Andrea Villa is a self-taught computer hacker, devops and entrepreneur, with 15 years experience in the field of system administration, information security and networks. Passionate about Linux kernel hacking since a young age, during his MSc in Networks and Operating Systems, he hacked the TOMOYO Mandatory Access Control system, achieving a successful port to the Android platform.

During his career Andrea served in multiple roles: as a cloud architecture specialist, devops, and, most notably, as a senior security consultant for renowned clients worldwide: attacking banks, smart cars, embedded devices, complex corporate networks and participating in hacking competitions along acclaimed CTF teams.

Fond for new experiences and challenges, he founded Eureka, a platform for running computational science on the cloud, where he served as CTO.

As a fast-paced and bleeding edge tech organization, I believe IOTA faces several security challenges in terms of protocol, implementation, operations and infrastructure that require pro-active scrutiny and solving. The Tangle technology may very well constitute the future foundation of a large variety of applications, being part of the effort to deliver an usable and secure IOTA to the general public is both challenging and exciting.

Andrea’s impressive resume made it very easy to invite him on board the IOTA Foundation to leverage his skills and experience, particularly in regards to security. Given that IOTA has properties that make it ideal as a counter measurement to a lot of hacks, Andrea’s background is a perfect fit to further drive this aspect of the project. Give him a warm welcome!