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#LifeAtWebroot

January 20, 2021 By PC Portal

Employee Spotlight: The Human Faces Behind Artificial Intelligence

Webroot BrightCloud® Threat Intelligence relies on the collective power of millions of devices working together. But what sometimes gets lost is the actual humans behind bringing this technology to market. In this Employee Spotlight, we talk to Account Development Executive, Jordan Gray, who works with C-level executives to integrate threat intelligence solutions within their environments.

What brought you to Webroot?

In 2018, I was looking for a career change away from insurance. After doing some extensive research into the market, I decided that the tech industry, particularly in Ireland, was right for me as more and more tech companies start setting up offices here. After initially setting up a call with a recruiter to discuss a role at Webroot, I fell in love with the product and company vision. The rest is history!

What is your role in the company?

My main role requires me to conduct high level discovery calls and sessions to BANT qualify C-Level and VPs before passing qualified opportunities onto our Sales Director to discuss integration and pricing in detail.

Have you ever had any close calls with malicious actors?

Thankfully, I never had any close calls with real malicious actors. However, about six months into my role at Webroot, I was successfully phished by our IT department who were sending out simulated phishing emails at the time. They sent me a delivery notice from a courier that was sending me a parcel and I clicked the link without checking. Nonetheless, I brushed up on my security awareness training afterwards! Lesson learned from me.

What are the top three malicious actors you think people should be concerned about?

Coronavirus scams are spreading nearly as fast as the virus itself. As of Jan. 3, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had logged more than 298,000 consumer complaints related to COVID-19 stimulus payments, 68 percent of them involving fraud or identity theft. They’ve also shut down hundreds of suspected phishing sites, which promise vaccines and other aid. That being said, our Tier-1 URL filtering can really help organizations block access to malicious sites keeping them and their customers safe.

Malware is the second big threat facing businesses. It encompasses a variety of cyber threats, such as trojans and viruses. It’s a general term for malicious code that hackers create to gain access to networks, steal data or destroy data on computers. Malware usually comes from malicious website downloads, spam emails or from connecting to other infected machines or devices. Businesses can stay safe by using Webroot’s industry leading endpoint protection.

Ransomware is one of the most common cyber-attacks, hitting thousands of businesses every year. They’ve grown more common recently, as they are one of the most lucrative forms of attacks. According to Forbes, ransomware payments have more than doubled in the last 12 months.

How have malicious threats evolved since the early days of the internet to now?

Cyber threats are evolving every day. Hackers are constantly looking for new ways to exploit individuals and organizations. It’s becoming easier for even amateur hackers to access high-level malicious software, with the availability of ransomware as a service (RaaS).  This allows highly skilled cyber criminals to create malware and sell it off to other cyber criminals, making a profit without the risk of deploying the malware themselves.

How have our defenses evolved to match the growing threats that malicious actors represent?

Webroot is currently using 6th Generation machine learning (ML), which uses complex neural networks that allow the machine to more accurately and autonomously identify relevant patterns and concepts within continually growing amounts of telemetry from Webroot customers.

What specifically is Webroot doing with regards to its threat intelligence platform to combat these increasingly sophisticated attacks?

Webroot’s threat Intelligence platform continues to improve every day. We have a uniquely diverse customer base, from consumer to small and midsize businesses and all the way up to the enterprise. So, we see every type of online threat. Also, we have started to work closer with our partners to identify how we can solve industry problems such as the cloud access security broker (CASB) market and become leaders within these market segments.

Where do you think the future of threat intelligence is headed? 

The market is still growing. Research suggests threat intelligence could be a $13 billion market by 2023. Organizations of all sizes are starting to use threat intelligence. I personally think cybersecurity will move from reactive to proactive. Threat intelligence will effectively predict and prevent attacks at the earliest stage, and sooner or later, underpin the whole concept of proactive cybersecurity and organizational risk.

What else are you into besides threat intelligence?

I am a big football fan, or soccer as the guys in the U.S. would say. In my free time, you’d find me watching Manchester United play while having a Guinness or spending time going on road trips with my girls when COVID and the weather permits. 

The post Employee Spotlight: The Human Faces Behind Artificial Intelligence appeared first on Webroot Blog.

Filed Under: #LifeAtWebroot, brightcloud threat intelligence, IT Security Tagged With: syndicated

November 12, 2020 By PC Portal

Employee Spotlight: From Building Code to Building Teams

Reading Time: ~ 3 min.

Webroot is a dynamic team of hard-working individuals with diverse backgrounds. One of those hard-working individuals is Ben Jackson, Senior Manager of Software Development, Engineering. Ben started off building pages in HTML. Now he leads high-performing teams and helps develop architectures from his home in the UK. We sat down with Ben to find out how he got into software and where he sees the biggest growth opportunities.

What were you doing before working at Webroot?

I worked at a Smart Meter manufacturer in the UK on their manufacturing systems and had a short stint at a big UK retailer called Next working on their retail website.

What brought you to Webroot?

The opportunity to work on some really cool tech, and the people and culture really attracted me.

What is your role in the company?

I am a Senior Software Development Manager for the Sky Services and Efficacy tools.

How did you get into software development?

I took a shine to it from an early age when I was trying to find something to do for a career back at school. I started with the most basic HTML web page in my spare time by copying the code from a textbook into notepad and saving it as an html file to see it run. I have never looked back.

What are the primary coding languages you specialize in?

Microsoft .net framework technologies with languages such as C#. I can use Visual Basic but I’m not a huge fan, and also Java.

What are the advantages of those languages and how do they manifest themselves in your work?

C# is in the core of what we do as a team. All our applications are in the Microsoft .net framework stack, and through the use of .net core in a lot of our new projects, we can run our code on any operating system, making it very easy to deploy, such as in Linux or Docker containers.

What parts of your job require you to think outside of strictly writing code, for example, system architecture, use cases, etc.?

Most of my job requires me to think outside of writing code, especially working with other engineering teams, product management, and helping design the architecture of some of our decoupled systems.

What are your proudest accomplishments as a software engineer?

I have contributed to and led numerous software projects in my career that I am very proud of, but my proudest achievements are in building teams that work together to deliver something special and noteworthy in terms of how the team collaborated together, especially my current team.

Where do you think the future of software development is headed?

It is tricky to say as direction changes all the time and people have such differing opinions, but I feel it will certainly be the continuation of the cloud (Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud) being king. The management of the infrastructure to run applications will further be detached from the developer so that they will just be writing the code and handing it over to the cloud to deploy, scale and manage for you automatically. Serverless architectures will become more of the norm, I think.

War Games or The Matrix?

War Games! It was released the year before I was born, but I have grown up with it through watching re-runs.

What else do you like to do besides coding?

I am a big football (soccer) and sports fan and try to watch as much as I can. I used to play 11-a-side football as a goalkeeper every Saturday for a local team until my recent retirement to spend more time with my two children, who are my biggest focus now outside of work.

Any personal details or stories you’d like to share?

I once appeared on a Portuguese news channel while at a friend’s stag (bachelor party). I was dressed as a pirate, doing the iconic scene from the film Titanic at the front of a fishing boat as it came into the harbor. For some reason, a news crew interviewed us and ran it on the early evening news with the Titanic theme song by Celine Dion playing in the background. I have no idea why they found us so interesting!

Want to find out about job opportunities at Webroot? Visit our careers page.

The post Employee Spotlight: From Building Code to Building Teams appeared first on Webroot Blog.

Filed Under: #LifeAtWebroot, IT Security Tagged With: syndicated

October 29, 2020 By PC Portal

Employee Spotlight: Nurul Mohd-Reza, Customer Retention Specialist

Reading Time: ~ 4 min.

Nurul Mohd-Reza knows how to empathize with the customers she serves. Her work with marginalized groups as a college student, she says, helped prepare her for when the pandemic turned many of her customers’ businesses upside down last March.

Here she discusses what she’s learned after just 10 months in the industry and provides some advice for those looking to dive headfirst into something new.

Tell us a little bit about your career background. How did you get to where you are today?

I started working at Webroot back in January, so my time here hasn’t been long. For most of my collegiate career I worked in the Division of Student Affairs at CU Boulder, focusing specifically on leadership and development. I served as a student advisor to university officials and local businesses. And so, as time went on, I became very interested in the dynamic between people and business. From there, I knew I wanted to dive deeper into this realm but was unsure on how to get started. So after college I began working in healthcare operations.

I believe what got me interested in this career path was when I attended Denver Start Up Week, which was a phenomenal experience. It opened my eyes to the unfamiliar world of customer success. Seeing how companies used technology and data to proactively understand their customer persona, and on top of that, scale engagements to fit their customer’s needs was truly insane. I thought what better way of molding my interests than being on the front lines serving as an advocate between people and product.

And how did you land at Webroot specifically?

It’s a funny story. I had come across this position and halfway through filling out the application I thought I might not be well-equipped for the role, so I actually ended up not finishing the application. And then a recruiter reached out to me and said they were interested in starting a conversation. It was unconventional, but I’m very grateful she reached out because it gave me an opportunity to explain my transition and why I wanted to make that jump into tech. 

From there, I ended up interviewing here at Webroot and it was a great experience overall. Being early on in my career, I knew I wanted to work in an environment that obviously fostered growth, professionally and personally. After speaking with my current boss, I was very optimistic about the trajectory of Webroot, as well as the vision for Customer Success and this team specifically.

What are your core responsibilities as a customer retention specialist?

I would say my time is split between two main responsibilities. My primary role is to oversee the renewal process for a subset of SMBC contracts projected for the quarter. On the other hand, we are a customer facing role. So handling business customer inquiries as they arise. This involves everything from advising customers on certain buying decisions to providing in-product guides.

However, we are starting to shift our focus on how to effectively connect with customers throughout their lifecycle. Previously, we’ve concentrated on the renewal period which is 90 days before expiration. Now, we’re starting to expand our scope and engage with customers to create those smooth onboarding workflows, as well as push early-on adoption of the product. 

At the end of the day, it’s really about strategy—how do we effectively educate and guide the customer to build depth behind the product in hopes of retaining that relationship for the long haul.

What would you say has been the most significant challenge of your career so far?

I think one of the most significant challenges was switching to an industry I’d never worked in before. The learning curve was steep in terms of familiarizing myself with the products we offer, our workflow with all the various systems we use, and the dynamic relationships between our various partners.

In Customer Success, it’s not simply about securing renewals. The process involves having to solve roadblocks in order to help a customer achieve their goal. We have to work with a range of departments to solve issues the customer is facing—whether it be from a product standpoint or a billing redundancy. So being able to learn each player’s role and then manage those relationships was obviously a challenge to begin with. It’s exciting, though. It keeps you on your feet and you get to meet a lot of new people from diverse backgrounds. 

Another obvious challenge was COVID-19. I had only been working in the office for about two months when the pandemic hit. Learning how to onboard remotely was new and something I had to juggle with most definitely.

What skills do you feel have carried over well from your work in public affairs?

I believe Customer Success is focused on building relationships with our customers—which to my advantage was a valuable skill I carried over from my work in public affairs. In this role, it’s very important to enjoy solving problems and addressing issues head-on. You have to be incredibly flexible and create some sense of fluidity in the midst of a growing que of customer requests.

In my previous role, I worked with marginalized communities to combat an array of social issues. So learning how to communicate with empathy, while also moving with focus and intent was crucial and very much transcends into my current role now.

Do you have a favorite part of the job after 10 months with the company?

I’m optimistic about being able to refine the customer journey. I believe the beauty behind Customer Success is it’s still an unknown territory. Everywhere you look, companies have a different way and methodology on how they interact with the customer. Not to mention, the type of technology and automation coming into play is fascinating.

In addition to that, our team is fairly new, which gives us a range of autonomy to create the structure and the formatting that we believe will best deliver value to our customers throughout their lifecycle. Although we are now part of a 15,000-person organization, it still feels like a start-up environment. We are constantly working to strategize and envision how we want the customer experience to evolve. To me, it’s very exciting to be at the intersection of all these moving parts. 

Any advice for someone in your same situation, looking to cross over into the tech industry?

Well, given my experience, I’d say don’t doubt your capabilities. No experience is wasted experience. Even if you might not be the absolute perfect fit for a position, you have a breadth of skills you’ve developed over the past couple of years that will help mold you into whatever new role you’re interested in.

I believe one of the best pieces of advice I was ever given was don’t close a door on yourself before the opportunity even presents itself. By saying you can’t do this, or you don’t have the skills for that, you’ve already blocked out all these great possibilities. So be open to new experiences and don’t hold back.

To see what positions are available for you at OpenText, visit our careers page here.

The post Employee Spotlight: Nurul Mohd-Reza, Customer Retention Specialist appeared first on Webroot Blog.

Filed Under: #LifeAtWebroot, IT Security Tagged With: syndicated

September 14, 2020 By PC Portal

Celebrating Women in STEM for National Coding Week and IT Pro Day

Reading Time: ~ 3 min.

Women of Webroot and Carbonite talk about what drew them to the field and their advice for others looking to break into STEM.

The lack of representative diversity in tech has been long acknowledged and well-studied. 

Organizations and non-profit groups like National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT), Girls Who Code and She++ do excellent work to help address the issue. CIO, a digital magazine for tech business leaders, maintains a helpful hub of resources “dedicated to uplifting women in tech, pushing inclusivity in the workplace and closing the diversity gap.”

Unfortunately, despite this wealth of organizations dedicated to researching and addressing the problem, meaningful progress has been harder to come by. (And if you’re not convinced this is a problem, consider this: a study of 500 U.S.-based companies found that racial and gender diversity was associated with increased sales revenue, market share and relative profits.)

CIO reports that women in tech remain underpaid, underrepresented and more likely to be discriminated against. Despite holding 57 percent of professional positions in the U.S., women hold only 26 percent of positions in tech. Half of all women in STEM fields report experiencing workplace discrimination. The percentage of female computer scientists is actually falling in America.

September 14 kicks off National Coding Week and the third Tuesday of September (September 15 this calendar year) is National IT Professionals day. In celebration, we’ve asked some of the female IT professionals within our organization about representation in IT, what drew them to the field and advice for other women interested in STEM.

What led you to a career in STEM?

“After starting my career as a web design and developer, I became more involved in the web development which led me to where I am today, a principal UI engineer. I’ve always had a passion for making flat designs come to life and find it very exciting when I see my work go live.” – Christiane Evans, Principal UI Engineer

What makes you proud to be a woman in STEM?

“Realizing there are no wrong questions and no one knows everything, I resolved to challenge myself to learn something new every day. If being a woman in tech makes me different, then I am proud to be different. So, I say follow your passion. That passion and talent will take you miles, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” – Kirupha Balasubramian, Sr. Devops Engineer

What advice would you give to women looking to join a STEM field?

“Be curious. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Challenge yourself to solve problems. Never stop learning; continue learning new technologies to buil your skills and toolset. Put in the hard work, know your work inside out and you’ll feel confident in your abilities.” – Krystie Shetye, Director of Software Development

What would you say is one of the greatest challenges for women working in STEM?

“Working in engineering is its own constant learning curve. I think women should look for support everywhere we can to assure ourselves. We can and should do whatever we want to – no matter the barriers. Technology changes so fast, we have to constantly adapt. Though that’s part of the reason I love it here and why I love engineering as a career.” – Mingyan Qu, VP of Quality Engineering

Putting our values to work

The skills gap in cybersecurity is real and a detriment to businesses of all sizes. We believe there’s room enough for everyone in STEM, and the industry needs all the help it can get.

Webroot and its parent company OpenText are committed to diversity in hiring. In its 2020 Corporate Citizenship Report, OpenText reaffirmed its support of the 30% Club and committed to the goal of 30% of board seats and executive roles to be held by women by 2022.

To see what positions are available for you at OpenText, visit our careers page here.

The post Celebrating Women in STEM for National Coding Week and IT Pro Day appeared first on Webroot Blog.

Filed Under: #LifeAtWebroot, IT Security Tagged With: syndicated

September 12, 2019 By PC Portal

Employee Spotlight: Chat with Alia AlaaEldin Adly

Reading Time: ~ 3 min.

According to a report from hired.com, the demand for security engineers is up 132%. Additionally, the need for engineers who specialize in data analytics and machine learning has increased by 38% and 27%, respectively. Given recent trends in cybersecurity, it’s no wonder, and demand at Webroot is no exception. To be successful, our software engineers have to stay ahead of AI and machine learning trends so they can explore, work, grow, and effectively evolve tech in the cybersecurity industry.  

We talked to Alia AlaaElDin Adly, a software engineer based in Linz, Austria. In her role, Alia is constantly looking for new technology, testing platforms, and developing the new solutions to stay ahead of modern threats.  

What is your favorite part of working as a software engineer?

I enjoy exploring new technology and frameworks, specially figuring out problems by hand. Software engineers don’t always receive all the requirements up front, so we need to develop strategies and work on tasks without having all the pieces necessary to execute. For example, take the testing framework SpecFlow. We had to do a lot of research, have numerous brainstorming sessions, and rework the project outline to create a viable structure that would fit the needs of our APIs. It’s a fun challenge.

What does a week as a software engineer look like?

It really depends on the task at hand. Some tasks take a day or two, and others can take quite a bit longer. In planning, most tasks are designed to be completed in a maximum of two days, but, when you meet an unexpected obstacle and need to find a workaround, the task needs more time. Also, you have to factor in how much research or prototyping a task may require. One thing I can say about working at Webroot is that I am learning a lot. It’s like a rollercoaster ride: ups and downs, lefts and rights, spirals, and just when you think you’re done, even more spirals!

What have you learned / what skills have you built in this role?

When I started, I had pretty bad documentation habits. You hear a lot about the importance of documentation in school, but some lessons don’t really sink in until you have to face them in a real-world setting. I would say I still need to work on it, but my documentation has really improved! I am also getting better at having a proper project structure, and I’m really enjoying all the new tools and technologies I get to learn, like the Specflow framework and Xamarin forms.

What is your greatest accomplishment in your career at Webroot so far?

I work on the Unity API team based in Linz, Austria. The Webroot® Unity API is a platform that enables admins to dig deeper into the services and information Webroot offers. It’s a really useful tool for a lot of our customers, and I helped build out a automation testing framework to create smoke and regression tests for the API. Also, I managed and organized the end-of-year spotlight video that showcased what our team had accomplished.

What brought you to Webroot after your last job?

I was already in Austria completing my masters when I applied for the job. During the interview process, I liked how Webroot felt like a family. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming the day I started. Instead of making me feel like a nervous newcomer, they brought me in and helped me feel involved and important right away. And it has stayed that way.

Best career advice you’ve received?

To always be flexible and not limit yourself. You have to be curious not only about the world around you, but what you can do in it. If you keep your options open, you’re more likely to discover new strengths, and new (and exciting!) challenges to overcome.

What is your favorite thing to do in Linz?

I enjoy walking around in the city center and along the Danube River. I also like to go cycling, climbing, and running. During spring and summer, I usually bike to work and I like going to the lake to play beach racket. Of course, I love traveling and visiting new cities and countries! I feel very lucky that Webroot’s Linz office is in such a good location, which makes quick day trips and weekend travel really easy.

The post Employee Spotlight: Chat with Alia AlaaEldin Adly appeared first on Webroot Blog.

Filed Under: #LifeAtWebroot, IT Security Tagged With: syndicated

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