Eric J. Belardo

BIO: 

A US ARMY Military Intelligence Veteran of Operations in Kosovo with NATO; Eric Brings over 33 years of Cyber Security & Online Safety Experience across many industry domains, including Civilian Government, Department of Defense, International, Financial, and Civilian markets. He has supported organizations in strategic direction, program assessments, remediation and monitoring, intelligence services, and Security Risk Mitigation and Security Education. Eric has Served in the role of CISO 3 times in his career and refers to himself as a "Recovering CISO." 

Eric’s experience in the cyber security field encompasses the areas ofStrategic direction,Security Operations, Incident Response, Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery, Digital Forensics, Certification and Accreditation, Enterprise Security Architecture, and Security in Mergers & Acquisitions in over25 Countries. 

Ericwas born and raised in Carolina, PR, and is the Founder and Executive director of Raices Cyber Org, an International organization dedicated to increasing the representation of Hispanics, Latinos, Latinas, and LatinX in the field of Cybersecurity. Eric is the Author of a new book: "Cyber Security, Unlock Your potential, The Beginners guide to a rewarding career, A practical guide For Hispanics/Latinos and all our allies." 

ABSTRACT: 

Raices Cyber was founded in August 2021 with the mission of empowering, encouraging, and supporting the Hispanic, Latino, Latina, and Latinx communities to achieve more representation in the cyber workforce. At the time, and still, Latinos only represent 4% of the US Cyber Workforce even though we are more than 40% of the general population.  With organizations Like Obsidis Consortia and Raices Cyber, we seek to eliminate the "Brain Drain" from the Island of Puerto Rico and Encourage and support the Puerto Rican Community in entering the amazing field of Cyber Security. In this talk, we will discuss the steps that we can take as a community to help support the next generation of cyber defenders.