Sara Abella:
Stay curious.
Think critically.

QUESTION 01 / SYSWARDEN

Sara, could you introduce yourself and tell us what brought you into cybersecurity, and then into teaching it?

Sara Abella

I am Sara Abella, a cybersecurity specialist and part-time lecturer, but above all, someone who is always looking to deepen my understanding and discover new things.

I am quite cautious about the word "expert". In cybersecurity, I prefer to keep learning. The subjects evolve, the contexts change, and every new project brings its own questions. I would rather be recognised for my ability to understand, learn and adapt than treat my expertise as something already secured.

My interest in cybersecurity began in my teenage years, after one of my accounts was hacked. That personal experience turned my curiosity into a real professional interest.

Teaching has added another dimension to that approach. I share my experience from the field with students, but I also learn a great deal from their questions and perspectives. It is an exchange that forces me to put my own reasoning to the test. In cybersecurity, you never finish learning, and that is precisely what I enjoy.

QUESTION 02 / SYSWARDEN

You emphasise curiosity and critical thinking. Can you share a situation where that approach helped you question a security practice or a received idea?

Sara Abella

In cybersecurity, I am wary of certainties that do not stand up to the realities of the field. You can master the terminology, present a convincing strategy and know the frameworks. But when you have to analyse a real situation, make a decision and take responsibility for the consequences, talk has to give way to competence.

That is also what I like about this field: it allows you to move beyond appearances, demonstrate your value through what you can actually do, and take on responsibilities, sometimes beyond the role initially assigned to you.

I think curiosity means asking the right questions, and critical thinking means not accepting an answer simply because it comes from someone in a position of authority. In cybersecurity, an assertion is not evidence, and a place in the hierarchy is no guarantee of competence.

QUESTION 03 / SYSWARDEN

When it comes to governance, what turns a security policy into practices that teams genuinely understand and follow?

Sara Abella

I have nothing against security policies, but I am much more interested in how they translate into operations. Writing that a rule must be followed is relatively simple. Explaining how to apply it, who should do so, under what conditions and with which checks: that is where the real work begins.

A policy can be perfectly written and still be completely ineffective if teams do not know how to put it into practice, or if it does not fit their operational constraints.

For me, effective governance is not measured by the number of documents produced, but by teams' ability to act appropriately.

QUESTION 04 / SYSWARDEN

How do you bring management, business teams and technical teams together so that everyone understands their role in the organisation's security?

Sara Abella

For me, collaboration at work is first and foremost about helping one another. We often talk about governance, communication and being able to speak each person's language. But I think we sometimes forget the essential point: to get others involved, you also have to be willing to get involved in what matters to them.

In cybersecurity, I cannot expect business teams to understand my constraints if I do not take the time to understand theirs. I need their knowledge of the field just as much as they may need my perspective on risk.

It is an exchange: I bring security to their activities, and they give me the insight that makes that security relevant and workable. The same logic applies to management and technical teams. You have to build a relationship in which people can rely on one another, without anyone handing off their responsibilities.

Cooperation cannot be decreed in a policy. It is built through the way we work with others, every day.

QUESTION 05 / SYSWARDEN

In your teaching, what is the biggest difficulty in communicating cybersecurity issues, and how do you help people move from theory to practice?

Sara Abella

The hardest part is maintaining attention through three hours of teaching in a world where content changes every fifteen seconds.

That is one of the reasons I became interested in TikTok and started publishing content there. I would rather understand how students use these platforms and adapt to their ways of communicating than assume that they alone should adapt to our methods.

In practice, I make classes more engaging with quizzes, guided exercises, scenarios and discussion. In cybersecurity, knowing a rule is not enough: you have to know how to apply it, analyse a problem and justify a decision.

The same goes for AI. Banning it is not enough. We need to teach students to use it with judgement, check its results and retain their ability to reason.

My goal is not for them to remember everything I teach. It is for them to learn to think for themselves, including when I am no longer there to give them the answer.

QUESTION 06 / SYSWARDEN

To finish, could you recommend a book, a resource and a person to follow, and explain what each brings to your thinking?

Sara Abella

For the book, I would choose The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande, for its reflection on how to turn knowledge into reliable action. That is particularly relevant in cybersecurity, where knowing what needs to be done does not always mean knowing how to do it properly.

For the resource, ANSSI's publications. They bring you back to practical recommendations and connect security principles with their implementation.

Finally, Daniel Douhet. He is someone I respect a great deal, and I regularly read his comments. What interests me is his reading of the issues and the way he approaches the challenges facing the sector.

I think keeping up with developments means testing your ideas against other people's. The most interesting people are not necessarily those who agree with us, but those who give us something to think about.

Thank you!