Jennifer Cox, who works as a Security Engineering Manager at Tenable, is a determined, goal-oriented, and self-propelled person who is dedicated to succeeding and finding solutions to difficult problems. She endeavors to deliver top-notch service and adopt a personalized approach, regardless of her role.
Below are highlights of the interview conducted between World’s Leaders and Jennifer Cox:
Describe who you are as a person, inside and outside of the workplace.
My main goal as an individual contributor prior to and in leadership now is to work to achieve the goals of my team. Whether those goals are personal or professional, if I can support them then I’m doing a good job. I’m from a large family and one of six children. My parents were working-class and always worked to better themselves. I witnessed many times in my childhood, displays of support and encouragement and the massive growth resulting from them. I have always followed the same example. If I can be kind, helpful or supportive then I should. It’s worth so much more to other people than the effort on my part to help.
Describe your background and what did you do before you started/joined the company?
I have a very varied background. From being a tree-climbing, trouble-making child that was eternally in both mud and trouble to an outspoken adult who used to write and produce/direct plays on both radio and stage, After school, my studies focused on theater production. When I finished studying, I got a job at a tech company working in support. Little did I realize that I’d be working in various roles for that company for 11 years. During my time there, I studied psychology, still trying to figure out what I wanted to do. It turns out I was doing it all along. After those 11 years, I had moved up as much as I could and sought out a career in cybersecurity. In 2016 I secured a role at Tenable, moving up through the ranks and now I manage my own global team.
Tell us about the company. What does Tenable do??
Cybersecurity risk is one of the existential threats of our time. Every day, attackers are looking for organizations’ weaknesses long before they even know themselves. But throwing disparate cybersecurity solutions at the problem only leaves gaps in the attack surface’s visibility and weakens defenses.
The hard truth is that more tools collecting more data don’t equate to actionable insights for remediation teams and definitely not for the CISO, C-suite, or board of directors. On top of that, the old way of simply scanning on-premises IT devices for vulnerabilities is no longer enough to protect the modern attack surface.
Tenable was founded in 2002, and today, more than 43,000 organizations around the world rely on us to help them understand and reduce cybersecurity risk across their attack surface—in the cloud or on-premises, from IT to OT and beyond. Our goal is to arm every organization, no matter how large or small, with the visibility and insight needed to see, predict, and act on threats and vulnerabilities that pose the greatest risk to their organization.
What has made you successful? What do you value?
R.E.S.P.E.C.T., it’s all about respect for me. I show respect and regard to my friends, family, and colleagues, and I expect the same in return. If a person doesn’t feel respected, then how can we expect to get the best from them? I value respect most of all. Following that would be equality & diversity and I work as hard as I can to change the path as I go, to ensure more doors are opened for anyone following behind.
Which are the major services of the company and how does the company get ahead in the competition? What value-added services does the company provide?
Tenable is the first and only provider of exposure management solutions. Our platform — Tenable One — is designed to help organisations gain visibility across the modern attack surface, focus efforts to prevent likely attacks, and accurately communicate cyber risk to support optimal business performance. The Tenable One platform offers broad vulnerability coverage spanning IT assets, cloud resources, containers, web apps and identity systems.
What are the most important aspects of a company’s culture? What principles do you believe in and how do you build this culture?
Tenable is built around a ‘One Tenable’ culture. We are all part of the same team, regardless of our place in the chain of command. Everyone’s opinion is valid, and our leadership works hard to act responsibly on the feedback given by everyone who is a part of the Tenable team. Tenable also respects that their employees have lives outside of work and that work-life balance is important.
What is the significance of innovative ideas in the company?
In order to position ourselves as exposure management leaders, we need to be ahead of the curve. We have a significant Research & Data Science team that cultivates new and innovative ideas and turns them into useful tools for us and our customers to use. When you work in cybersecurity, being late to the party is not an option.
Give us your opinion on; do organizations rely heavily on individual heroics or team processes?
Team processes all the way. Individual heroics are a risk that rarely works out. Everyone on the team contributes heroic aspects, and between us all, we are the whole package. Everyone on a team should have a purpose and deliver something that is unique to them to that team.
What is the happiest part of your daily routine?
I enjoy the 1:1 sessions I have with my team members the most. Learning more about them, understanding their needs, and what they suggest and perceive to be a need for the business. My favorite part of the job entirely is when someone on my team achieves a personal or professional goal they’ve set for themselves. Big or small, it doesn’t matter. It’s a buzz to have assisted in any way I can to help them achieve their goals.
What advice would you give someone going into a leadership position for the first time?
I was being mentored at the time I went into Leadership and I’ll reiterate that advice here as it really made a difference to me. ‘If you are thinking about doing something, then do it. Don’t spend the rest of your life wondering ‘what if’?’
