WONDER WOMAN IN CYBER

Kylie McRoberts


Program Manager

Google

WiCyS SV Board Member. Ask her about her role on the Board! 


bio

Kylie is currently a Program Manager with Google’s Android Security & Privacy team, where she focuses on projects to hunt down potentially harmful apps as part of Google Play Protect. Previously at Google, she was a senior strategist with Google's Safe Browsing team where she worked on binary analysis in support of enforcement of Safe Browsing policies. With a background in security, military, and political analysis, Kylie has built a career for over a decade using information to protect people. She now specialises in building programs and processes to scale that protection.

Why did you get into cybersecurity?

I wanted to protect others - especially those who are more vulnerable - and in today’s world people are increasingly being put at risk while using technology.

What cybersecurity issue is monopolizing most of your time or are you most concerned about?

I am most concerned about the way in which technology is being used to facilitate offline issues like weapons proliferation and human trafficking. Criminals are taking advantage of the anonymity they can gain in the cyber world to facilitate their activities while preventing their detection. But the same anonymity they are abusing also helps protect online user privacy. This makes preventing criminal exploitation while protecting user privacy increasingly crucial, but also increasingly complex.

Kylie's Cybersecurity Tip

Don’t click the link! More specifically, don’t trust links from unknown sources. Social engineering is being used to facilitate user harm like spreading malware or stealing credentials. Whether it’s a software or browser update, or dancing pig and santa videos, always try to validate a URL source before you click.