John Abella

Current

Vice President, Information Security and Compliance at EVO Merchant Services
Faculty at The Institute for Applied Network Security

Past

Head of Global Security and Infrastructure at Retail Decisions, Ltd.
Sr. Infrastructure Engineer at Aptegrity
Senior Consultant at Alpha Technologies

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Education

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey-New Brunswick

Recommended

3 people have recommended John

Connections

213 connections

Industry

Information Technology and Services

Websites

John Abella’s Summary

Dynamic Information Security leader with over ten years of experience in numerous exciting positions. I have hands-on knowledge of the entire project life-cycle process, from specification and requirements through evaluation, purchasing, implementation, and ongoing support.

I have extensive experience with hardware, software, and network technologies with a specific focus on securing highly-available, real-time, internet-based services. I excel at developing Information Security policy and procedures as well as navigating companies through complicated security audit processes (ISO27001 and PCI DSS). My recent focus has been on Policy Development, Compliance, Regulatory Issues, Business Continuity Planing, and Disaster Recovery Planning.

In 2006 I was interviewed by Alan Paller, Director of Research for the SANS Institute for a print interview and webcast titled: "What Works in Intrusion Detection: Monitoring Unique Traffic with Retail Decisions." - www.sans.org

During Summer 2006 I mentored the SANS Security Class 504: "Hacker Techniques, Exploits, and Incident Handling" at Rutgers University.

John Abella’s Specialties:

email: john@abella.net

John Abella’s Experience

Vice President, Information Security and Compliance

EVO Merchant Services

(Privately Held; Financial Services industry)

July 2009 — Present (5 months)
Faculty

The Institute for Applied Network Security

(Privately Held; Publishing industry)

2007 — Present (2 years )

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-- This is not my full-time job. See EVO Merchant Services, above.
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As a Faculty Member for the Institute for Applied Network Security, I get to lead real-world tactical and strategic InfoSec discussions with Fortune 1000 staff up to the CIO / CISO level. Designed to be conversational, the Institute Forums are not typical PowerPoint lectures; the attendees are active participants.

In 2007 I presented at a number of Institute Forums on the following topics:

- Network Architecture Best Practices
- Advanced SIM Management
- Enterprise Network Defense
- Configuration and Patch Management
- Selecting and Purchasing an Intrusion Detection System
- Regulatory Compliance, E-Discovery, and Records Management
- PCI Compliance and updates to the PCI DSS 1.1
Head of Global Security and Infrastructure

Retail Decisions, Ltd.

(Privately Held; Financial Services industry)

June 2001 — June 2009 (8 years 1 month)
Sr. Infrastructure Engineer

Aptegrity

(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Information Technology and Services industry)

1999 — 2001 (2 years )
Senior Consultant

Alpha Technologies

(Privately Held; Information Technology and Services industry)

1998 — 1999 (1 year )

John Abella’s Education

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey-New Brunswick

B.S. , 1994 — 1998

Additional Information

John Abella’s Websites:

John Abella’s Groups:

Faculty Member - The Institute for Applied Network Security
ISACA - Member
Sun Services Advisory Panel - Board Member
FBI Infragard Member - Newark Chapter
SANS Mentor