Aastha Sahni Technical Trainer at Exabeam and founder of CyberPreserve and BBWIC
A
astha Sahni wears multiple cybersecurity
my counselling sessions in a university, I discovered
hats, some of which she made herself.
a degree in information security management, and
Her ‘day job’ is as a technical trainer
I found it really intriguing,” she recalls. “The idea of
at Exabeam, a US-based provider of
studying forensics, ethical hacking, secure coding
extended detection and response (XDR)
and cryptography among other subjects in the
and security information event management (SIEM)
program made me very excited.”
products. She provides customer training on the Exabeam Security Operations Platform. She is also
She decided to study for a cybersecurity master’s
the founder of CyberPreserve and of BBWIC.
degree at the Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University of Women (IGDTUW), in Delhi, which she says were
CyberPreserve is an organisation that helps people
the best years of her student life.
wanting to work in cybersecurity and prepares them for the job market. BBWIC—it is anacronym for
“I practiced my skills via hands-on labs, learned
breaking barriers for women in cybersecurity—has a
from the best in the industry, became familiar
mission to “promote research, lateral growth within
with communities like OWASP Delhi Chapter and
different domains of cybersecurity and women
took my first certification exam: Certified Ethical
leadership.” It aims to provide an online venue where
Hacker (CEH).”
women in cybersecurity can envision growing as leaders, and where industry leaders can share their
While studying for her master’s Sahni gained work
ideas and work with their peers across the globe.
experience at the National e-Governance Division (NeGD) of the Ministry of Electronics and Information
22
Sahni grew up and had most of her education in
Technology, as a security intern on its Unified Mobile
India. She gained a bachelor’s degree in computer
Application for New-age Governance (UMANG), a
science in 2013 and was looking to follow this with a
mobile app that provides access to a wide range of
master’s in 2015 when she discovered cybersecurity.
government services.
DISCOVERING CYBERSECURITY
Her first post-graduation roles were in identity and
“After finally clearing my entrance exams in 2015, I
access management, first with Tata Consultancy
started applying for universities and during one of
Services, then with Indian IT service management
W O M E N I N S E C U R I T Y M A G A Z I N E
S E P T E M B E R • O C T O B E R 2022
