Welcome to the StoryCorps @ RSAC podcast series! Every month we'll be featuring a different conversation between cybersecurity professionals about their lives, the industry and the future of cybersecurity.

What did two cybersecurity luminaries study to get into the industry?

Turns out, Bruce Schneier, CTO of Resilient Systems, and Hugh Thompson, a member of the RSA Conference Program Committee, took very different paths to where they are today. Thompson came from the world of math, and Schneier moved through rolls in startups and government and has wound up at Harvard University, as a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

“I find that now, being able to be in such a heady soup of smart people doing things that I never thought would be interesting, and having it affect what I’m doing is absolutely fricking fantastic,” Schneier tells Thompson.

“The best compliment I ever get is when someone says you changed the way I think,” he says. 

You can hear more of their conversation here: 

This podcast was produced by RSA Conference with interviews recorded by StoryCorps, a national non-profit whose mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share and preserve the stories of our lives: www.storycorps.org.