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CyberWire Daily

Simone Petrella: Fake it, until you make it. [CEO] [Career Notes]

CyberWire Daily

N2K Networks, Inc.

Tech News, News, Daily News, Technology

4.81.1K Ratings

🗓️ 8 February 2026

⏱️ 11 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Simone Petrella, CEO of cybersecurity training workforce firm CyberVista, spent her career in the Department of Defense as a threat intelligence analyst before founding CyberVista. She says that running a company has a new set of challenges each day thrown at you. She explains that the way she finds the most success is by letting her team contribute to each matter, and having a say in the decisions made as they pertain to each department. Simone says "I would say is I am a firm firm believer in the idea of empowering people to really own and kind of run with the things that they're passionate about." She notes that people will do amazing things when they are passionate and that faking it until you make it is true, because you will get where you're going by having that passion and that inspiration. We thank Simone for sharing her story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

You're listening to the Cyberwire Network, powered by N2K.

0:09.7

Most security conferences talk about zero trust.

0:17.7

Zero trust world puts you inside.

0:20.5

This is a hands-on cybersecurity event designed for

0:23.2

practitioners who want real skills, not just theory. You'll take part in live hacking labs

0:28.8

where you'll attack real environments, see how modern threats actually work, and learn how to stop them

0:34.3

before they turn into incidents. But Zero Trust World is more than labs.

0:38.7

You'll also experience expert-led sessions, practical case studies, and technical deep dives

0:44.5

focused on real-world implementation. Whether your blue team, red team, or responsible for

0:50.2

securing an entire organization, the content is built to be immediately useful.

0:55.5

You'll earn CPE credits, connect with peers across the industry, and leave with strategies

1:00.5

you can put into action right away.

1:03.2

Join us, March 4th through the 6th in Orlando, Florida.

1:06.7

Register now at ZTW.com and take your zero-trust strategy from theory to execution.

1:19.5

Hello, my name is Simone Petrella and I am CEO of CyberVista.

1:32.3

I was very into national parks and I wanted to be a national park ranger, more specifically

1:40.1

maybe a research scientist to study volcanoes. So I know there's not a lot of logical link to cybersecurity there, but I did discover

1:48.8

that the fatality rate of volcanologists is quite high because you cannot study them

1:54.9

without actually entering an erupting volcano.

1:58.1

So it turns out it's a scary field to go into.

2:06.4

Music volcano. So it turns out it's a scary field to go into. 9-11 was a very transformational event for me. I had gone to undergrad in Washington, D.C.,

2:14.6

thinking I would get involved in something in government or something in the policy realm, and I think also being in Washington, D.C., thinking I would get involved in something in government or something in the

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