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The energy around gtechna’s 30th Anniversary continues. With a decade at gtechna as our Systems & Network Administrator and many more years of experience and expertise in all things IT Security-related from infrastructure security, database administration, and cloud solutions to infrastructure monitoring, network architecture, and Windows and Linux Systems, Emilio Laloshi will now expand his role and offer more of his know-how as gtechna’s newest Security Specialist. Traditionally, organizations are focusing on industry trends surrounding cybersecurity and privacy, but there is so much more ground to cover and shifts in the industry to stay ahead of. As such, Emilio will continue to act in the System & Network Administrator capacity while also leading our security team and gtechna’s overall vision and strategy as it pertains to information security.
We caught up with Emilio and picked his brain on several information security industry questions, gathering a sense of his plans for adding value as gtechna’s Security Specialist in the process. Read on for more:
Q: Can you give us a brief overview of what gtechna does?
A: “gtechna is essentially all about smart Parking Enforcement. Our solutions are powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, the backbone of the smart city, delivering an error-free experience for your enforcement team and frictionless service to the patrons of a city or municipality.”
Q: Currently, you are the Systems & Network Administrator at gtechna. How has this affected your approach to information security?
A: “There are companies that cite system administration and network administration interchangeably and while there are overlapping responsibilities, there is a difference still. In the system administration sphere, there’s a focus on servers and computer systems. Network administrators work with more network-related tasks and equipment, like maintaining Local Area Network (LAN) and setting up IP addresses. In a smaller organization however, it is common to see these tasks and responsibilities wrapped up into one position. I’ve been accustomed to tackling all of these duties here at gtechna. As such, I’ve gathered a firm grasp on a wide breadth of information security topics and hot buttons. I also recognize through this hybrid type role that an organization needs someone who can influence the strategy of the information security team(s) rather than solely the enforcement and implementation of security duties.”
Q: What changes should we expect to see in the security team at gtechna?
A: “I want to impart a stronger culture of advocacy for our customers with regard to security of their data. This means enhancing transparency inside our organization and to the customers so they can better understand how our processes support securing their data. Also, I want to increase our customers’ adoption of going digital, which has no doubt impacted our daily lives and how business is done in huge ways. The Private Sector has historically been early adopters of technology while Government agencies are often behind the curve in adopting new digital ways, held back (and somewhat reasonably) by tedious procurement processes, and privacy and security concerns. These are shifts aligning to my intentions to offer more vision and strategy to our security department.”
Q: The Security Specialist role is new at gtechna. What excites you most about the position?
A: “While new, the industry is seeing more and more of this type of role and its associated value. What’s particularly exciting to me is the opportunity to integrate my experience and expertise to expanding what our security team was already made of. We can execute the typical duties associated with cybersecurity and privacy matters very well and I believe we can scale up in meeting and anticipating needs of our customers through my new role.”
Q: What are some of the cultural challenges that security teams face today?
A: “A close collaboration with product teams is imperative. You must work closely to build security into every process and get ahead of security approvals so that the security and product sides may realize their goals without compromising their specific objectives which could, in a worst-case scenario, cause a negative impact.”
Q: What emerging security trend are you seeing right now?
A: “Security of data is high on the list. Exchanging data is happening every second while organizations interact with one another. Customers, and frankly anyone and everyone, want to know what is being done with their data and what risks and attacks they are vulnerable to. Couple that with how cybersecurity risks constantly evolve and increase in sophistication and it’s clear why securing data is a hot button.”
Congratulations to Emilio Laloshi in his newly expanded role as Security Specialist here at gtechna!
