Employee Spotlight: E’Jaaz Ali, Chief Information Security Officer

I have dedicated my life to service. I was in the military and was actually deciding if I wanted to get out in about 2015 when the huge Anthem/Blue Cross hack happened, where about 75 million users had their identities stolen.

I found out that for hackers stealing patient information is actually lucrative. I wanted to do what I could to protect it, so I decided to pursue a career in protecting patient information. I immediately started to learn about Alameda Health System and realized that this is a place that I wanted to grow my career.

Alameda Health System believes in their moniker of we serve all. We don’t turn any patient away. We do a lot for this community. We have a voice in social justice issues. We take care of the less fortunate patients.

One of the best things about working here is the diversity—not just diversity in people, but diversity in mind. An example I like to use is three plus four equals seven, but so does five plus two and six plus one. There’s many different ways to get to a correct solution.

Before I came here, I had a plan of creating the security program in a specific way. But then after talking to my peers and bosses, I realized that we can do something even more amazing and create a very good security program that’s cutting edge. Everyone brought a certain level of experience and knowledge and an open mind.

Protecting your personal information should be your right. For the workers here, if you see me, stop by and say hi. You can ask me any question, work related or personal related when it comes to security. Cybersecurity isn’t just for work, it isn’t just for safeguarding the protected health information that you’re responsible for. Also use it to safeguard your family. Safeguard your assets that you’ve worked so hard to have. Don’t let someone take it from you. I’m here to help.