Christian Lees: It's not always textbook. [CTO] [Career Notes]

CyberWire Daily

N2K Networks, Inc.

Tech News, Daily News, News, Technology

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 15 March 2026

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Please enjoy this encore of Career Notes. Christian Lees, CTO at Resecurity, shares his story and insight on coming into the cybersecurity world. He considers himself a late bloomer because he did not go to college until he was 23. He wasn’t sure of what he wanted to do, and a family friend gave him a computer and the rest was history, he says. He fell in love with computers and started working at different companies trying to get ahead. He says it's not always textbook, and sometimes you just need to cut your teeth on something to get where you're going. Throughout his journey, he was constantly questioning whether he made the right decision, and in the end he says you have to be willing to "define friction points in it, you may join security field, not knowing what you're gonna do, but by being that curious person and breaking things and putting it back together, you'll find the right way and just never stop being curious." We thank Christian for sharing his story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You're listening to the Cyberwire Network, powered by N2K.
0:11.5	AI is changing how enterprises operate and how they stay protected.
0:16.4	It's time to eliminate risk and protect innovation.
0:19.5	From March 23rd through the 26th, join Trend AI for actionable AI security insights.
0:26.1	Catch impactful sessions at RSAC, then unwind and grab a bite at their lounge in Trapasueño.
0:33.2	Experience industry-leading AI security in person, engage with the experts, and get your chance
0:39.3	to win $500,000.
0:42.1	San Francisco lets AI fearlessly.
0:45.4	Learn more at trendmicro.com slash RSA.
0:58.1	Hello, my name is Christian Lees. I'm the CTO of Resecurity.
1:07.8	My earliest recollection of what I wanted to be is I actually wanted to be a farmer, believe it or not.
1:11.8	I'm assuming not many people on this show say they want to be a farmer, but I guess I was fascinated by kind of like the heavy equipment and like they all had this very
1:18.0	unique use case. But that did not take place. I'm not a farmer now.
1:22.5	You know, I, I person, I've actually considered myself to be a bit of a late bloomer.
1:36.3	For example, I did not go to college immediately after graduating from high school.
1:40.5	I actually waited until I was roughly 23 and worked a lot of jobs and I quickly realized I'm like,
1:46.2	man, if I'm going to get ahead, I need go to college. Of course, like any other freshman, I was not
1:51.8	sure what I wanted to do. I thought I wanted to be in medicine of some sort. A family friend
1:58.0	gave me my first computer in college and I was stoked, man. I'm like, oh my gosh. And believe you me, this computer that was given to me is completely outdated. And I believe it was like a 486, you know, DX. I did not know how to work on it. And I could not get it to print. And so I was forced to ask the person that gave it to me. Like, why is it not printing?
2:17.8	You know, and I marveled within like 10 seconds. He's like, oh, dude, you just kind of hit F10.
2:21.9	And I'm like, really? But it was at that moment where I'm like, oh, this is something good.
2:27.0	I immediately went to computer science and I've never looked back.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from N2K Networks, Inc., and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of N2K Networks, Inc. and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.