To commemorate F-Secure’s 30th year of innovation, we’re profiling 30 of our fellows from our more than 25 offices around the globe.
There are all kinds of reasons why people work in cyber security. The pay is good. So are the opportunities in the industry and the challenges of the job. But for F-Secure’s Christine Bejerasco, what really sets cyber security apart from other IT jobs is the chance to protect people that aren’t able to protect themselves.
“As a threat analyst, nothing beats a day when you find a truly proactive way to protect against a particular family of threats and release the protection to the users,” says Christine. “Back when I was a fresh computer science graduate looking for a job, there were lots of programming and tech support jobs available, but they weren’t very interesting. So I kept on looking until I bumped into a former classmate of mine who mentioned that he was currently a trainee in an antivirus company and was aiming to become an antivirus engineer. I thought that was pretty cool and imagined it must feel like wearing a cape to work (sorry Edna Mole), so I applied for it.”
Fast forward to today, and Christine now leads the Research and Development of F-Secure’s line of consumer security products and services.
“My average workday is spent filling gaps when I encounter them. So it can range from looking at threats and proposing solutions for them, to bringing people from different functions together, to eliminating roadblocks, to presenting to some audience and to being the manager who helps ensure that objectives are being met and people are still doing well,” says Christine.
She was also recently elected to serve on F-Secure’s Board of Directors – something she thinks would surprise most people considering she started as a malware analyst.
And to Christine, it shows what a unique culture F-Secure has. “F-Secure is unique because even though it can look like an enterprise focused on being a successful business, it’s fueled by the vision that we’re working to make the world a safer place for people. I joined the board to help us stick to that vision as F-Secure grows and becomes an even bigger business, and remind the cyber security world why it’s a better place with F-Secure in it.”
Looking ahead, Christine envisions a heavily integrated future where resources are more shared than owned, which she thinks will lead to innovative ways on how time, labor, and other resources are used to solve problems.
No matter how the technologies within cyber security evolves, she feels that it’s important to remain focused on people.
“Cyber security should prioritize the needs of real people instead of obsessing over certifications that dictate whether or not a solution is good. An amazing security solution is one that protects people from current threats and minimizes their attack surface against future threats. We can figure that out not only by engineering solutions inside our organizations but also by listening to our users to make sure that what we do works for them – a real solution is one that enables users to do more safely and securely instead of simply restricting what they do with technology.”
Check out our open positions if you want to join Christine and the hundreds of other great fellows fighting to keep internet users safe from online threats.
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