On November 13, 2025, 135 students from more than 30 colleges and universities met for the Fall 2025 “Clinic of Clinics.” This biannual event, held by the Consortium of Cybersecurity Clinics, gave these future cybersecurity professionals the opportunity to connect with their peers while hearing from a panel of current experts in the field.
The Consortium of Cybersecurity Clinics is a collaborative network of cybersecurity clinics, which are higher education-based programs that train students to provide pro-bono, cybersecurity capacity-building services to real organizations in their communities. Since its inception, the Consortium’s member clinics have trained over 3,700 students in service of more than 900 combined clients.
Cybersecurity Journeys
Introducing a panel featuring clinic alumni, panel moderator Jonathan Edward, Co-Founder and CEO of New Harbor, a company specializing in automated security services for small organizations, stated, “there is no single way to build a career in this field.” The three panelists only further proved this point as they shared their journeys from students to the professionals they are today.
Hannah Brown
While studying Management Information Systems at the University of Georgia in Athens, Hannah Brown joined the CyberArch Cybersecurity Clinic. Taking advantage of every opportunity the clinic had to offer, Brown gained a wealth of knowledge and experience consulting on security matters for local government organizations and leading security webinars. Now, Brown employs her skills as an associate on the Commercial GRC Advisory Team (Governance, Risk, and Compliance) at Coalfire, a cybersecurity and compliance services firm.
Blake Gilmore
After working for several years in the film industry, Blake Gilmore began pursuing a degree in Computer Science from the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, where he joined the UNLV Free Cybersecurity Clinic. Initially joining out of a desire to help small businesses, Gilmore used his filmmaking skillset to help with some of the clinic’s media-focused projects. While there, he was able to quickly pick up the technical skills that now serve him well as a software engineer for New Harbor.
Rebecca Huang
Rebecca Huang originally found her passion for cybersecurity when she participated in the CyberPatriot competition in high school. Despite some initial difficulties developing her technical skills, Huang went on to pursue a degree in computer science from the University of Texas in Austin, where she joined the university’s Cybersecurity Clinic as soon as she was able. While there, she learned how to effectively adapt to her client’s needs, a skill she regularly uses as an associate consultant in incident response and strategic advisory services at CrowdStrike, a company specializing in cloud-native security solutions.
A Day in the Life
After sharing their stories, the panelists spoke on what a typical workday entails for a cybersecurity professional.
For example, Huang works in incident response at CrowdStrike, where she is responsible for taking immediate action when an attack occurs. She is the first person on the scene to analyze the who, what, where, why, and how of the attack, and while she needs a host of technical skills to be able to analyze these attacks, she stressed the empathy her job requires, as she always shows up in the midst of a crisis. Huang also stressed the importance of focusing on social engineering, as it is the cause of a significant portion of cyberattacks.
Brown, on the other hand, works to ensure her clients follow all necessary requirements to comply with various standards, such as International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) and System and Organization Controls (SOC), walking them through various steps of the certification process. In addition to technical skills, Brown’s work requires a vast knowledge of the cybersecurity standards and requirements different organizations must comply with to strengthen their cybersecurity posture and meet customer requirements.
While his fellow panelists’ work focuses primarily on consulting, Gilmore explained that he spends his days developing code. He works with a small team to create fast, simple, and secure solutions for his clients, and he stressed the importance of collaboration and continued learning.
Advice for Clinicians
Wrapping up, the panelists took a moment to consider what they had learned since their time as clinicians, and they offered the following advice to the attendants:
- “Find something you are passionate about and be confident in it.” Brown stressed the importance of finding specific areas or projects that are personally exciting. She has found this passion not only improves overall work performance but can help someone stand out to potential employers.
- “Leverage the skills you already have.” Gilmore emphasized the importance of using one’s current skillset in unique ways to gain opportunities in a new field.
- “There is always something more to learn.” Huang highlighted the importance of accepting that it is impossible to know everything in one’s field, which is why being a professional means continually learning and improving.
Q&A Session
After the panel, students were given the opportunity to ask the panelists questions directly. Questions focused on becoming more involved and eventually securing a job in the cybersecurity field, as many attendants either recently entered or will soon be entering the job market. Their advice can be summed up in three key takeaways.
- Always seek out people and opportunities that can help you learn more.
- Find or create a project of your own to stand out.
- Get comfortable with admitting when you don’t know something.
Breakout Sessions
The session concluded with students being moved into breakout rooms, where they were able to connect with their peers and share their clinic experiences. Using the prompts provided, students engaged in meaningful discussions about their own cybersecurity journeys.
Final Reflections
Demonstrated by the panelists’ remarks, the Fall 2025 Clinic of Clinics highlighted some of the most important traits in a cybersecurity professional: a continuing desire to learn and a passion for this work. As the field of cybersecurity continues to evolve, events like this will serve as an opportunity for each new generation of professionals to engage in the never-ending quest to improve.
