Meet Alex
15 years ago I was the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of a fast-growing company. My job was to protect our systems from cyber threats, train our teams, and constantly stay a step ahead of hackers and fraudsters.
Hi, I’m DR. Aleksandr Yampolskiy, but you can call me Alex.
A Hard Lesson in Trust
One day, our CFO signed us up for a fraud mitigation service. It was supposed to help prevent ecommerce scams, and it sounded like a smart move.
Still, I wanted to be sure we were making a good decision. We met the vendor face to face. They seemed great. I had them fill out a 40-page security questionnaire, and everything checked out. They said all the right things.
But just as we were about to begin the integration, I discovered their customer data was unencrypted. This was the security equivalent of a bank manager keeping their customers’ money not in a vault, but in an unlocked drawer! I was terrified I was going to get fired. I had done everything by the book–but the book was wrong.
The Bigger Threat
That was when I first understood third-party risk: The biggest security threat isn't always in your own systems or your own home. It's in the apps and companies you share your data with every single day.
Building the SolutioN
So I built a company to solve that problem.
We created a detection system for assessing third-party risk. Today, that company is a true unicorn, valued at over $1 billion, with more than 12 million companies rated by our platform.
The Mission Now
Now I want to empower companie organizatons and individuals to do their part: once they understand the invisible security risks all around them and discover how to improve their own security, they’ll have the knowledge to pressure lawmakers and companies to build a more secure future for all of us.
