Amara Okafor
From the service desk to the boardroom, in five nodes.
She started resetting passwords in 2008. Eighteen years later she leads security for one of the UK's largest retailers.
How did you first get into cybersecurity?
Sideways. I was on the service desk, and the tickets I kept volunteering for were the strange ones — accounts behaving oddly, machines talking to places they shouldn't. Someone in networks noticed and asked if I wanted to learn how traffic actually moved.
Was there a moment it became a career rather than a job?
A breach, in 2014. I was the one who understood the network, so I was called into the incident room. I never really left security after that — the work had found me, and it was the most interesting thing I'd ever done.
What do people underestimate about the route you took?
That support work is real security work. Every day on the service desk you learn how an organisation actually behaves — where the shortcuts are, who has access to what. You can't buy that context later.
What does the next node look like?
Less about tools, more about decisions. The hard part now isn't finding the risk, it's helping a board hold two true things at once: move fast, and don't bet the company on it.
“I didn't plan a career in security. I followed the problems I found most interesting.”
A breach puts her in the room
She was the one who understood the network, so she was called in to the incident. She never really left security after that.