Some of our FixMeStick team members are stepping out from behind their computer screens and taking the spotlight. They’ve offered to share personal cybersecurity recommendations, as well as what inspired them to join the fight for cybersecurity. Let’s hear from the awesome people behind the products!
Marty Algire, Co-founder and CEO
What do you find interesting about working in cybersecurity?
I was initially exposed to internet security and privacy at my first job after university. I’ve been in the field ever since (25 years!). Cybersecurity and Internet privacy is interesting to me because of its philosophical and operational impacts on our society. It’s rewarding to me to help people with a practical and cost-effective way to remove infections from their computers.
How do you make sure your own devices are secure?
Even though I’m very technical, I’m sometimes not particularly enthusiastic about technology. To reduce the number of things that could go wrong (‘reduce the attack surface’ in security jargon), I minimalize. I try to run the fewest number of programs on the fewest number of devices and know what each one of them is.
What is something you think everyone should know about cybersecurity and how to secure their digital privacy?
Cybersecurity and internet privacy are wicked problems that affect us individually and sociologically along multiple dimensions. I can’t think of the best single thing everyone should know. The advice that I find myself repeating over and over to my parents and my kids is “Why did you install that? Are you sure you need it?”
Faizan, Accountant
How did you become interested in cybersecurity?
Being part of a generation that understands the complexities of navigating the internet safely, I feel it is my responsibility to protect the vulnerable population and spread awareness of the dangers of cybercrime. I feel a great sense of excitement every day to be part of the cybersecurity industry that helps millions of innocent people around the world from cybercriminals.
You are an accountant with access to the company’s critical accounts and data. What do you do to keep them secure?
Two-factor authentication and a cloud-based, encrypted backup.
Victoria Smith, Engineering
How did you start working in cybersecurity? I sort of fell into the job a few years ago, but I always had an interest in cybersecurity. It can be so fascinating to see new types of threats surface, and how they can evolve over time.
What is one thing you think everyone should know about cybersecurity and how to secure their digital privacy? Enabling ad-blocking features on your browser can do wonders when you’re surfing the web to make sure you don’t click on anything malicious by accident!
Corey Velan, Co-Founder
How did you start working in cybersecurity? What do you enjoy about it?
My first job out of school was working in internet privacy and that company ended up working on antivirus. Technically it is very interesting and challenging to work on and helping end-users is very gratifying.
What are a few things you do to secure your devices and stay safe online?
I use a password manager. It is critical to use different passwords for every site and hard to guess passwords. It is very difficult to remember them all. I use an up-to-date antivirus (McAfee) and run a FixMeStick scan every weekend.
What is one thing you think everyone should know about cybersecurity and how to secure their digital privacy?
It is ideal to have multiple layers of defence because no solution is perfect. That’s why you should use antivirus and FixMeStick and also why FixMeStick uses three engines to scan each file.
Do you have any burning questions for our team members? Let us know in the comments below!
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