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Young Foreign Policy Leaders Revealed: XLA’s “Karina Plascencia” Chosen as one of the 40 under 40 Latinos in Foreign Policy

Young Foreign Policy Leaders Revealed: XLA’s “Karina Plascencia” Chosen as one of the 40 under 40 Latinos in Foreign Policy

karina-plascencia

XLA is proud to announce that along with pop singer Selena Gomez, multiple CEO’s, and foreign policy advisors to U.S. Congressmen, our very own Juana “Karina” Plascencia from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Bureau was selected as one of the 40 Under 40 Latino’s to watch for in Foreign Policy and International Affairs (The Huffington Post). In our interview with Karina, she discusses what it means to her to be selected as a rising star in foreign policy and what made her get into the field of work.

 

Growing up the daughter of migrant farm workers in rural Oregon, when Karina would visit her parent’s hometown in Mexico, she noticed that the children in Mexico were amazed that she knew how to spell her name and how to read.

 

“It wasn’t until I was older that I realized that the children I played with along with so many people in the world did not have the same access to education and other important services we sometimes take for granted.”

 

From that experience and growing up in a bilingual household, Karina was inspired to pursue a career where she could learn about different cultures and languages, while also being able to help people in developing countries get better access to basic needs.

 

That desire eventually led her to pursue a degree in International Politics and International Development from Georgetown University.  During her undergraduate studies, she interned for USAID.  After graduation, she found a way to come back to USAID with the help of XLA.

 

Karina feels honored to have been nominated and selected to the ‘40 under 40’ list that includes many rising leaders from other government agencies.

 

“I go to work every day excited to learn something new and be able to help prepare my leadership as best I can to enable them to make decisions that will not only be in the best interest of the U.S. but also help the most vulnerable populations in the developing countries we work with.” “It is a great honor to know that my little grain of salt is being noticed and is helping make an impact.”

 

Karina added,  “It is a pleasure to work with so many men and women, both USAID and XLA employees, who are dedicated and passionate about helping people in Haiti, Colombia, Nicaragua and all the other countries they work.” “Every day is like a new episode of CNN forcing you to stay up to date on current events and making you break out of your comfort zone.

 

Karina’s recognition shows the professional and personal achievement of an outstanding individual, and we at XLA are honored to have her as an employee. She works diligently day in and day out to accomplish a noteworthy mission and her contributions to USAID have not gone unnoticed.

 

XLA Issued U.S. Patent for xTract

XLA ISSUED U.S. PATENT FOR xTract

 

XLA has been issued U.S. Patent No. 9,385,933 B1 for xTract, our cyber-threat mitigation solution that identifies specific threats to government networks. XLA developed xTract as a solution to the hundreds or even thousands of notices each day that are generated by Einstein 3A. Einstein 3A or E3A is the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) cybersecurity analysis, situational awareness, and security response system.

 

Einstein 3A detects malicious traffic targeting Federal Government networks and also prevents malicious traffic from harming those networks. Under the US-CERT E3A program, a Federal agency will receive a notice that Einstein 3A identified a threat and prevented the threat from infecting the agency’s IT network. The notice, however, does not identify the specific threat or where within the agency the threat originated.

 

XLA-Solution-xTract_3-13-16XLA’s xTract automatically ingests the tens of thousands of notices generated by Einstein 3A each day, and shrinks them to just a few prioritized incidents. xTract quickly and easily identifies a threat, enables agencies to mitigate the threat, and helps officials develop policies or programs to prevent a reoccurrence of the threat. By shrinking the flood of E3A notices to just a few actionable incidents, the challenge is reduced to a manageable size.

 

XLA has also developed a stand-alone xTract E3A Diagnostic to help IT security officials in U.S. Government agencies understand the scope of their challenge and prepare before implementation. Following the 4-week xTract E3A Diagnostic, agencies will better understand the number of email notices they receive, network operations impact from these notices, and the staffing requirements needed to identify and mitigate threats identified by E3A.

 

XLA is proud of the U.S. Patent it has been issued. We are confident about the positive impact xTract will have on Federal Agencies. To learn more about xTract call us at (703) 848-0400.