Guel has a B.A in Mathematics with a minor in Cybernetic Systems and has also completed a two-year program in Biblical Studies, receiving an Associate of Arts degree.
[2] In her early days of cybersecurity, the Morris Worm attack had occurred in 1988[3] and Guel was a part of the incident response, while serving as an intern at the NASA Ames Research Center.
After eleven years at NASA Ames in multiple roles, she then moved on to work at Cisco, joining on as a founding member of its internal security team.
Additionally, Guel is listed as a co-inventor on the patent for “Techniques for voice-based user authentication for mobile access to network devices.”[8] For her work, she is a National Cyber Security Award Winner.
[9] She has received two awards from the Anita Borg Institute, surrounding her work in bringing in more female representatives into the field of cybersecurity and into technology in general.
After graduating in 1980, she attended San Jose State University and received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics.
Lastly, she went back to San Jose State University in 2014 and received her Masters of Science degree in Software Engineer, with a concentration in Cybersecurity in 2016.
She specialized in many different areas, including quality assurance (QA), customer service, and information technology.
[1] Aside from her vast work experience in the field of cybersecurity and STEM in general, Guel was also passionate about Christianity and preaching the gospel.
[3] Being a part of the effort to restore the internet after this cyberattack was what caused Guel to realize she was heavily interested in cybersecurity and wanted to do more work in said field.
[10] This led to her helping create and lead the information security program at the research center’s NAS Facility in 1989, a year after the Morris Worm attack.
[13] Following that, she wrote a report in 2002 on information security, titled “A Framework for Choosing Your Next Generation Authentication/Authorization System.”[14] Additionally, she has served as a co-author or mentor for two publications, both with author Brooke Schoenfield.
6 years later, in July, Guel went back to the San Jose State University and received the Advanced Certificate in Secure Software Engineering.
In 2014, She was recognized by the SANS Institute as a “Person who made a difference” in the field of cybersecurity,[18] for her work at Cisco, specifically in creating their Security Knowledge Empowerment, or SKE, program, which has proven to be significantly helpful to the company’s endeavors.
[19] In 2015, Guel received the ABIE Women of Vision Award for Leadership, provided by the Anita Borg Institute.
Unfortunately, as of May 2022, Guel decided to leave her position at Cisco to take care of her husband, who recently passed away, but at the time, was sick.