Charles Henderson

Charles Henderson

Global Head of X-Force Red


IBM

Austin, TX USA


The key to a successful career is charting new directions, going in a different way, and doing things differently.

Videos

By Roadtrip Nation

Charles Henderson

Milestones

My road in life has been direct.
As a kid, most of his friends didn’t have computers, so when his father brought one home one day, he was completely fascinated.
At one point, his mom even told him, “You’ll never get anywhere if you just play on that computer all day.”
Even when he was in college, he assumed he wouldn’t find a fulfilling career path in tech because everything seemed to be centered around writing code.
While he understood how to write code, and respected his classmates who were building new software, he was always much more interested in breaking things.
However, he’d never seen a career path for “breakers” until later after college, when someone introduced him to a small company that was doing penetration testing.
He felt like he’d finally found his people, his community of fellow “breakers”; even today, he says his team’s mantra is, “If you can build it, we can break it.”
Says he’s still drawn to penetration testing all these years later because every day presents a new, interesting challenge.
He draws similarities between the field of cybersecurity and the pursuit of career “success”: neither has a finish line where success is achieved because success is an ongoing practice.
Keep following my journey

Education

High School
Bachelor
The University of Texas at Austin

Career

Global Head of X-Force Red

I am considered an "ethical hacker", essentially I get paid to think like a bad guy.

Career Roadmap

Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Business
Technology
Problem Solving

Day to Day

My team, IBM X-Force Red, finds the ways to hack businesses before the bad guys. I specialize in network, application, physical, and device penetration testing as well as vulnerability research. I also occasionally do public speaking or media events on subjects relating to security testing and incident response.

Advice for Getting Started

Here's the first step for high school students

Independent study is key to succeeding in cybersecurity. Learn how to code, but don't worry about being great at it.

Hurdles

The Noise I Shed

From Family:

"You'll never get anywhere if all you do is play on that computer all day. "

Challenges I Overcame

Death and Loss

Interviewed By

Life Hackers

Life Hackers

Cybersecurity careers and pathways