Selma and Adekunle are from the IT security team within Brand New Day. Adekunle is security analyst and Selma is the team lead.
Do you remember why you wanted to work here?
Selma: “I was working as an IT auditor and didn’t really like my job, because it was very repetitive. But I was meeting with clients who were information security officers and that’s how I knew: okay, this is what I want to do. But I had only been working for two-and-a-half years and I didn’t have much experience. And then I found this junior information security officer role here at Brand New Day.”
Adekunle: “I come from an IT infrastructure background, from systems administrator to supporting Microsoft Azure cloud – which, fortunately, is what we use here as well. After working for several companies in Nigeria, and remotely for a London-based company, I moved to the Netherlands for my previous, temporary job.”
How do you like it here?
“You get a lot of room to make impact and to share ideas with equally enthusiastic people. A freedom to either sink in it, or run away with it.”
And so far you’re running?
“I believe so!”
What was your experience like getting hired?
Adekunle: “Mine was a little bit of an anomaly because I initially applied for the role of Information Security Officer, but the company thought I would be a better fit for another one, that had not been advertised yet. But apart from that, it was quite straightforward, with quick feedback. I was also in the final stage of interviews with two other companies, but Brand New Day was quick to get back at me with a good offer.”
What do you like about working at Brand New Day?
Selma: “You get a lot of responsibility from day one. I found that a bit difficult at first, because I was not used to that. So it took me a few months to adapt. But in the end, the responsibility is what I really like about working here. You determine how you want to go about things without someone laying it all out for you. As long as you get results, how you get there is up to you. It’s the reason I’m still here.
But I also really like my colleagues. They bring a lot of joy to the workplace and that’s also very important. I like going to work. I feel like I can say anything and I can approach anyone. That’s something I really value.”
Adekunle: “I’ve not been here very long yet. But it’s always good if you can walk up to the next guy and ask questions about what you’re working on, or just to clarify. Also the Thursday events are a good networking opportunity to meet people who you probably don’t work with day-to-day. So I would say it’s a warm environment.”
Selma: “When I started, I was the only one working fulltime on information security. We were a young company, and of course we still are. But we’re growing, we have more clients, more money. That makes the work field very dynamic. And because the environment is changing fast, your work is never the same. There are always new challenges. We want to do a lot of things here, but time is limited so you have to make sure that you focus on the right things.”
Tell me about your responsibilities.
Selma: “To keep it really simple: my team and I make sure that our clients’ data is as safe as possible. That’s it in a nutshell. We keep our environment safe and make sure that it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands, so to say. People trust us with their money – that’s the whole reason we exist – so we have to keep it from malicious actors. People should feel comfortable storing their money and their data with Brand New Day.”
Adekunle: “It’s a potpourri of things, but the crux of it is maintaining the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of our data. Most people only think about security when there is a breach.”
Selma: “We see people trying to log into our network environment every minute. From everywhere. It can be Russia or China or…”
Malicious actors. Every minute.
“More or less, yeah! We keep our systems secure, so you don’t notice anything.”
What makes you proud?
Selma: “I was the only one working in IT security here when I started, and now we have a team of five and people in other teams that work with us to make sure the level of security is mature enough. We have developed a lot and we can still improve. The whole sector is changing rapidly and we have to keep up with every change. So you need a big team to monitor everything. The work never ends!
We also do regular phishing tests, because we want to create a certain level of security awareness at the employee-level. Of course we never say when, or what the e-mails look like or anything. Sometimes it’s a test, but sometimes they’re real! We do this with an external company and they benchmark how we score compared to their other clients. And usually we do pretty well! I think it really helps that we are a young company with people who are familiar with a digital workplace.”
Adekunle: “This is what I enjoy doing. There are new challenges every day. You can’t really predict what you will be working on tomorrow.”
Want to experience for yourself what Selma and Adekunle mean? Take a look at our open vacancies. Or contact our HR department for a cup of coffee or tea. They look forward to it!
