations, and the triumphs and challenges of launching and managing a successful cybersecurity business (or two).

I also follow Georgia on Instagram and frequently see her post photos of her horse, Tempo. We talked about her extracurricular equestrian hobby, and the importance of having passions and interests outside of cybersecurity (or whatever your career is) to give your mind a break and allow yourself to mentally and emotionally recharge.

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