About Me

My name is Crystal and I’m a Cybersecurity student at Southern Utah University. I’ll be graduating in April of 2025 with a major in cybersecurity, a minor in biology, and a minor in information systems. I love learning about the intersection between biology and cybersecurity, participating in competitions with my friends (I post about them on LinkedIn!), and hitting the gym.

During my time as a student I have worked as a pharmacy technician, a planetarium tour guide, and as an IT Help Desk technician. In these diverse roles, I’ve developed strong problem-solving skills, adaptability, and communication skills. Working summers as a pharmacy technician, I honed my attention to detail and developed a strong ability to work under pressure. Guiding tours inside SUU’s mobile planetarium improved my public speaking skills and ability to answer questions about complex topics clearly and confidently, and working at the IT Help Desk gave me hands-on experience troubleshooting technical issues across campus and supporting end-users from administrators to professors to students. Between these experiences and my academic background, I am confident in my ability to analyze complex problems and communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences.

During Summer 2024 I completed an exciting internship with the global privilege access management company Delinea, where I was selected from a pool of over 200 applicants for the role. Over the course of the three-month internship I developed automated alert scripts, and gained hands-on experience in incident response, application security, and threat modeling. I also learned how vendor risk assessments (VRAs) are used practically within the company, which partners with vendors to deploy new cutting-edge security solutions for enterprise environments. Collaborating across time zones with senior security engineers in the Philippines gave me valuable insights into teamwork at an international level. Throughout the internship, I deepened my knowledge of NIST 800-53, ISO 27001, and SOC 2 standards and their application in real-world cybersecurity operations. My internship not only broadened my technical expertise but also introduced me to professionals in my field whose insights and career paths continue to inspire me.

As I think about graduation and launching into my career there are several industries that are critical to our society and also seem vulnerable to cyberattacks. I believe that as the medical field becomes more interconnected and dependent on cybersecurity best practices will become more and more important. I am passionate about this topic and, by combining my knowledge of cybersecurity with my background in pharmaceuticals and biology I hope to contribute to innovative solutions that keep patient care convenient while minimizing the risks associated with convenient digital access.

I am currently studying for the CompTIA Security+ exam, which I’ll be taking in January of 2025. This certification feels like a great first industry credential to take with me in addition to my bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity. Many more certs to come!