GO PHISH
WE ‘ GO PHISHING ’ WITH AMIR JERBI , CTO AT AQUA SECURITY , WHO TELLS US ABOUT LIFE INSIDE
AND OUTSIDE THE OFFICE .
wWhat would you describe as your
most memorable achievement in the cybersecurity industry ?
My personal memorable achievement is related to starting my company about five years ago and the story of how it happened .
I was the Chief Architect of a large security software company , working on some very challenging problems that involved virtualisation and infrastructure security . As part of my work , I used to attend meetups on a weekly basis , ensuring I get up to speed with the greatest and latest technologies . At one of the meetups , I saw a demo of a cool new technology called Docker . It was a DevOps tool that allowed easy packaging of Linux applications . I remember getting back home and starting to use the technology – I was amazed by its simplicity and the range of
I left my job and started working on this new hobby , this time as a full-time entrepreneur . capabilities it had . It took me a few more days of working with the technology to actually ‘ fall in love ’ with it .
Over the next few weeks , I started looking more closely at the technology , trying to understand what else could be done with it . The concept of software that you can build once and run anywhere triggered my thinking about what security applications could be built with it , and whether there is a way that applications packaged as containers can also be ‘ secured anywhere ’.
After several more weeks I decided that leveraging containers for better security was my destiny – I left my job and started working on this new hobby , this time as a full-time entrepreneur . A year later I founded Aqua with my friends .
What first made you think of a career in cybersecurity ?
I started my career in the Israel Defence Forces ( IDF ), a mandatory service in Israel . I served there for about four years . Being part of the armed forces IT unit and working day-to-day on cyberthreats made me realise that the world is changing , from one that deals with crimes that are physical into a world that deals with crimes that are cyber . Someone with just a computer
and an Internet connection can attack commercial companies as well as countries and critical industries . For me , understanding this as a young person of 18 joining the IDF and being exposed to these kinds of dangers made me realise that this world is changing . In order to defend against these attacks , you need to understand the attack vector , how attackers work and create multiple levels of defence . I started very young !
What style of management philosophy do you employ with your current position ?
I believe in flat organisations . Ideas can and should come from all over the company , and everyone has a voice regardless of position or responsibility . At Aqua , all of our employees can very easily approach us with any idea , and if it ’ s a good idea we will give them the opportunity to go for it , to try it out and to promote it , regardless of their title and role in the organisation . www . intelligentciso . com
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