Startup Firms at the Age of Growing Cybercrimes

At the turn of the new century, 2000 AD, the dependence of people and companies with technology has been integrated than ever before. Cybersecurity companies and penetration testing teams are being organized left and right to fill the gap of security. Companies that are operating a business that has nothing to do with IT can just sign-up for such services in order to maximize their IT infrastructure security without maintaining an internal IT team of their own.

“I have managed major organizations with hundreds of key vendors. For some functions, you want conservative, well-established vendors with a long track record of doing one thing very well. But for many functions, including security, you also need the latest, most effective and most innovative solutions – typically from younger companies. There are inherent risks to working with smaller innovators, but for the right pieces, smart organizations recognize the benefits,” explained Atiq Raza, Virsec Systems’ CEO, a startup cybersecurity consulting company.

By signing up for external contractors for cybersecurity and IT auditing, the expensive function of IT security maintenance is minimized. “By not being locked into a fixed mindset or methodology, and not being tied down by existing technology, they have the freedom to be disruptive, challenge assumptions, and create the first generation of game-changing technology. This is why startups routinely beat established companies in driving new markets,” added Raza.

Startup companies that wish to join the business community are the most at risk when it comes to cyber attacks. “When you decide to go with a cybersecurity startup, it’s because they’re approaching a problem in a new way, or they’re offering functionality that is ahead of what you’ve seen with established vendors. When you are building an aspirational security program, you want to be better than your peers, and you want to find the most advanced offerings that you can. If they’re not good at sales or at running a business in general, they may not last very long. So besides just looking at the products or services, you have to take a wider look at their operations and business model. Or you can start small and plan to engage more with them over time. But eventually, unless you have a very distributed security portfolio, you’re just going to have to take your chances with the startup that you really like,” narrated Wendy Nather, Texas Education Agency’s IT Security Directory.

Another option for a startup company to save funding with acquiring the services of cybersecurity consultation is to sell themselves to a huge corporation. The acquisition enables a startup to integrate itself into an organization with actual funding for cybersecurity defense.“Startups that are just features and aren’t acquired may not have a chair when the music stops playing — and may have to shut their doors. You should be prepared for your best startup vendors to get acquired and have their product screwed up by big vendors. It is kind of like the difference between booking a hotel room at an established hotel chain and booking something on Airbnb. You need to do more due diligence — if not, you are likely to have a rude surprise. But, if you do the due diligence and pay attention, you can find some real gems that you want to return to,” explained Hitesh Sheth, Vectra Networks’ CEO, a cybersecurity firm.