“40 under 40” Class of 2019 — Anthony Sydney, 35

Anthony Sydney has been with MTA Bridges and Tunnels Internal Security Department (ISD) for 11 years. His primary role is to oversee the Security Operations Division, which includes two branches: physical security and electronic security, handled by the Security Operations Center (SOC), the comprehensive nerve center of the Authority's electronic security program.

“The SOC is responsible for the condition and operation of all electronic security systems authority wide, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week,” said Sydney. “Day to day responsibilities range from monitoring access control and intrusion detection devices installed throughout MTA Bridges and Tunnels to conducting access audits regularly to ensure access cards only work where they need to work.”

With a master's degree in Digital Forensic Computing and Cyber Security, Sydney's original plan was to obtain a career in IT. “However, since the near beginning of my tenure working at B&T, I was given an opportunity to leverage my IT knowledge,” he explained. “As I became more involved with the company, I found different ways to solve problems using IT solutions, which increased my interest in the security industry.”

One of the top trends in security today is machine learning video analytics, which gives security professionals “the data needed to make proactive decisions that can potentially prevent issues before they arise,” he said. “Another trend is cloud-based security systems such as video management systems as a service and Access Control as a Service (ACaaS). Both can potentially change the future because it will give security and law enforcement professionals the ability to monitor these systems from anywhere.”

He continued, “Machine learning will open the doors to different ways of monitoring. Typically, most operators monitor a system in a reactive manner. With AI, they can be more proactive.”