Page 53 of My Secret Snowflake
He turns around. Jin Ae raises her eyebrow at me. I shrug and slip off my wrist brace and give it to her. I don’t want to show any weaknesses in front of Kevin. I follow Kevin back to his office.
The whiteboards are all wiped clean—as if we’re starting all over again.
He sits behind his desk as I take the chair in front. He steeples his hands and stares at me. Raphael often complained about this, speculating about whether this was some intimidation tactic. Raphael said he always just leaned back and waited for Kevin to talk. I follow Raphael’s advice, although if Raphael was just fired, maybe that’s not the best idea. Other than for my job interview, this is the first time I’ve been alone with Kevin in his office. I’ve been in many meetings with him but never without Raphael.
“I’m promoting you to fill the position of Deputy CISO now that Raphael has left.”
My eyes widen, but I try to control my surprise. “Thank you. Why did Raphael leave?”
“He couldn’t hack it.” Kevin huffs out a raspy laugh. “Sorry for the bad pun. We had a difference of opinion, and it seemed best that we part.”
That didn’t sound good. Was it the investigation? And why so suddenly? And I’d have the same opinion as Raphael. What did they disagree about? Could I ask? But Deputy CISO—this is a huge opportunity, especially as a woman. I won’t have to move laterally to another company for the Deputy CISO job. Raphael was the one who pushed for my hire, definitely not Kevin, as far as I could tell.
“I should let you know that Hank asked for the job.”
“Hank?” Hank is the worst—someone who pretends to know everything but in reality knows very little. And he doesn’t do the work he needs to do, which means all the other team members have to pick up his slack. “He doesn’t have the expertise. I’m second-in-command to Raphael.”
“That’s not going to stop Hank. And normally, I’m a big believer in the ability to learn on the job, but we can’t afford that. Your skills have always impressed me, and you’ve proven your loyalty.” He paused. “You know about the corporate battle going on right now. There can be no problems—but if there is an issue, I need to know. Immediately. No surprises. I don’t care how bad it is, it’s only going to get worse if I don’t know about it and can’t do damage control.” He stares at me, daring me to disagree.
“I’m happy to agree to that.”I think.
“Did you do any further work investigating the hack? Any clues? Did they take anything?”
A shiver of unease snakes through me. Kevinknowsthey took something.
“I was doing the damage mitigation while Raphael was figuring out if they exfiltrated any data.” And already I’mnotsaying that I know Raphael figured out what they took. Unless Raphael…I don’t know what to think. But I can’t analyze it now.
Best to distract.
“The hacker was very clever in how they breached our defenses," Isay. "You didn’t hire a white hat hacker to probe our defenses, did you?”
He blinks. “No. There’s no money for that.” He looks at the empty whiteboard.
Did he just lie?
“Hank was in here immediately once he heard Raphael was gone,” he says. “I’m surprised you let him beat you here. I hope your reflexes are quicker in an actual cyberattack.”
He wanted meto immediately run to his office and ask to be promoted upon hearing that Raphael left?
No way.
But Raphael’s departure has caught me completely off-guard. Not that I can admit that.
“But I just had to take gender sensitivity training.” He stares at me. “And apparently women are less likely to ask than men. The thing I like about you is that you get things done, no drama. You’re such a go-getter that I’m not sure that applies to you, but then again, you didn’t rush here for this promotion. The thing, is if you want to be deputy CISO—”
“I do,” I interject.
“Then you have to be able to push for things and take risks. You can’t just think you’re going to get the budget you need because the CEO will see your good work and reward you. Other departments will be asking for money, and if you don’t ask for it, they’ll have an easier time cutting your budget without even having to say no to you. If you don’t ask, you’ve already got the no.”
Thank you for mansplaining that to me, Kevin.But it’s still good advice.
“I certainly pushed for our cybersecurity budget earlier this year.”
“Maybe that isn’t the best example.” He pauses. “In any event, this is an interim promotion. You’ll keep your current desk. Hank wants the chance to prove himself too. Ultimately, one of you will be promoted permanently to Deputy CISO.”
“Don’t you know our strengths and weaknesses by now?” I ask. Kevin has to know Hank would be a disaster.
“Blunt and to the point as always,” Kevin says. “I do, but he may have some hidden strengths.”
