I used to let people like that scare me away from using the term “cybersecurity” professionally, and I used to be a bit of a curmudgeon about the term myself.

But when that line of work started putting food on the table, it really softened the ground. “Cybersecurity” is something people understand better than “infosec,” and a part of being a professional is being able to communicate about your work in relatable terms.

So I stopped worrying about those people. I came to discover few of them knew their way around my field, so I stopped being insulted by them. They didn’t know what they were talking about.