A puzzle developed at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory drew Jocelyn Murray into the cybersecurity field while she was still in high school. Since then, she has wasted no time in starting her career.

Just five years after her first exposure to cybersecurity as a visitor to DOE’s CyberForce Competition^®, Murray is now a cyber defense analyst for Argonne, working remotely from her home state of Massachusetts. In her role within the lab’s Business and Information Services directorate, she makes sure Argonne’s digital infrastructure remains protected from hackers. Here, she talks about how that first puzzle led to her career at Argonne today.

“Like physical security, cybersecurity is important for protecting infrastructure that supports the research conducted at Argonne. It’s a very rewarding position to have.” — Jocelyn Murray

Q. How did you come to work for Argonne?

A. Originally, I came to the laboratory for what was the 2017 Argonne Collegiate Cyber Defense competition, now known as the DOE CyberForce Competition. As a part of the competition, a series of cryptography challenges (crypto-puzzles) created by an Argonne cybersecurity analyst, Jennifer Fowler, were released to accompany the competition. I solved those when I was at Wakefield High School in Massachusetts. After that, she invited our team out to observe the competition at the lab.

I had seen the team from Lewis University, which is near Argonne, compete and win first place in CyberForce during the April 2018 competition. That inspired me to enroll there and earn my bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity and computer science, which I did in three years. I also competed in CyberForce with the Lewis team. Funnily enough, even before the end of my final year there, I was back at Argonne as a cybersecurity intern. I officially joined Argonne full time in May 2022. I’ve also been a volunteer at CyberForce in addition to writing challenges for it.

Q. How did you end up working on college-level cybersecurity puzzles in high school?

A. I was in a class called Tech Integration, and it covered a wide array of programming and IT topics. One of the projects for the semester was to build a computer, but unfortunately the parts didn’t arrive by the time the project was due. Instead of being stuck for two weeks without a curriculum, she searched for cryptography challenges that we could solve in class, and that’s how she came across the Argonne crypto-puzzles. I thought that if I put my mind to it and did a lot of searching, I might be able to solve them. And the rest is history.

Q. What was it about the CyberForce experience that made you realize you wanted to be in cybersecurity?

A. I remember the keynote speaker during my first year at CyberForce was Devon Streit from DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response. She talked about how defense concerns were moving from the physical world into the cyber world, and that we needed to have a workforce that was ready to defend our infrastructure.  

After the keynote speech, I was able to talk with Devon about the competition and cybersecurity-related topics such as the importance of women’s representation in the field. At the time, I was in high school not fully knowing what I wanted to do with my career path, so hearing this and attending the competition was incredibly impactful. It was there that I realized cybersecurity was what I wanted to do as a job.

Q. Why is cybersecurity important?

A.  When many people think of security in a physical sense, we’re likely inclined to think of locked doors, CCTV cameras, biometric readers, fences, and making sure that access is carefully protected. In the same sense, digital security to protect information and systems also serves an important role. For example, if you have a database full of valuable information without some way of limiting login access for users that are not authorized, that information will likely be exposed for anyone to take advantage of.

Like physical security, cybersecurity is important for protecting infrastructure that supports the research conducted at Argonne. It’s a very rewarding position to have.

Q. How did you get into computers?

A. My father’s a biomedical engineer and my mother’s a business analyst, so I knew I was likely not destined for a nontechnical career path unless I really, really asked them. My dad inadvertently pushed me into system administration when I was about nine years old. I was asking him if there was a way to set up a server for me to play computer games with my friends on. He helped set me up with a Linux virtual machine and since then, I’ve been learning to program and use all of these new tools and go through classes and researching different topics.

Q. What kind of games were you looking to set up a server for at such a young age?

A. I think the game specifically was Minecraft, and there were no commercially available options for hosting one at the time. You actually had to go onto the website, download the Java archive files for running the server, set up configurations, and ensure the port was forwarded. Overall, it seemed like a lot of work just to be able to play a game with friends — but in the end, it enabled me to start building technical skills.

What do you like about your work at Argonne?

A. My role is essentially centered around protecting the scientific mission of the laboratory. We’re supporting the operations which go on every day, and that’s what makes it rewarding. It’s enjoyable as there’s something always new to learn, especially given the different research environments which have their own unique cybersecurity requirements.

I am always so delighted when I get to visit Argonne, because I remember going in the first time when I was in high school to tour the facility. It’s the same excitement every single time.

Q. What do you do in your spare time?

A. I love to paint, and recently I’ve been playing a lot of guitar. Recently, I got a new Fender Telecaster, which sounds amazing so far. Other than that, drawing and playing games either on the computer or board games like Dungeons and Dragons. In the warmer months, I really enjoy going running and recently took up rock climbing with friends.

Q. What advice do you have for someone who might be interested in cybersecurity and they don’t know where to start?

A. Don’t wait to start, and start as soon as possible, and try to find an area of the field that you’re interested in. Between hands-on technical work with dissecting malware to assessing systems for vulnerabilities, there are a variety routes to take in the field. So many different online resources exist, such as TryHackMe or HackTheBox, and many of them are free. It’s good to just spend time with computers. A lot of the knowledge that you gain in cybersecurity is built on a really strong foundation and understanding of information technology and computer science.