Sport, time outdoors and moments with his children have marked the routine of the Argentinean, who says he feels very comfortable in Uruguay, especially for the warmth with which they have been treated. In terms of work, the businessman's company focuses on aspects of cybersecurity and was born with a strong digital imprint, so remote work never involved great efforts for Stranieri.
Uruguay is not a foreign territory for the Argentinean company. VU has been present in these lands since 2012, when they began to provide cybersecurity solutions for Banco República, Itaú and the British Hospital.
This, in a way, made it easier for Stranieri to adapt quickly and now they are looking to enlarge the work team. "We hope to set up a research and development lab with 10 to 15 developers focused on cybersecurity," he said.
Outside the professional plans, the Argentine businessman commented that he is fascinated with Uruguay. Not only for the friendliness of the Uruguayans, but also for the comfort they have found in Montevideo, something that ends up facilitating the work life of both Stranieri and his wife. The couple -both CEOs-, have been able to enjoy more time with their children since in Argentina the distances are longer and there were outings that they could not go to due to lack of time."While one goes jogging, the other stays with the kids making sand castles on the beach, "Stranieri said.
Something that has not changed is that work is always present. Every dinner ends up being a board meeting, the businessman laughed. As the two executives, they often discuss and talk about plans, reviews, best practices and teams. "The reality is that we are both passionate about what we do, so it's hard to get away from that," he added.
Similarly, they try to leave work at the office when they are with their children or on weekends when they go on holiday. They do this not only for their own mental health, but also for the well-being of the family and to balance work and family life.
The Israel of Latin America
In 2013, Stranieri was honored with the Technology Review Award from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). This confirmed that the entrepreneur was on the right track and, in his own words, was able to combine his profession as a hacker with business acumen.
Locally, the expert believes that Uruguay is making efforts to develop innovation in terms of cybersecurity. Being an issue that nowadays cannot be overlooked, because it ends up being detrimental to companies, the allocation of resources in conjunction with proper training is key.
Stranieri not only believes that Uruguay is on the right track, but that it has the conditions to be a pioneer in the region. This excites him to contribute his grain of sand and for the country to become the "Israel of Latin America".
Motivation to become a hacker
In the medium term it will be seen whether the country managed to seize the opportunity or let it pass by. One point that will be essential is to encourage more students to take careers related to digital security. "Thekids who are coming out of high school and are in the transition period with the university, we have to motivate them to be hackers," Stranieri explained.
He gave as an example that on a personal level he found that motivation and when he realized that he already had enough skills from a technological point of view, he combined them with business aspects. That's when he became an entrepreneur. "I became a guy who realized that I could generate benefits for companies," he said emphatically.
At the academic level, there is, for example, the cybersecurity career recently launched by the ORT University. Stranieri highlighted in this sense the role and vision of the dean of the Faculty of Engineering of ORT, Eduardo Mangarelli, since thanks to his experience and his bid, a precedent was set.
In fact, from VU will launch a basic training that will have a certification in each of the countries where the company is present. The idea is that it will be 100% free and will allow you to learn the basics to enter the hacker world.
Priorities
The pandemic brought light to the cybersecurity industry, as many companies began to suffer digital attacks. VU grew around 100% in the last year and the outlook for the short term is to continue on this upward curve.
In order to continue riding the wave, the specialist commented that we must start paying special attention to digital identity. This means being able to take care of and protect customers in each of the roles they assume in their daily lives.
"I, digitally, am not the same at work as I am at the bank or when I pay a tax," Stranieri said. The fundamental step will be to be able to uniquely identify the person and thus protect them from possible attacks that end up affecting their daily lives.
The other important point is to protect the infrastructure at the national level.
This means preventing certain attacks, such as those that have occurred in recent months and that have victimized national laboratories working on issues related to the pandemic. "It is mandatory to be able to invest in these issues," Stranieri summarized.
Beyond the challenges of the industry, the businessman is confident that Uruguay can begin to move the needle of the rest of the continent. "Uruguay combines good possibilities with an excellent welfare to live. We go back to the beginning: time will tell if we take advantage of the opportunity or if we stand still," Stranieri said.
https://www.elobservador.com.uy/nota/el-hacker-argentino-que-busca-convertir-a-uruguay-en-el-israel-de-la-ciberseguridad-202133016280
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