11 - First 6 Weeks on Coop

This fall semester, I have not been attending classes. At most universities, this would be alarming to hear. However, I am an engineering student at the University of Cincinnati, which means I will be completing 5 coops within my 5 years of studies.

Currently, I am a Security Operations Coop at The Lubrizol Corporation. My responsibilities include investigating email phishing tickets submitted by employees and helping with other activities carried out by the Security Operations Center.

Being part of this team has opened my eyes to the security and networking aspects of computer science. So far in my path of CS, I have only formally learned coding languages. One of my goals is to learn more about how information is transferred and I have been able to do that in my role. I learned at the SoNIC workshop that information is transferred in packets. In my role, I am able to see the information passed through firewalls and servers from externally to internally and vice versa. The lack of knowledge I have in the way that computers fundamentally work has inspired me to learn more about it.

Another work in progress are my communication skills. In my role, I run 2 weekly meetings and send email updates every day. I also communicate with employees directly to follow up on security incidents. Because of this, I would like to think that my communication skills are improving.

Although this is a short update, I am excited to see what the next 10-ish weeks brings me!