“We Deserve To Know When Our Information Isn’t Safe, or To Have Safer Information”

Meet LSU student Sarah Buckley

LSU computer science senior Sarah Buckley from Mandeville, Louisiana is training to be a cyber warrior. She received a security clearance from the National Security Agency (NSA) three years ago to help defend the United States against cyber attacks. But life took an unexpected turn—her mom died of pancreatic cancer, and then Buckley got COVID-19, which led to vascular dementia, or brain fog.

Now she’s back and working on how to best protect Louisiana businesses and critical infrastructure in the LSU Applied Cybersecurity Lab—a world leader in memory forensics and malware research. In addition, she was recently selected for the LSU-National Science Foundation Scholarships for Service program, which will support her through graduation this May and then onto an accelerated master’s track, also at LSU.

“Before getting involved in cybersecurity, I had no idea how vulnerable we really are,” Buckley said. “We might not all be big targets, but when we’re small, we’re also helpless. Mom-and-pop shops, small credit unions. We deserve to know when our information isn’t safe, or to have safer information.”

“Cyber threats will only become more well-planned and harder to fight. This is why we’re extremely fortunate to have had Sarah on our team as an intern. She broke records as the fastest analyst to train and qualify on all of the technical services we provide, and then trained others. Her hard work, innate talent, and gift of gab make her a natural leader, and her unique contributions to TraceSecurity will carry forward for years to come.”

- Colette Burke, Security Services Team Lead at TraceSecurity in Baton Rouge, which helps Louisiana businesses and organizations protect themselves from cyber attacks