Florentina Ferati (she/her)

Tina (she/her) works as a Lead Security Engineer at Facebook, protecting Facebook’s most sensitive data and corporate infrastructure. Day to day, she leverages her digital forensics, investigation and data analytics skills to solve complex cases and improve the security posture of corporate and production environments. Another big part of her role is working alongside software engineers to improve detection systems and response capabilities to mitigate and defend against large scale threats.

1. What do cybersecurity and crypto mean to you?

In today’s society, much of our lives and activity is digital. Back in the day, we kept our most sensitive things at home, at a bank, or in a secure vault, whereas today, most, if not all, of our sensitive information lives online, making cybersecurity everyone’s problem and priority; we all want our data to be safe and secure.

During middle school, when I had just gotten WiFi at home, I remember receiving tons of “interesting” emails to my newly created account. Being new to the Internet, I assumed that the messages I received must be valid, so one day I fell for an enticing offer to become a millionaire. The only thing between me (a teenager) and millions of dollars of heritage was a money transfer of a few hundred dollars via Western Union… I think we all know how this type of story ends: I was a few hundred dollars poorer and not a millionaire.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but I think this experience was one of my unconscious drivers towards cybersecurity. To me, cybersecurity really means enabling people to feel safe and protected in a virtual environment as much as, or even more than, in the physical world. It also means making it possible for everyone to have the resources they need to understand basic security concepts and avoid common pitfalls of social engineering, spear phishing, and other attacks.

2. If you could wave a magic wand and solve one problem in tech, what would it be?

Making security and privacy tools easy to understand, more adaptable, and more intuitive to the general population, while at the same time not sacrificing the technical features that these tools need to outpace adversaries.

3. What is a piece of advice that you have found especially useful?

Speaking up on things you believe in truly matters.

Many times throughout my career, especially when starting a new role, I’ve experienced imposter syndrome and found myself hesitant to share my thoughts; I told myself that the people around me were exceptionally smart and already knew what they were doing. It took me a while to internalize that my ideas really do matter, and that I play a crucial part in shaping not only the future of my own growth, but also that of my team. Your authentic voice will drive change and provide a diverse perspective to solving challenging problems.

4. What’s a challenge you’ve faced, and how did you deal with it?

Backing up your ideas with data and knowing the “why”! When you feel passionate about something, it’s easy to assume that everyone else will feel the same way, but that’s not always the case; having the “why” ready to support your idea is key.

I’ve learned this the hard way on many occasions, but they ultimately helped me realize that while the need for cybersecurity is hard to measure and articulate, it’s not as hard as we might think. If spaceflight companies know how to measure their success metrics, I’m sure we can do the same for cybersecurity!

5. What is your favorite source of inspiration?

People I love and care about.

6. What is your favorite movie?

There are many movies I like, but one of my favorites is The Shawshank Redemption.