A self-described accidental technologist, Sean O’Brien, president of Dallas-based @Risk Technologies, believes in not just being proactive about cybersecurity, but in actively combating it – something he learned through his time with the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community.
@Risk, was founded in 2017 and has since grown to more than 100 employees. According to Crunchbase.com, the company has raised about $6.3 million in funding for its AI cybersecurity software and management.
“The same problems that were plaguing the intelligence community were affecting the cyber community,” O’Brien said. “I’m seeing more and more people use asymmetric techniques, and it’s very akin to what we’ve seen in the past with insurgency… it’s getting uglier.”
While @Risk’s primary focus currently is mid-market to enterprise companies, the company is preparing to launch a new version of its software next year targeting smaller organizations and individuals. However, O’Brien sees the responsibility of protecting data as the job of everyone.
Ransomware attacks, such as the one that recently struck about 20 local governments in Texas, are one of the biggest, recent threats facing companies, he said. Hackers find ways to gain access to an organization’s servers, effectively locking up the data, unless a ransom is paid. One of the simplest solutions is to be sure to have a backup of all your data.
“It’s the modern-day version of stand-and-delivery piracy,” O’Brien said.
Unfortunately, it only takes a single mistake by an individual for these hackers to gain access to an entire organization’s data. Due to this, O’Brien said it’s important for individuals to be aware of current trends and proactively engage in cybersecurity on a personal level.
“Most people don’t realize, your iPhone today has more computational power [than old servers used to have]… which means you’ve got millions and millions of cell phones that are attack platforms,” he said. “Consider yourself in a bad neighborhood when you touch your phone.”
O’Brien urges people to have situational awareness online - to be aware of potential areas of vulnerability. In addition, one of the easiest and most important measures to take is to regularly change passwords. This makes sure that if there is a breach in cybersecurity, it will at least not be ongoing.
“You’re just thwarting an entire [hacking] industry over night,” He added.
Beyond the personal and private, O’Brien also worries about the effects lacking cybersecurity could have on the country, especially when it comes to elections. According to cybersecurity software company Norton, the majority of cyber-attacks happen in the U.S., costing the country billions of dollars (the FY 2019 budget earmarked $15 billion for cybersecurity attacks).
"Consider yourself in a bad neighborhood when you touch your phone."
However, he hopes with more awareness around the issue and with better security software, disinformation campaigns like the one seen during the 2016 election will be far less effective. Though he does say it is possible election locations may be targeted – his prediction is that this would likely look like a serious slowing down of the polling machines to the point where people are discouraged to vote due to long lines.
“The most sacred thing we have as Americans is the right to vote,” O’Brien said. “Our strategy is, 'Yeah, we're going to help the Equifax’s of the world, but we also want to look out for Main Street U.S.A.’”
He sees @Risk as the “standing army” to protect people’s data and security -inspired by his time in combat, both on the ground and directing counterintelligence operations against insurgents in the digital sphere. After teaching himself about big data and leaving the military, he worked with IBM on using machine learning to combat the problems many people and companies face. Now with @Risk, he is taking his software and skills to North Texas and the rest of the country.
“The idea was how do I apply mil sci to data sci,” O’Brien said. “I see us being a household name in the near future.”
