An Interview with Oliver Zatezalo, a Serbian woman who was recently named One of the 20 most influential women in the field of Hi-Tech Security (Cyber Security) In Canada

Not everyone can boast of friendships that last more than thirty years. Olivera Zatezalo and I have known each other since our freshman days, and the fact that we have worked in competitive hi-tech companies for over twenty years has not managed to ruin our friendship. The flattering title she has recently received is the reason for this conversation with Olivera. She was named one of the 20 most influential women in Canada in the field of high-tech security (cyber security).

SAN: Can you tell us more about the award you have received? Who gives this award and who were the finalists?

Olivera: At the beginning of 2020, two Canadian organizations, IT World Canada and WISECRA (Women in Security and Resilience Alliance), established the award Top 20 Women in Cyber Security in Canada, with the desire to promote this profession and motivate more women to think about their career in the field of high-tech security (Cyber Security). Within 90 days, they received more than 170 nominations for women working in this field that included female experts from the Canadian government and military, university professors, company founders and Chief Security Officers at Canadian corporations. High-tech security is of critical importance to the further development of the Canadian economy, and the lack of experts in this area is of great concern. According to the Toronto Financial Services Alliance (TFSA) research, the demand for high-tech security talent is growing 7% each year and that by the end of 2021 we will have 8,000 unfilled positions. More than ever before, it is important to motivate as many women as possible to seek a career in this field (Cyber Security), because there are very few of us.

SAN: High-tech security is a recent term. Can you tell us a bit more about the defense against high-tech crime (cyber security)? What does that actually mean and how did you start with it?

Olivera: There are very clearly defined standards that must be respected for any branch of technological development (for example, modern mobile networks, IoT development, etc.). The task of experts in high-tech security is to create a Risk Control Program (Governance Program) based on the business model, provide insurance policies and, based on that, create a Management Plan and an Operational Plan on how to implement and maintain the level of accepted risk. To simplify, it is a set of controls that should be implemented in the design of a modern mobile network, which are then monitored in real time through the Security Operations Center. The idea is that the Security Operation Center has pre-implemented algorithms to monitor the accepted mode of online behavior. As soon as something goes out of the expected, an alarm is sent to the analysts who work in the center 24x7 and they start investigating the cause of the alarm sounding. It is a very dynamic environment, people who work in high-tech security (cyber security) are people who like intellectual challenges and like to solve problems. Coordination and cooperation with them and other experts in the company is very important, we share experience and information about new types of attacks and new defense strategies, so that everyone can find a way to deal with them together. I am very active in high-tech security organizations in Toronto, and also in Canada, and I regularly give lectures on the security of modern mobile networks, IoT security and cyber (high-tech) security and privacy frameworks for artificial intelligence to colleagues from various organizations and industries. That work and engagement outside of work gives me great pleasure and I always feel like I'm coming back to a place where we all understand and get along well and constantly learn from each other. I am currently on the Advisory Board of several Canadian and American companies, and this collaboration brings me great satisfaction and inspires me to go further. I think I will continue to be active as a lecturer and mentor even one day when I decide to stop working full time.

SAN: One of my professors once said that he is not sure how our generation will fare in life and that he is afraid that we will think that everything has already been invented. How far do you think our generation has managed to disprove my professor's suspicions and prove the opposite?

Olivera: I would just like to take us back to the early 1990s, when many of us who read SAN today came to Canada. A one minute call to ex-Yu countries was $2.30, our phone bills were often higher than our rent for the apartments we were renting in Toronto at the time. Now we are constantly in contact with family in Serbia, and with friends all over the world. We call them from the car, while we are traveling by train, and that is all included in the data transfer plan (mobile data). No one even thinks about how much money should be allocated for a minute of conversation. It is a technological achievement for which we should also be grateful to many of our colleagues, who worked in telecommunications upon arriving in Canada. In that period, Canada was one of the biggest telecommunication powers in the world and all of us who worked for telecommunication equipment manufacturers and operators are responsible for the world we are in now and in which communication is easy and relatively affordable when compared to phone bills of $400 and sometimes up to $800 that we paid upon arrival in Canada. The changes we have experienced in the past 25 years will be much more drastic in the next five years. New mobile networks will open doors to new jobs, our life and the jobs we do will be significantly different. The most important thing is to keep learning, be flexible and open to new knowledge.

SAN: What was the development path of your career? Have you ever doubted the path you chose?

Olivera: I started as a software engineer at AT&T Canada more than 20 years ago developing a system for collecting data from NORTEL networks. After that, I moved on to the development of a system that dealt with the detection of illegal use of networks (Fraud Detection). These were very interesting and for that time innovative algorithms, based on the analysis of data coming from the entire global network. After 10 years, I moved from the IT sector to the design of communication networks and to the development of systems that support and monitor communication networks. In 2015, within the company, I accepted the responsibility to lead the project of establishing a private communication network for the Canadian government and I led a team of over 200 engineers whose task was to implement security controls according to the requirements of the Canadian government, so that the network would be certified and comply with local regulations. Knowledge of how modern networks are designed and maintained was necessary for the position of Chief Cyber Security Officer on that project, because high-tech security (Cyber Security) includes all business domains of modern telecommunications operators, starting with personnel services, physical security, IT security networks, software procurement, etc. All processes followed must be compatible with Canadian government regulations. During that project, I was also a member of CSTAC (Canadian Telecommunication Security Advisory Committee), and became part of a team of cyber security experts dealing with the protection of national telecommunication networks. This experience opened the door to my current position, Chief Security Officer for Huawei Canada, where I continue to work for the Canadian government to verify all products that Huawei has sold to operators in Canada over the past 12 years.

SAN: I remember, at the time of our studies at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Belgrade, almost 50% of students in the department of Electronics and Telecommunications were girls. The percentage of girls studying technical colleges in Canada is much lower. What do you think is the real reason for that? How can the representation of girls in technical faculties be increased?

Olivera: I think we have to make an effort to develop a love for mathematics in the younger generations. I believe that this is one of the reasons why we don't have more girls in technology. From a young age, I went to summer and winter math schools. In summer, we went to Pecka, where we had swimming and math lessons. In winter, we went to the school in Divčibare, where we practiced winter sports in the morning, and interesting mathematics classes in the afternoon. I looked forward to those schools a lot, and most of my friends at the University were children from cities all over Serbia whom I met in those schools. Mathematics was fun; we associated it with socializing outside of school, with swimming, skiing, and friends from other parts of our country. I think it is very important to understand that the occupations of the future are changing, that we will witness artificial intelligence being used to replace many repetitive operational jobs, to replace miners who work in inhumane conditions, and to make many of the jobs in all branches of industry more efficient. Artificial intelligence is based on statistical data processing, i.e. in mathematics. We will also need mathematics in healthcare and pharmacology; it will be difficult to perform tasks in the future without knowledge of mathematics. We have to find a fun way to introduce children to the world of mathematics and exact sciences. I think this is one of the reasons why there are not equal numbers of girls or even technical and engineering students in the younger Canadian generations. I consider this a great danger, not only to gender diversity in technology occupations, but also to the Canadian economy. We must find a way to develop a love for mathematics in our children, and that as early as possible in their schooling. I am a frequent guest at Canadian universities, and globally, where I speak to female students on the subject, future women in technology, and of all the lectures I have given so far, I most fondly remember the lecture on "Artificial Intelligence and Occupations of the Future" that I gave in 2017 in Grammar school in Šabac, the Grammar school I graduated from, on the occasion of the celebration of its 180 years of existence.

SAN: Are there any advantages to being a woman in the IT industry and telecommunications and which ones?

Olivera: When I started working at AT&T Canada in 1996, there were only three women on the IT and Network design floor of 200 engineers. And then it was very clear that women bring a different dynamic; that the conversation starts to look more like an agreement than a discussion when at least one woman appears at the meeting. I personally think that it helped me and that I got more chances and promotions than some of my colleagues, because even then it was clear to the HR department that gender balance helps productivity. Now we have a slightly higher number of women in technology, in high-tech (cyber) security, that percentage is growing. Last year it increased to 24%. It's still not enough, but it's a lot better than it was. I would like this story of mine to inspire some of our girls to pursue a career in engineering and technology. This job took me on a trip around the world, I met and worked with people from all continents, gave lectures even to girls from Saudi Arabia, saw many different cultures and customs. From engineering, I went into the fields of journalism, economics, technology warfare, politics, and trade warfare. The experiences I went through could fit into a very interesting novel about negotiations, technological progress and, in general, the ability to learn to find comfort in the very uncomfortable situations I found myself in. It is a great and very interesting life experience that I would like to pass on to younger people.

SAN: Most of us came to Canada with two suitcases in search of a new and better life. How was your journey? Would you change anything if you had a chance?

Olivera: In 1994, many of our people came from the area of the former Yugoslavia. We were lucky enough to have more than fifty friends from the University with whom my husband and I studied. That mutual help and support meant a lot to us in the beginning. Even so, nostalgia often tormented me. I wish I had known then to rationalize and control those feelings. We found solace in frequent trips to Serbia and charity events, which we were always happy to attend. I am especially proud of the donation of the apparatus for testing hearing in newborn babies that we made as a family to the ENT Clinic of the Clinical Center of Serbia through the Life Line Foundation last year. Charity work and helping people in need is the best way to help yourself and others, and I'm sorry I didn't realize that earlier.

SAN: How did you manage to find a balance between your career and private life? What did you have to give up?

Olivera: This is a question that often bothers me as a mother and wife, and now also as the daughter of a mother who lives in Serbia. It is difficult to find a balance and devote enough time to everyone who deserves it. Now it's much better than before, I think the hardest period was when my son was little, when I was the only mom working in his group in kindergarten. It was one of the biggest trials I went through. I always felt guilty that I wasn't there to bring him home from school for lunch, to organize play dates for him like other moms. At one point I even thought about quitting. In that period, the help of the family was precious, my mom and my husband's mom organized themselves to help us by staying with us for a couple of months. It was very difficult. In such situations, we should understand that we cannot and do not have to do everything ourselves, that it is OK to delegate some things, ask for and accept help.

SAN: What would you say to young people who want to follow your footsteps?

Olivera: I would advise our young people to learn from our experiences, but also from our mistakes. I think it is very important to have a mentor, someone who understands their mentality, knows what motivates them, to be open to advice and to find their way through conversation and reflection of what they have been through and what they want. It is very important to love what you do, look for what fulfills you and pulls you forward, not to stay long in jobs that neither intellectually nor emotionally fulfill you. Make your own little world of like-minded friends and support and lift each other up, be professionally engaged outside of work, submit lectures and conference papers, and keep learning all the time. You should use this time of the pandemics to expand your horizons in every direction. Technology is the future, but precisely because of such rapid technological development, art, painting, and music will be even more important, to enrich and beautify our lives in difficult periods such as the one we are going through now. Keep working in the field that makes you happy and your own, every job is beautiful when you do it with your heart.