CyberNaomiRimando

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Naomi Rimando

Crean Lutheran High School
Class of 2026

Received a thorough hands-on introduction to Linux and other cybersecurity software including WireShark.

Worked with global experts from various cybersecurity fields to learn advanced concepts including firewall establishment, CIA Triads, Threat Detection/Analysis, Training Recommendations, and Legal Policies.

Created a cybersecurity protocol proposal for a nonprofit organization to best protect their client’s data and personal information using network and physical security recommendations.

Learn more about Naomi here.

The Cybersecurity & Defense Internship is the program that Iris chose because she has an interest in the engineering field. She wants to have exposure to different areas of engineering, such as cybersecurity and earn experience. She also chose this program because she liked the chance to travel outside California and to meet and hear from experts.

Iris is in the Engineering Cohort at her high school and has taken AP Computer Science Principles in freshman (earning a 5.0 on the AP test) and will complete an Honors Engineering Design (PLTW) class by the end of her sophomore year; expecting to earn Engineering Cohort distinction by graduation. She is taking Honors and AP classes and will have completed 4 years of high school math courses by the end of her sophomore year (taking Linear Algebra in her junior year). To be inducted into the National Honors Society and the Science National Honors Society, also qualified for the California Scholarship Federation membership. She loves to draw and do both traditional and digital art. She has played for her high school’s Girls’ Golf team for two years now and the team has gone undefeated in the second season. For both years, she has been recognized as a scholar athlete. Iris spends several hours volunteering with many local non-profit organizations. She is also expecting to earn the Presidential Service award recognition.

Iris is excited to learn and understand the technology behind security and hacking. She is looking forward to getting exposure to strategies used to protect companies and systems from cyberattacks. She wishes to pursue an engineering career in the future and hopes this experience would be beneficial in shaping up her pathway to opportunities and success.

Read more about Naomi’s achievements here.

Business Partner Overview

Mary House

Quick Facts

Mary House is a nonprofit solely supported through grants and donations. Throughout the organization’s 42 years of service, they have served 700 families, providing affordable housing. Of the 700 families 99% have moved on from the organization, living in independent housing and being self-sufficient.

Through their education principals, Mary House has had a large success rate in not just early education enrollment, but also a 100% success rate in helping children meet grade level reading and math requirements through their after-school programs. Mary House has partnered with a variety of local organizations and businesses to provide any and all support families may need.

Mary House

About the Founder

Bill and Sharon Murphy have an extensive background in service work. Stemming from Bill’s missionary aid with homeless people in underserved communities and Sharon’s experience living in Eastern Detroit, they wanted to inspire and help others in need.

Bill decided to pause his educational career and instead of pursuing graduate school, he moved to Washington D.C. to become a full-time volunteer with the Zacchaeus Hospitality House for single men and women. He and Sharon both worked there for several years. Bill and Sharon both have experience serving on a transcontinental platform, working on war trauma teams that supported refugee camps in Bosnia. Through this mission with The National Organization of Victim Assistance, they saw a wider view of family crisis regarding displacement and resettlement.

Mary House

About the Business

In 1981, Bill and Sharon Murphy created Mary House out of their own homes, with the intention of helping those less fortunate in the communities around them. Taking inspiration from their service and international war trauma teams, the Murphys expanded Mary House into a private, non-government-funded, organization that owns and operates five different apartment complexes and aids in the resettlement of war-displaced families.

Mary House strives to aid immigrant and refugee families in their transition to the D.C. area by providing affordable housing. They are partnered with numerous other organizations to give families access to healthcare, food, legal assistance, and more. They hope to provide a stable and nurturing environment for low-income families and build programs aimed at supporting their long-term independence.

Mary House

Current Vulnerabilities

Our Cybersecurity concerns stem from our organization’s position with the people we serve leading to computer and server hacking, a lack of standard policies for AmeriCorps volunteers, and a lack of training.

Without the proper background, our staff cannot assist partner organizations such as schools and hospitals with the best form of computer practices. We are hoping to gain assistance on how to counteract these threats to ensure better protection.

My Security
Proposal

Our goals for our proposal were to address the main cyber security concerns of our partner business, as well as threats we identified through SWOT analysis and the CIA triad.

Our plan implements multiple cyber security protocols and solutions to protect our partners, such as Google Drive, Google Cloud Storage, and Google Cloud Armor to create stronger protection for the client’s data. We want to back up data to storage clouds to ensure that it does not get lost and limit the overall access employees have to the information to ensure the personal information is not compromised. This will be coupled with specific insurance policies that keep employees from interacting with files they do not need access to. /p>

Our proposal was successfully granted, allowing us to implement our solution for our non-profit. This will ensure that our partner is not at a high risk of physical threats, employee negligence, and hacktivists, protecting them for years to come.

My Security
Proposal
Presentation

During the Cybersecurity & Defense Internship, I worked with Beth Cerrone and Jamie Kreider to learn about the basics of cybersecurity, and potential career pathways within it.

Throughout the week, I worked with a nonprofit to develop cybersecurity solutions to protect against various cyber threats. I worked with my team to analyze the threats to the organization, and then developed a comprehensive solution. At the end of the week, I presented my cybersecurity solution to a panel of three judges and received grant money to implement the solution.

Internship Highlights

I was given the unique opportunity to take exclusive tours of multiple government and security sites to speak directly with security professionals. During these tours, I was able to witness first-hand how cybersecurity operates at the national and international level.

I was given the unique opportunity to attend an embassy where I received a briefing on cultural, economic, and international situations. We also got the opportunity to ask questions about the country’s cybersecurity infrastructure; therefore, allowing me to learn about cybersecurity at an international level.

We also toured the Department of Homeland Securities’ Cyber Crimes Center where we received classified tours of the cyber crimes unit of the DHS and learned how Homeland Security uses cyber intelligence to track major crimes such as drug smuggling, human trafficking, and major theft.

In order to apply the skills I learned throughout the internship, I worked directly with a nonprofit based in the Washington D.C. area to discuss their companies cybersecurity needs.

After three meetings where I walked through the organization model, protected information, and staff training of the nonprofit, I worked with my team to create a staff training protocol and threat analysis for my partner.

At the end of the internship, I advocated for, and received funding for, my nonprofit partner to implement the cybersecurity training protocols so they can best protect their client information and continue to develop with a reduced fear of cyber attacks and cybersecurity threats.

To learn more about the world of cybersecurity, I was given the unique opportunity to speak directly with cybersecurity experts from multiple different organizations and backgrounds.

I worked directly with one of the leading consultants in Cyber Threat Management, and a consultant for cyber policy for the National Counterintelligence Executive, Phuong Nguyen, to learn about common threat assessment and cybersecurity counterintelligence. I also heard from the global leader in Firewall Creation, David Balenson; the author of the most widely-regarded O’Reilly book on cybersecurity, Michael Collins; and the lead SME for the FutureG Initiative for the Department of Defense.

Throughout the internship, I also heard presentations from, and spoke with, representatives from the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and the National Security Agency. To learn the physical side of cybersecurity, we also had the unique opportunity to meet with globally-recognized penetration testers and network threat assessors.

In order to put the skills we learned to the test, I had the unique opportunity to use a cybersecurity software used for graduate instructional courses to learn a myriad of cybersecurity skills.

Starting with network cybersecurity, I worked through labs dedicated to network security and linux to understand how networks communicate with each other and how cybersecurity poses a threat to this communication. I used these Linux skills to complete capture-the-flag coding competitions as well as virtual rooms.

At the end of the internship, I worked with an expert from a leading cybersecurity consulting firm to learn how to built ethernet cables. I used ethernet cord, crimpers, and wire strippers to produce functioning ethernet cables.