2025-10-22 –, Europe
I want to share my experience with imposter syndrome something many of us in cybersecurity have faced at one point or another, and how it has shaped my career, my approach to threat intelligence, and my relationship with the industry and the people I’ve come to trust and admire. With this talk, I’ll explore how insecurities and belonging coexist in our field, and how confronting that tension has become a source of purpose, empathy, and genuine expertise.
The industry loves to celebrate mastery of the perfect exploit, the great attribution, the confident expert who always knows the answer. But for many of us, that confidence is a mask.
I came into this field late, sideways, and what I was missing in credentials I made with a burning desire to learn a hunger and a work ethic. I didn’t have a degree, or the typical origin story of someone who always “knew they’d end up in security.”
I arrived with a stubborn case of imposter syndrome. I tried to perform expertise to sound like I belonged among people that had already accomplished and knew so much.
The failure I want to share isn’t one specific catastrophic moment. It’s the slow erosion of your confidence that happens when you let the heavy shadow of imposter syndrome bear it's weight on you.
Even the most fearsome gangs are performing too. They bluff, break things, and rebuild under new names just like most people in the industry.
In the end, this failure became the best teacher. Because the moment I stopped pretending to be the right kind of expert was the moment I started doing real work.
Tammy Harper researches the human side of cybercrime, blending technical analysis with narrative and emotion. Her talks explore identity, failure, and the psychology of digital undergrounds.