MSc alumni story: Reiga Belcher

Cyber security at The Big Four

Reiga Belcher’s undergraduate degree was in Business Management. However, after stumbling upon a chapter about fraud in one of his textbooks, he decided to look into future study in the realm of security. He graduated from Imperial’s MSc Security and Resilience: Science and Technology in 2022 and has gone on to pursue a career in cyber security. 

Working as an in-house cyber security professional 

As a Cyber Security Analyst on Deloitte’s graduate scheme, I’m right at the heart of the company’s threat intelligence and digital protection. It’s a massive responsibility, and many teams work together to enable Deloitte to work safely and securely. Cyber security doesn’t cross many people’s minds as a business enabler, but I would argue it is a very significant one. 

I undertake six rotations in total which include being part of the governance, penetration testing, security architecture and cyber assurance teams. For me, cyber assurance – which ensures that legacy systems, systems with major changes, and new applications are secure by assessing their risk profiles – has been the most fulfilling and enjoyable. As an assurance manager in cyber security, there's a lot of pressure being the individual representing security for an application. You need to fully understand the applications and systems to conduct risk assessments and determine the appropriate security checks and tests. It can be time consuming and involve many stakeholders, but it's highly rewarding, especially when you see a system or application deployed safely after a thorough risk assessment. 

How a degree in security and resilience has helped my career 

Having completed numerous group projects during the MSc Security and Resilience: Science and Technology course at Imperial, I’m very comfortable engaging with the variety of people I work with and presenting my ideas in a confident and authoritative manner. In cyber security, you work with almost every other department in an organisation. Each has its own needs and pain points. 

One component of cyber security that most people tend not to think about is the human aspect. Having studied Psychology at A-Level, and learning about it during my undergraduate, I was already familiar with some of the concepts covered in the Behavioural Science and Security module. However, during the course we approached human behaviour specifically from a security angle, pushing us to understand the direct impact of security (or a lack thereof) to people in different situations.  

Understanding how people behave and why has proven extremely useful in my role as I’ve been able to provide the ‘what would the user think/do?’ perspective. Although the importance of user behaviour in cybersecurity is becoming more prevalent, I believe it is still often overlooked, with cybersecurity typically seen as more “technical” than people oriented. I'm glad this was addressed in the MSc course, and incorporating these learnings into my workplace has allowed me to provide valuable perspectives from behavioural science.  
 
Considering postgraduate studies 

I didn’t really think about applying for a master’s until the third year of my undergraduate. I read a short chapter about fraud in one of my textbooks which led to research about further study in security generally. I didn’t really set out to learn about ‘security’ and ‘resilience’ but the MSc Security and Resilience: Science and Technology caught my eye because it provided the opportunity to learn about security as a whole, with a teaching and learning programme incorporating STEM and the social sciences. 

Being from a non-STEM background, I was a bit nervous about speaking up in lectures at first. But as you get to know your peers, you realise everyone is from different academic and even professional backgrounds. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses so although you might feel less confident in one module, you’ll find others where you’re the most knowledgeable. A taught master’s is a fantastic opportunity to learn from other students. 

To prospective security and resilience students 

If you have a genuine interest in security and resilience, and have some idea as to how you will utilise this degree in your future, I would definitely recommend applying. I would also recommend this course to anyone curious about security but unsure which area specifically. Security is a broad field, and this course provides a holistic overview before allowing you to specialise in your area of interest. I think it’s equally beneficial for professionals as the breadth of teaching you are offered will, in often unexpected ways, be relevant in your working life. 

Speaking as an employee, if I were to redo the course, I would really take advantage of the professors and lecturers. They have so much expertise that is transferrable. In my field, for example, I see direct links to the lectures on Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) where we learnt about the interdependencies between systems. 

Finally, in addition to the skills developed through undertaking group projects (communication, stakeholder management, leadership) you also build your critical thinking and analysis capabilities from the combination of STEM and social science modules.