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Careers aren’t linear, and the most resilient defenders are forged in the messy middle. We sit down with Andrea Pullman—Air Force veteran, former Microsoft incident responder, and enterprise security advisor—to trace a path from identity trenches to global ransomware recovery and back to the architecture that holds it all together. Andrea opens the vault on Pass‑the‑Hash, ESAE bastion forests, and privileged access workstations, then connects those lessons to today’s Entra ID, Defender for Endpoint, Defender for Identity, and Defender for Cloud Apps. If you’ve wondered how identity-first practices evolved into a full-stack defense strategy, this conversation maps the terrain with clarity.
What stands out is her through-line of grit. The military taught attention to detail, respect for mission, and composure under stress—skills that translate directly to enterprise response. Andrea explains how compromise recovery belongs beside incident response, not behind it, and why durable outcomes hinge on credential hygiene, tiered access, and secure admin workflows. We also explore the promise and limits of AI in detection and response: better signal and speed, not silver bullets, and the operational discipline required to turn insights into lasting change.
Community threads through every chapter. Scholarship for Service linked education to public impact and built a network that endures. Cyberjutsu—where Andrea now serves on the board—offers a technical, welcoming space that expects moxie and helps members level up through peer-led Small Tribes mentorship. We close with a bold wish: kill the password. Moving toward passkeys and passwordless reduces entire attack classes and the human burden that fuels social engineering. If you’re navigating a cyber career, leveling up your IR program, or looking for a community that matches your grit, you’ll find practical guidance and fresh energy here.
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