I’m Leah Claireaux, I’m a Cyber Security Research Professional.
Anomaly detection is used to identify areas of the network that seem suspicious and could be malicious. I specifically work on machine learning algorithms to identify these anomalies because network attacks are becoming more sophisticated. We need to be one step ahead of the attacker.
I did my A Levels at Northgate sixth form and then started thinking about going to university. However, I came across BT’s Network Engineer apprenticeship programme and I knew that was what I wanted to do. I had actually been inspired by an Innovation Day at the BT Labs, but they didn’t offer innovation apprenticeships. When I did my apprenticeship, I had 6 month rotations in different network teams while I was studying to get my BSc in Software Engineering. All the while, I kept an eye on up and coming technologies and realised that software engineering was something I’d be interested in, so I started to upskill myself. Ultimately, it lead to me joining the cyber security research team where I was offered a role after my apprenticeship.
When I was younger, I would always watch engineering programmes with my dad. I was also the go-to person to fix the computer in our house. [Isambard Kingdom] Brunel was a major role model for me growing up. Adaptations and new innovations around things that we already have were incredibly fascinating to me from a young age, which inspired me to pursue a career in this field.
Cyber security integrates my background knowledge on both software and network engineering, combining front-end data visualisation and back-end machine learning algorithms. I love James Bond and some of the visualisation tools that I get use feel like you’re hunting down evil.
