Connecting through experiences with the SailPoint crew

Authored by Felisha Richardson, Manager, Threat Exposure Management

At SailPoint, our people are everything. This is a place where everyone matters. We’ve built an environment of trust, acceptance, and shared respect that helps us do great things. That’s why we are always a company that will encourage our crew members to get out of the office and interact with others.

Recently, members of the SailPoint crew attended AfroTech. We asked them to tell us about the experience, what they learned, and how it impacted them.

What is AfroTech?
AfroTech is the largest Black Tech conference dedicated to connecting a community of over 20,000 techies, entrepreneurs, innovators, and students. It offers various speakers from some of the most impactful corporations and brands across multiple industries the opportunity to discuss growing the future of tech services while also sharing personal experiences. AfroTech attendees can find networking opportunities, explore emerging trends, collaborate with like-minded individuals, and broaden their horizons of opportunities available within the tech industry.

When was it, and who attended?
AfroTech took place right in Austin, Texas, in late Q4! A few representatives from the SailPoint cybersecurity team attended the conference (Thank you to the cyber leadership for supporting and understanding the importance of this).

What did you learn at the event?
Our team attended lectures mostly focused on AI within the tech landscape. As an organization and society, we are becoming increasingly aware of the impact AI will have on the world. Understanding its current implementations and future designs can help us utilize these capabilities for growth while keeping security at the forefront. Other interesting sessions attended by the cybersecurity team featured topics like preparation for cyber-attacks, harboring inclusivity within the workplace, risk assessments, AI in healthcare, and biases within AI.

What did you take away from the event?
From a Cybersecurity view: AI is the future! We gained new insight into the future of cyberattacks, and how they will grow increasingly sophisticated with the use of AI. For instance, phishing attacks—while they aren’t a new concept— will continue to evolve and become nearly inconspicuous (even to the trained eye).

Another cybersecurity takeaway is the advantages and disadvantages of implementing/integrating generative AI within an organization. Generative AI can present numerous productivity advantages—and the capacity to streamline and automate time-consuming tasks is strongly desired within the tech space—but it has the potential to present numerous risks as well. AfroTech’s keynote speakers dove into the importance of addressing security risks that come from utilizing generative AI. From mitigating the threat of security breaches to safeguarding sensitive and confidential data, the safe and responsible utilization of these services was clearly a concern for businesses.

As cybersecurity analysts in a rapidly evolving industry, we are always striving to better understand how we can best secure the enterprise. From a personal view, we were all excited to see other individuals in the technology space who look like us. As simple as it may sound, there is still not enough representation of African Americans or people of color within the technical workspace. While this narrative is changing, there is still work to be done to develop and retain such talent. Seeing so many young professionals at the conference proves that the next generation of highly skilled tech contributors are on the way, and that makes us excited for the future talent we may be able to obtain here at SailPoint!

SailPoint lives by its four I’s and has a diversity program, so I hope to see continued support in this safe and authentic space. Honestly, you really had to be there to experience the excellence of AfroTech. But don’t worry, it’s coming back in 2024!

If you want to learn more about SailPoint’s commitment to supporting our team in and out of the office, visit our website.