Malik Idbeis is the latest Wichita professional to leave behind a corporate career during the pandemic to start a new company.
Idbeis, who had most recently been chief information officer at the Kansas Medical Center, left in November to follow a longtime passion and launch his own company — a cybersecurity consulting business called GhostWorks.
"I think a lot of people probably took a minute to look at what they were doing and thought, 'Man, is this really what I want to be doing? Or I can go do something else?'" Idbeis asked. "Life's too short to sit around and not love what you do."
Idbeis had been at Kansas Medical Center since 2010, serving as CIO for the last five years.
While it was an element of his job, Idbeis said he wanted to get back to focusing on IT and cybersecurity.
"I've been interested in it since high school, playing around way back then with dial-up modems and all sorts of ridiculous stuff like that," he said. "It was time for a change."
While researching the industry, Idbeis said he noticed that small- to mid-sized businesses, operating with fewer resources, are often underserved when it comes to protecting their digital assets.
"My goal is to kind of take what I love, something that I think is becoming more and more important ... and provide that service to folks who maybe didn't think they could afford it before, or maybe they're just sitting there going, 'God, where do I even start?'
"It's a chance to take my passion, make it a business and help other people at the same time," he said.
GhostWorks' main offering is what's known as a virtual chief information security officer, or virtual CISO. Instead of hiring their own full-time IT professional or full-fledged department, companies can hire GhostWorks on a contract basis to handle security threats, validate backups and handle disaster recovery.
Idbeis said a major focus will be on business continuity. What do companies do if they get hit my ransomware? What do you do if a fire breaks out or a water main bursts and floods your building? While insurance covers material things, data can be lost forever.
"A company that's smaller, in my mind, probably has less ability to stay afloat without being able to operate," he said.
At this stage, GhostWorks is now looking for clients. Idbeis said his background lends easily to working with health-care providers, as well as law firms or wealth management offices — "Pretty much anyone that has a business that relies on digital assets," he said.
The website is ghostworks.tech.
For now, it's a one-man show, but Idbeis says he hopes to hire additional employees as the company grows.
Like many professionals leaving a corporate career, Idbeis said there was some fear associated with starting his own business, along with a little bit of culture shock. Deemed an essential worker during the pandemic, he's now working from home for the first time.
"All of a sudden I'm sitting here realizing all the things that everyone else probably figured out during the pandemic, like I can't do Zoom calls in my basement because there's no light," he said, laughing.
"I've very much enjoyed it. I'm extremely happy with my decision. This has been great."
