How IT professionals work. Alexander Matrosov, Cylance

We continue to ask specialists about the mode of work and rest, professional habits, the tools they use, and much more.

It will be interesting to find out what unites them, in what they contradict each other. Perhaps their answers will help to identify some general patterns, useful tips that will help many of us.

Today our guest is Alexander Matrosov, Cylance , Principal Research Scientist. Prior to that, he headed the UEFI firmware security business at the Intel Security Center of Excellence.
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What do you do in the company?

I have been engaged in practical information security for more than 15 years (laughs). Now I focus more on reverse analysis of software and automation of these processes. In the past few years, I have been concerned about the safety of the UEFI platform, as well as the interaction points of modern OS and BIOS.

One phrase (phrase) best describes how you work:

Search for needles in a haystack.

Do you live in Moscow?

I was born and lived in Moscow for a long time and still love this city. But a few years ago, I moved to Portland, Oregon.

How long does the road take?

15 minutes. But I work from home a few days a week, and then it's less than a minute (smiles).

How do you spend your time on the road?

I'm driving a car. I listen to podcasts and audiobooks.

How many hours a day do you spend on work?

In addition to work, I also have my own projects, which can also be called work. Therefore, it goes about 15 hours and more.

How many hours do you sleep?

I try 8 hours. The key word is “try” (laughs).

Do you have breakfast

I have breakfast and I think that this is an important part of the morning awakening ritual (smiles). I prefer granola with yogurt or with Brazilian acai fruit. It is a good energy and antioxidant. In front of the office, I usually take a big latte at a coffee shop nearby.

What kind of todo-manager do you use personally?

I don’t really like todo-managers, but without them it’s hard when tasks get over the second dozen. As a rule, I record notes during rallies in a regular notebook. I also use Evernote. The built-in todo-manager in MS Outlook got pretty good. But lately I have been eyeing the Todoist service and I’ve been increasingly trying to use it as part of my own projects.

What issue tracker'om / repository do you use?

At work, this is GitLab, JIRA and Confluence. For my projects, I have long been hooked on Github.

Do you have any internal projects or libraries in your company and why were they created?

The company has a fairly widespread practice of microprojects that solve particular tasks and automate routine processes within a team or interaction between employees. In fact, my current company is a start-up that once grew from such an internal mini-project in machine learning to a pioneer company in the application of artificial intelligence technologies to detect malware.

What annoys you most when you work?

In principle, people annoy me for the most part and especially in open space (laughs).

What professional literature would you recommend?

Good question, here, probably, you can bring a huge list of books, it all depends on the tasks. But I can definitely recommend the book that I wrote myself - Rootkits and Bootkits: Reversing Modern Malware and Next Generation Threats .

What technology (computers, tablets, smartphones) and operating systems do you prefer at work and at home?

I am quite happy with my Lenovo Thinkpad with Intel Skylake on board. From OS I got accustomed to MS Windows 10. From phones I prefer Apple iPhone. I tried several times to transfer to OSX, but it did not work out because of the main focus in working on MS products.

Do you listen to music when you work?

I prefer silence and for this I often use headphones with active noise cancellation. Any music distracts me in the process of work, when I need to focus and be focused.

Which life hack allows you to be more efficient?

Do not drink too much coffee. This leads to sad consequences and migraines. When working on a complex task, it is not always possible to control this process, and as a result it only harms the result.

What applications and services can you do without in your work or in your personal life?

IDA Pro and Intel x86 platform.

What would Alexander Matrosov write in a letter to future generations?

I would advise to read paper literature along with e-books. Paper books not only provide information, but also involve in a kind of “meditative” process.

You have come a long way. And someone is now at the beginning of this path. What would you recommend to a person trying to go the same way?

Do not get scattered: choose a direction, focus on it and achieve results. If something does not work, do not hesitate to ask others or find like-minded people. And most importantly, when achieving goals, set new ones even more ambitious.

I also recommend listening to Noise Security Bit Podcast , which we do with famous Russian-speaking researchers in the field of information security.