A computer expert is the professional who helps other people, as well as organizations and companies (public and private) in solving problems that require the analysis of computer tests, the extraction of conclusions and the preparation of reports that will be presented a posteriori before a court.

That would be rough. Actually, it is much more. If you want to know in more detail the profession of computer expert and the Online Computer Expertise Course of the European University, we invite you to read the interview we have done with Jorge Coronado, CEO of QuantiKa14 and CTO of Lazarus Technology.

HOW WOULD YOU DEFINE YOUR CURRENT JOB?

My work is complex, fun, creative, changeable and intellectual. My job is to constantly lead, manage, think and develop new ideas. I am passionate about cyber investigation using the Internet in computer or journalistic expert opinions and that pose challenges that I have not had before.

I don’t have a typical job, it is very adapted to my multidisciplinary and artistic profile. My days are fun and far from the routines that usually have positions similar to mine: I can develop a tender for the Ministry of the Interior, take the social networks of a video game project, lead the search for a criminal, make a report of a audit, develop improvements in Dante’s Gates, conduct a television interview, teach at the university, ratify in a trial and do a job interview for a new colleague in the same week.

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HOW HAS YOUR CAREER BEEN UNTIL YOU REACH THE POINT WHERE YOU ARE NOW?

It is difficult to summarize the whole story, but I will try: as a child I wanted to be a computer scientist, mainly a programmer. I was passionate about it and dreamed of it. Older, due to different circumstances of life, I was paying more and more attention to safety. When I was 15 years old, I started working in various computer companies and started working on my first projects. At 17 years old, tired of having a boss and not being listened to, I decided to start a company: QuantiKa14.

The next 10 years I have spent learning. You could say that I have done a very expensive Master’s degree. I have learned to work in a team, develop software ideas, get clients, serve them, pay taxes, manage social networks, give talks and, above all, not die of stress.

3 years ago at the congress that I co-organized on Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) in Seville, Lazarus Technology and I met. Since then we started to create an alliance. Until September 2020 we join. We are currently in Seville, Madrid, Portugal, Italy and in very little South America. An honor and very grateful to allow me to keep the essence of QK14 and to be able to work with them.

WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF CASES THAT YOU FIND MOST IN RECENT YEARS ASSOCIATED WITH YOUR WORK AS AN EXPERT?

My mother is a lawyer and a wonderful person. I’ve been very lucky, really. She has instilled in me many values ??of solidarity and equality. She is specialized in cases of gender violence. After seeing that certifying and authenticating some WhatsApp conversations had a price – totally justified, but – that many women could not afford … I created the open source project : Guasap Forensic. This generated that for many years it has presented digital evidence on WhatsApp. However, the cases that I have the most are criminal, which is where I have specialized.

But I have had all kinds of cases: hacking, information leaks in multinationals, smear and reputational attacks, assaults and sexual abuse, corruption in political parties, scams, computer intrusions, APT (Advanced Persistent Threat), etc.

I could say that many people, especially in Digital Forensics ans Incident Response (DFIR), have a more oriented vision in seeking solutions and explanations of the facts. I focus and I aim to find the name and surname of the perpetrators of said intrusion.

The latter not only in cases of cyberattacks, but also in cases of homicides, international scams, missing persons, political corruption, etc.

WITH REGARD TO THE FIGURE OF THE EXPERT AS A NECESSARY COLLABORATOR IN CERTAIN CASES, WHAT ATTITUDES AND SKILLS DO YOU THINK THEY SHOULD HAVE?

A phrase that I have commented in some class to be computer experts: “You have to have the brain of a scientist and a hacker, the heart of a detective and an activist, the mouth of an honest and sincere politician and the hand of a lawyer and notary.”

Aptitudes:

  • Ability to solve problems. No case is the same and you will always find problems. People who get stuck or run from problems are not suitable.
  • Honesty. In many cases you can be wrong, we are human. There is no room for people who hide errors in reports. They all get caught and you can commit a negligence that could have gone less far by being honest.
  • Seriousness, empathy, involvement and patience are essential.

Attitudes:

  • Rational and analytical.
  • Suspicious and empathetic.

HOW DO YOU SEE THE EVOLUTION OF THE DEMAND FOR COMPUTER EXPERTS IN RECENT YEARS?

Very growing. In Seville 9 years ago we were literally 3 and today dozens. I think it is a booming profession and business. Almost all procedures have some digital proof. Logically, it is a niche that will grow a lot in the coming years.

WHAT IS THE PART YOU LIKE THE MOST ABOUT YOUR JOB?

Constantly doing different things and helping people. I am a person who has a somewhat peculiar vision of companies and, above all, supportive. Of course, making intellectual challenges and having ideas and developing them is what stimulates me the most. I love being a craftsman in my profession.

I love using my development skills to automate processes and lower costs of expert opinions, use my knowledge in OSINT to increase the scope and results that many others do not dare, advise lawyers on interrogations and strategies, and use my skills and experience giving classes and debates to ratify and make confrontations.

THE OSINT PART HAS A LOT OF WEIGHT IN YOUR PROFILE, HOW DID YOU START TO SPECIALIZE IN THESE TYPES OF CASES?

When I started, the OSINT discipline was too big for me. We were using techniques doxing in forums and IRC chat. However, my beginnings may be more linked to the activism that I did as a private individual and certain jobs that I started doing for various media. When I began to collaborate with law enforcement agencies and apply it in computer expertise, I improved my skills to automate intelligence processes and, today, many of them are using these applications.

Currently I have the feeling that OSINT is in vogue and many people have subscribed to it. However, I know that used well it can have enormous results and it has been proven in thousands of cases with experts, intelligence analysts, journalists, detectives and security forces. But, on the other hand, it gives me the feeling of being the drawer of many people who do not want to delve into cybersecurity, data science and forensic and look for a site thinking that doing search engine queries are OSINTER, but they are very far from reality. OSINT is much more than Google Hacking and being a kiddie script . To have a complete profile on OSINT on the Internet today, it is necessary to know data science, big data, development and forensic. At least that’s my humble opinion.