From cybersecurity co-ops to women in tech, Sara Takhim makes her mark

Photo by Sarah Olender.

One evening, as a girl binge-watched CSI: Cyber, she pondered the question many young people tackle: What was she was passionate about? And as she noticed the digital forensics and cybersecurity ideas sticking with her, she found her answer.

Fast forward a couple of years, and this girl found herself as a third-year cybersecurity major co-oping at NCC Group. This is the ambitious story of Sara Takhim, who, through stints at IBM, New York City Cyber Command, CACI International, and Code Ninjas, has grown her passion in an ever-growing field that offers new things to learn every day.

That passion began with a middle-school computer obsession and continued with Takhim’s pursuit of professional internships and certifications in high school.

“I am fortunate enough to have a dad that works in the fintech space, so he is pretty aware of cybersecurity,” Takhim said. “He was kind of my advisor, and I cannot thank him enough for where I am right now.”

In her recently concluded co-op at the NCC Group, Takhim was a security consultant who advised clients on how to keep their data safe and secure.

“I was a penetration tester; I worked with other consultants to look for vulnerabilities within the client’s web applications, or their internal and external networks,” Takhim said. “We found these vulnerabilities and provided our clients with recommendations on how to fix them. It was pretty insane!”

The goal, Takhim adds, was protecting the client’s data using the three pillars of security: “Confidentiality is protecting data, making sure that someone who doesn’t have permission to see certain information cannot see it. Integrity is ensuring data isn’t altered or changed. Availability is ensuring the service is always available for whoever needs it in that point in time.”

Takhim also explained how hackers tend to get creative with their tactics.

“Hackers are always trying to do something different and quirky and are trying to find new vulnerabilities,” Takhim said. “There is always a new update being released or a new technology, and they are always going to find a back door in terms of how to break into it and exploit it.”

Apart from her co-op, Takhim was lucky enough to intern with IBM in the summer of 2022.

“I was specifically on the incident response side of things,” she recalled. “I did engage in a ton of training, including preparing interns for an actual breach. I led the data breach response for the simulation that we were going through.”

But Takhim’s impact isn’t limited to the workplace. She is also the president of Northeastern University Women in Technology (NUWIT), a student organization that uses community events, mentoring, and networking to support women pursuing technology, information science, and computing.

“I’ve always been big into leadership; I’ve always held leadership positions and tried to make an impact, whether it’s my hometown, my high school, or Northeastern,” Takhim said. “It’s always been a part of who I am. I knew that I wanted to have some sort of leadership position, and NUWIT was the place that spoke to me the most.”

READ: Former NUWIT President Rachel Li mentors new CS students at CoSMO

Takhim explained that after joining NUWIT virtually as a first year in 2020, she knew she wanted to contribute more, to help others grow and gain exposure. She quickly started getting visions of what she could do as a leader.

“I could immediately sense it was a community that was bigger than myself. The entire goal of the organization was to help others in the field with making connections and learning more about technology in general,” she said. “In my sophomore year I was elected as an outreach coach, so I was the one out there planning meetings and assigning different tech talks.”

“I was elected president for this school year, and I couldn’t have been happier,” she continued. “It’s all about helping others in the field — women and gender minorities specifically — to break into the field, learn about new technology, and make connections.”

Throughout, Takhim’s innate leadership abilities have helped her adjust in her roles at NUWIT, and that adaptability should serve her well in a challenging field that keeps her on her toes.

“There is so much to read up on, at certain points I feel like I know such a little fraction of cybersecurity,” Takhim conceded. “You always feel like you aren’t doing enough sometimes, but in the end, when you find a critical vulnerability, you feel like it pays off.”

Takhim plans to continue working within the cybersecurity ambit, and after drawing inspiration from the passion of her Khoury College professors, she hopes she can inspire other students and young professionals to undertake this deep, ever-growing field.

From a girl binge-watching CSI: Cyber to a cybersecurity professional helping clients find vulnerabilities in their computer programs and protect themselves from hackers, Takhim has come a long way. And she’s just getting started.

Subscribe to Khoury News