Alessandro Sardo

I'm a Swiss based cyber security professional who loves to support companies
of all types around the globe. Scroll down to learn more about me.

About Me

Alessandro Sardo

Cyber security professional with an innate passion for advisory.

A business-oriented computer engineer with over 7 years of experience in providing large financial and industrial organizations with practical advice about how to better protect against cyber attacks, navigate in the constantly evolving cyber threat landscape and take advantage of opportunities in today's digital world in a safe way.

Proven track record in empowering enterprises to make cost-effective decisions on risk mitigation strategies and investments, maintain the trust of their customers, transform their governance and achieve compliance with local and international regulations.

Currently based in western Switzerland (Geneva region), but active in the entire EMEIA (Europe, Middle East, India and Africa) area.

Specialties

Information and cyber security advisory

Assist large enterprises with strategic advices, practical insights and benchmarking information related to the cyber world.

Information security and cyber risk management

Assessment, mitigation and ongoing monitoring of information security, IT security and cyber security risks.

Ethical hacking and penetration testing

Identification of vulnerabilities in IT infrastructures, web and mobile applications. Delivery of social engineering assessments.

Data privacy and data protection

Implementation of data privacy regulatory requirements. Design and evaluation of data leakage prevention (DLP) controls.

Security governance and transformation

Definition of cyber security strategies and governance frameworks. Support with large transformation programs.

Business continuity management

Development and implementation of Business Continuity Plans (BCP) and Disaster Recovery Plans (DRP).

Resume

A summary of my professional journey to date is included below. If you're curious and would like to know more, do not hesitate to contact me.

  • Work experience

  • Manager - Ernst & Young, Geneva (CH)

    Provided information and cyber security advisory services to large financial and industrial organizations as part of the IT Risk & Assurance team of EY Switzerland. Currently responsible for the advisory market in western and southern Switzerland (Romandie, Tessin).

    Major achievements:

    • Significantly expanded the firm's information and cyber security advisory capabilities in the covered regions by leading a team of local skilled resources
    • Strengthened business development and acquisition of cyber security advisory services for organizations based in those regions, increasing direct and indirect sales by over 100% per year
    • Managed and led operational delivery of a portfolio of engagements annually worth over 1 mCHF, always meeting deadlines and gross margin expectations
    • Leveraged network of international contacts to increase cross-border cooperation between the Swiss practice and teams from the rest of the EMEIA area (e.g. United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Luxembourg, India)
    • Constantly obtained excellent feedback for the work provided, recognizing the superior quality and the ability to communicate on par with both technical experts and senior business executives

  • Senior Consultant - Ernst & Young, Milan (IT)

    Provided information and IT security advisory services to medium and large financial organizations as part of the IT Risk & Assurance team of EY Italy.

    Major achievements:

    • Led operational delivery of most information and IT security advisory services provided to Italian-based financial institutions
    • Supported senior management in business development and go-to-market activities, leading to significant improvements in closing ratio
    • Facilitated communication and integration between the Italian practice and other EY teams from the rest of Europe

  • Software Engineer - Delos, Turin (IT)

    Designed, developed and improved secure firmware and drivers for paramedical devices.

    Major achievements:

    • Designed and developed firmware and drivers that obtained independent quality certifications
    • Reverse engineered, improved functionality and remediated vulnerabilities in firmware of which source code had been lost

  • System Administrator - Polytechnic University of Turin (IT)

    Managed a mid-sized domain composed of heterogeneous system architectures (Windows, Linux, BSD, Solaris).

    Major achievements:

    • Led migration of legacy IT platforms to virtualized environments, achieving 30% annual cost savings
    • Designed and deployed a new network security solution, increasing protection of critical assets and security monitoring capabilities
    • Reorganized backup infrastructure and implemented live failover for critical systems, leading to major improvements in data availability

Skills

Soft skills

  • Flexibility and hands-on approach
  • Meticulous attention to quality
  • Effective communication at both technical and business levels
  • Initiative, problem solving and self-awareness
  • Leadership and teamwork
  • Adaptability to multicultural environments

Knowledge

  • ISO/IEC 27001:2013 Standard
  • NIST Cybersecurity Framework
  • Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)
  • FINMA Regulations (e.g. RS 08/21 Annex 3)
  • EU General Data Protection Regulation
  • ...and many more

Languages

Italian

native

English

fluent

French

basic

Contact Me

If you wish to know more about me, feel free to reach out via social networks:

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