Christine Izuakor spent nearly 10 years at United Airlines heading up various cybersecurity initiatives for the Chicago-based airline, rising all the way up from intern to senior manager of global security strategy. She helped lead efforts to prevent data loss and keep sensitive information from leaving the company, and helped educate United's entire workforce about security risk and how to ensure data doesn't leak out.
On the side, she also offered pro bono freelance cybersecurity work to non-profits, which often don't have security teams of their own and are susceptible to cybercrime. It was during this work where Izuakor realized that businesses of all sizes needed access to cybersecurity experts as cybercrime skyrockets—especially during our shift to remote work.
So in late 2019, Izuakor left United and founded Cyber Pop-up, a Chicago startup that connects small- and medium-sized businesses with cybersecurity experts on demand. Companies subscribe to Cyber Pop-up and have access to its network of vetted security pros, who can answer questions and provide support as needed.
"Companies of all sizes continue to get breached and hacked and targeted by attackers. Yet most companies don't have a cybersecurity expert in house," Izuakor said. "They’re left fending for themselves."
Cyber Pop-up's customers have included Penn Foster, Netalytics and Dow Jones.
The startup was boosted by back-to-back $100,000 startup pitch competition wins, the first at the Atlanta Startup Battle in October and more recently as last week's TechRise competition in Chicago. TechRise, led by Chicago tech group P33, is a fund that provides grants to local Black and Latino founders. Cyber Pop-up received funding from Google last year when it was one of six local startup to receive a grant from the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund. It was also recently named to gener8tor's Bronze Valley Accelerator Program.
The momentum comes as Cyber Pop-up is on the verge of closing its pre-seed funding round. Its investors include Fifth Star Funds, a Chicago VC fund that's dedicated to backing Black tech founders. Cyber Pop-up was the fund's first investment, and Fifth Star was the first outside check the startup raised, Izuakor said.
Izuakor said Cyber-Pop-up has seen an "overwhelming amount of demand" for its services in recent months, and the startup will use the funds to grow its team and invest in its technology to prepare for growth.
As a Black woman in the cybersecurity industry, Izuakor said she was often the only, or one of only a few, people of color in the room—whether it was during her time at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, where she earned her PhD in security engineering, or in her early days at United. Izuakor helped spearhead efforts to increase diversity at United's cybersecurity teams, and is looking to do the same at Cyber Pop-up by filling the pipeline of cybersecurity freelancers with diverse talent.
"As we build our freelancer base, we want to do so in a way that increases diversity in the cybersecurity space. We have a huge opportunity to make an impact here," she said.
