The risks from hacking
A software entrepreneur says companies need to be out in front of the problem.
Ted Gutierrez founded Cyber Threat Be Gone three years ago in Houston to address cybersecurity risks at major oil and gas companies, as well as other big enterprises. After coverage of Russian hackers involved in the 2016 presidential election generated greater public awareness of the dangers of cyberattacks, Gutierrez launched software called Can I Get Hacked in March of this year to better serve a variety of clients including small businesses. The platform evaluates risks across a company and its affiliates, then organizes risks into a ranked system and offers fixes.
Q: How did you get involved in cybersecurity?
A: Cybersecurity is a place where businesses need to do a lot of improvement, and I see it as a really big industry of growth in the next 20 years. As an entrepreneur, I’m always looking at ways to add value. And cybersecurity is still this place where highly technical people have been right for a really long time, and business owners don’t always understand them. What I’m passionate about is bridging that gap from the business decision-maker to these highly technical people, and let’s get solutions that really help the entire ecosystem and help our commerce here in the United States.
Q: How would you define cybersecurity and cyberattacks?
A: Any sort of action taken seeks to exploit the usage of data that is proprietary in nature, that is monetary or that is meant for influential gain in some manner. Right now we’re actually increasing the amount of data that we’re putting online, and we just, as a community and as a globe, we are not protecting ourselves as much as we should. So this is going to be a long-term problem, and I don’t think that humans are going to immediately one day fix this. This is going to be something that is an evolution of security, and an evolution of understanding what the impact of all that data have on us.
Q: When was cybersecurity first a hot topic issue in the commercial sector?
A: Technical, cyber and IT focused people have always said that this is a really big problem. Probably four or five years ago you started seeing really dynamic, really large attacks on big businesses that made headlines. But now it’s at the forefront. Boards of directors are talking about, saying, “What are we doing about cybersecurity?” I would say over the course of the last five to six years it’s been growing.
Q: What impact did coverage on hacking in the presidential election have in the services you offer?
A: It made nontechnical business leaders aware of the serious risks associated with cyberattacks. And what happened over the last year is that every time something is in the headlines, people are asking, “Is my company going to be next?” So we see business leaders taking a more proactive approach, but nowhere to the level that we think they really need to be. In the March time frame, we came out with CanIGetHacked.com. It’s really about taking the first step, and we’re excited to be able to offer those services and continue to refine those services based on feedback from really influential companies.
Q: How vulnerable are small businesses to cyberattacks?
A: Small businesses are very at risk just like large businesses. What made a small business protected in the past, because it was small, makes it more vulnerable today because the hackers have evolved their techniques. Outsourcing is at an all-time high. Over 50 percent of successful cyberattacks in 2016 were due to a relationship that a really big company has with a third party or a vendor or a supplier that got attacked. We see that as a really big issue. Q: Where do you see the cybersecurity industry going from here? A: I don’t think there’s going to be one technology or one person or one change in human patterns that changes the game. This is going to continue to evolve. Hackers are incredibly smart. They are going to continue to refine their processes and attack methods, so we have to look at this as a longterm investment in how we do business. We’re working with Station Houston to develop the innovative technology hub here in Houston. I think five years from now we could look at all of the top, say 200, businesses in Houston and say we’ve been able to effectively help those businesses identify their risks and tell how to fix those risks and get them on a path to success.