The year 2020 was one of growth and learning how and when to pivot. We were able to focus on utilizing our strengths as a fully remote team to continue to provide expert cloud security consulting without the on-site onboarding and collaboration we’re all used to. We relied on our emotional intelligence to connect with customers and our team virtually, and participated in virtual conferences like Google Cloud Next and AWS re:Invent.
ScaleSec entered 2020 with the goal to build up our team of consultants. In the past year, we have added ten new teammates to our roster. With backgrounds in Cloud Security, Engineering, Technical Project Management, and Compliance, we have furthered our ability to provide the best cloud native solutions to solve security and compliance challenges.
In addition to new hires, six of our people were promoted this year. As a company we are committed to fostering an environment of lifelong learning, which positions our employees to seek out new industry certifications and take on the responsibilities of more senior positions.
Allie DiPietro
VP of Operations |
Chris Leibl
VP of Consulting |
Jason Dyke
Senior Cloud Security Consultant |
Eric Evans
Senior Cloud Security Consultant |
Steven Adegbenle
Senior Cloud Security Consultant |
Julianna DiPrima
Communications and Operations Manager |
To stay on the cutting edge of the cloud, our team is encouraged to use some of their ‘20% Time’ to prepare for certification exams. Company wide over the past year, ScaleSec team members achieved 42 new certifications, covering everything from AWS Associates through GCP Cloud Fellows, in addition to industry certs like those offered by HashiCorp and the CISSP.
Following the nation wide slow-down in March, several ScaleSec consultants joined Coders Against Covid, a volunteer group of developers and medical professionals who collaborated and coded findcovidtesting.com. This website helps US citizens find clinics, drive-by locations, and other places offering Covid-19 testing, and was nationally recognized by US Senator Elizabeth Warren’s team for its unique and timely service.
Our work-from-home company typically enjoys a few opportunities to get together at conferences, cyber security meetups, or onboarding visits to customers on-site or at ScaleSec HQ. This year, we found new ways to experience the cloud security community by participating in podcasts, webinars, and virtual panels. Members of our team took part in sessions covering topics such as Transitioning from Military to IT, The Forbidden Topics for Women in Tech, and a HashiTalk on Automating FedRAMP Security Compliance with Terraform.
| Transitioning from Military to IT | SysAdmin Show Podcast | Ron Sivonda |
| Automating FedRAMP Security Compliance with Terraform | HashiCorp HashiTalk | Eric Evans |
| GroWiT Diversity: The Forbidden Topics | GroWiT Virtual Panel | Marsha Wilson |
| A Conversation on Leading Teams | Corporate Thought Podcast | Marsha Wilson |
| “Go Try It!” The Inventive Journey Podcast for Entrepreneurs | Miller IP Law VideoCast | Marsha Wilson |
| Defining Your Path To A Cloud Security Career | CyberSecurity NonProfit Webinar | Eric Evans |
| Cloud Security Careers Panel Q&A | CyberSecurity NonProfit Webinar | Eric Evans, Michael Flanigan, Jeanier Anderson, Steven Adegbenle, Sarah Gori |
In 2020, ScaleSec committed to publishing weekly blog articles that provide insights from our cloud security and compliance practitioners that cover technical topics like automating security on GCP with Event Threat Detection, project management topics like Why Documentation Matters, and helpful tutorials like Why Your YubiKey Won’t Work With AWS CLI (and the fix).
We also published Modernizing Security: AWS, a collection of AWS Security Best Practices and engineering how-tos that dive deep into making AWS environments more secure for organizations of all sizes.
As both Google Cloud Consulting Partner and AWS APN Consulting Partner, ScaleSec continued to work across the cloud aisle assisting customers on AWS and GCP to reach their cloud security and compliance goals. For example, our team performed two assessments for Dawn Foods, Inc: a GCP security review and a SDLC secure architecture review (read the full case study). Together with the Dawn Foods team, we were able to “shift security to the left” by highlighting areas of improvement in the build and deployment pipelines for the business-to-business digital ordering system.
While navigating 2020, ScaleSec made it a priority to continue to support our people and maintain our work-life “bosu ball” approach as we strived to reach business goals. With kids at home, vacations cancelled, and seeing family and friends from afar, we took extra time to check in on our colleagues and practice empathy while working with our customers. We reflect thankfully on the last twelve months and all that we have achieved as a team, and look forward to providing our customers with our best in 2021.