IT is everywhere, and our Road to ChannelCon has proved that. We recently visited Fortified Health Security in Franklin, TN, and Chicago Zoological Society at Brookfield Zoo in Illinois to learn more about the different industries IT pros work in. Keep reading and watch the videos to learn what it’s like to work in IT for the health care industry and at a zoo.
Fortified Health Security, Franklin, TN
Fortified Health Security is a managed security service provider (MSSP) in Franklin, TN, just outside of Nashville. The area is a hub for health care and IT, and the IT pros at Fortified Health Security explained what it’s like to work in health care security and what it takes to succeed in cybersecurity.
“The technologies that we’re protecting in hospitals, a lot of times, are linked specifically to a human person who is lying in a bed or on an operating table,” said Spencer Bales, senior security engineer.
Stewart Condadi, IT security engineer, added that almost every device they secure is sensitive or patient-facing, which raises the stakes for rolling out updates and tackling cybersecurity challenges. And Darius Davis, threat analyst, said that data loss prevention (DLP) is a major focus in health care security.
“Have a passion, get to know your IT infrastructure, understand your operating systems, what vulnerabilities exist or even what a vulnerability is, what an exploit is and understanding the tools in use,” said William Crank, chief operating officer. “If you have a passion for doing that and a basic understanding, you’re a prime candidate to be a great cybersecurity engineer.”
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Chicago Zoological Society at Brookfield Zoo, Brookfield, IL
Brookfield Zoo is a 216-acre property about 14 miles outside of Chicago, and while IT may not immediately come to mind when you think of the zoo, there’s a lot of tech that you wouldn’t expect.
“We actually have a wireless AP tucked into the ceiling [in the aviary], and it was coming down at one point,” said Annette Terpstra, IT security analyst. “One of the other help desk people and I had to go in and fix it. … While we were working on it, [the birds] were flying around. Things like that … it’s kind of unique to the zoo.”
Darlene Sumida, project manager, said getting away from her desk and going behind the scenes keeps her job interesting, and Lisa Carder, IT business analyst, says she never gets bored with all the events that IT supports.
“When I have a really frustrating day and that little bit of code doesn’t work, I can go outside and I can watch animals and I can get in nature and not be in an office,” said Todd Oakley, senior manager, IT.
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