Greg Taylor

Bringing a Sustainable Approach to Data Privacy

Aquote byStephane Nappo, "It takes 20 years to build a reputation and few minutes of cyberincident to ruin it," accurately emphasizes the significance of data security in the technological era.

An organization cannot defend itself against data breach operations without a cybersecurity program, making it an easy target for cybercriminals. These criminals’ strategies are becoming more advanced than traditional cyber defenses, so business leaders can no longer rely only on out-of-the-box cybersecurity solutions like antivirus software and firewalls.

Understanding the importance of data privacy drove Greg Taylor to start Sertainty Corporation, a company that builds privacy intelligence directly into data to make data privacy guaranteed, demonstrable, and managed.

Sertainty Corporation offers advanced technology that embeds a data file with the necessary safeguards and management modules to defend against unwanted access.

A Man with a Mission

Early in his entrepreneurial career, Greg founded Taylor Associates, a professional search and recruiting company that revolutionized data processing. This company inspired him to start Dataman Services, a data processing systems analysis, software development, and consulting services organization geared towards the very early stages of

cybersecurity and data protection through proper software development and implementation of the appropriate standards and procedures company-wide.

Upon founding SertaintyOne Corporation, the pivot of Sertainty Corporation, he brought together the founding team that now ensures exceptional development and commercialization of self-governing data.

Early on, Greg and his team were confronted with doubt about their ability to deliver on their promises. He remembers comments like, "Technology is not that far advanced." The challenge then became to convince these organizations to conduct the proper due diligence and invest the time and resources to see that Sertainty technology could truly protect their information by building privacy intelligence directly into the data. While this skepticism led to resourcing constraints and challenges at Sertainty for a period, they overcame these hurdles by patenting their customizable solution in the US, Japan, and Korea and building valuable partnerships that further validated their approach.

Having dealt with incredulity and doubt, Greg now advises young entrepreneurs to have faith in themselves. After working in investment banking for over 14 years, Greg has observed that everyone underestimates the value of financial, family, and community support. To be a successful entrepreneur, you must be willing to take risks.

Greg shares, "You must have a special kind of grit to survive, much less succeed. You will get told no 300 times, but it takes one yes to begin down a path that could change your life."

Guiding Principles, Shaping Work Culture

Every business has its own set of values that influence how it operates. The mission at Sertainty revolves around the Zero-Trust Principle; never trust and always verify. This principle means no device or user will ever be trusted, and a verification process is always required.

As deep-tech cyber-innovators, the Sertainty team’s mission is to offer breakthrough self-protecting-data technology. Its cutting-edge DevSecOps teams can deploy a proactive and self-mitigating data-centric strategy that assures the safety and sustainability of the converging OT and IT environments.

At Sertainty, they package and distribute their main product in a Software Development Kit (SDK). Their SDK includes all the Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) needed to build a secure Self-Protected Data file.

In short, this SDK will help customers build highly secure applications for protecting data.

Leaving a Mark in the Information Security Niche

With Sertainty, clients and partners can create a competitive differentiator with customers and regulators who want more than data privacy promises. Establishing and retaining customer trust and taking a sustainable approach to data privacy regulations are of the utmost importance for businesses worldwide.

Verified by industry leader Veracode, Sertainty has discovered and patented a way to embed its programming language and executable code so that "ones and zeros” are indistinguishable by the best hackers.

When tested, the Sertainty patented Data Privacy Platform received the highest score possible: VL5, 100% in Static Application Security Testing (SAST) and Manual Penetration Testing (MPT).

Developing Versatile Solutions

Technology is critical to the growth of practically every industry, progressively playing a more significant part in our society, from cybersecurity to agriculture and farming.

Sertainty recently received patents for its intelligent cipher transfer object (ICTO) in Japan, Korea, and the United States. One of its data privacy platform partners is Texas State University's CIEDAR program. The program develops smart cities integrated with solar farms, autonomous vehicles, and smart homes. While progressing toward human advancement, Sertainty ensures their data and processes are safe with self-governing data on the backend.

A Change for the Better

Technology is ever-changing, and one must keep up with it to stay relevant in the tech industry. Many businesses in data assurance aren't beholden to an industry-standard instead of focusing on marketing to gain new customers. There needs to be a better-structured standard of operation for data assurance. When there is a breach, these businesses face no repercussions and give no clear roadmap to clients on how to ensure that a data breach won't happen again.

Sertainty believes the best way to protect valuable data is to have its platforms tested and graded by industry experts like Veracode and keep its B2B clients up to date on the latest in data advancements and practices. Educating your clients enables them to make informed decisions regarding their valuable data.

Greg adds, "When they know your business has been judged according to an industry-standard, it increases their confidence in your ability. It's time for businesses to stop keeping their clients in the dark and work together to shine a light on how they can make better, actionable decisions around data protection."

Going Above and Beyond

At Sertainty, when they look into the future, they are looking six months to three years from now. In the cybersecurity world, three years is a long time. The company is working towards a public offering and evaluating future partnerships with renowned Wall Street firms that could represent Sertainty in a prospective M&A transaction.

Also, Greg predicts, "Over the next 18 to 24 months, we will have tremendous pressure on us to sell the company. I say this because of the increased interest we have already seen in Sertainty, and I believe that will only grow. We are getting traction in these areas, and the company is becoming more valuable."

Concerning its internal growth, the company will continue to advance the capabilities of self-governing and selfprotecting data. Many organizations are looking to adopt the Zero-Trust model to solve data security needs. However, they forget that it isn't a cookie-cutter security model. Instead, it's a methodology that needs to evolve consistently. The ability to accommodate those fast adaptations makes Sertainty stand out in the Zero-Trust cybersecurity industry.

To Budding Entrepreneurs – Get a Foothold

"The advice I would give to any entrepreneur is this; if you've got a vision and you believe that you are called to that vision — and I do mean called, something that's burning inside of you and you cannot say no — and you're willing to risk everything you've got, then go for it!"

Finally, Greg also adds that one should never burn a bridge as you never know when that relationship will come back and be beneficial to you and your company. The team is critical. You can have the best technology on the planet and millions of dollars invested in it, but if you do not have a 100% committed team that shares your vision and passion, you will fail.

Innovativeness and Competence

Strengthening the Security of Businesses

hat sets great leaders different from the rest is Wtheir sheer ability to thrive even amidst great challenges. They are not afraid of challenges. In fact, they like to be part of solutions to the challenges. Great leaders are different from ordinary people. They don’t think like ordinary people. They have out-of-the-box thinking. They think innovatively and plan strategically to execute their ideas and work passionately to deliver glorious business results. They figure out the problems, and their aim is to deliver the best solutions and ensure their clients' problems are resolved.

Great leaders become great because of their great attitude. Their exceptional attitude helps them be as clever as they can for delivering solutions that are of high quality and are more appreciated by the clients. That makes them the most eminent leaders in the industry. They earn credibility in the industry by their exceptional ability to deliver solutions to the challenges in a more profound way that meets the expectations of their clients in the industry. They lead with the glorious reputation they have earned, and they try their level best or beyond that to sustain their reputation.

The cybersecurity industry has witnessed such contributions from various ingenious minds. And among those leaders, women leaders are playing the most profound role by delivering the best solutions to the businesses and the clients for ensuring the safety and utmost protection of their data. They strengthen the privacy and security of the most valuable data of their businesses and clients. They make sure that their solutions play an important role in preserving the safety of data.

Data is the new buzzword today. The data used appropriately for delivering streamlined and organized solutions is beneficial to the clients and businesses. But ensuring the protection of this valuable asset called data is challenging for many businesses. The eminent women leaders in security make a point to deliver the technologically advanced solutions that play an essential role in ensuring the businesses' cyber security. They don’t make any excuses in leaving any room for the theft or exploitation of the valuable data of the businesses. They don’t leave any chance for hackers, stealers, and cybercriminals to access the data by delivering highly evolved security solutions to the important information of the organizations.

Innovativeness is the most intrinsic quality of eminent women leaders in security. Innovativeness is literally in their genes, and they nurture that innovativeness much by constantly being creative and thinking beyond normal thinking. They know that to sustain their competency in the market, there is no other option for them other than being innovative and delivering something of value and credibility to the industry. Their approach is clear, and they come up with innovative ideas and implement them to improve the quality of the solutions to the ever increasing challenges in the security industry. Competence and presence of mind are the hallmarks of eminent women leaders in security. They are competent to deliver innovative solutions to address security challenges in the industry.

Eminent leaders' competitive approach helps them avail edge over others in delivering the most accurate and timely solutions to the existing problems. Moreover, the presence of mind is essential to be successful in any field or any industry. The eminent leaders possess this quality of presence of mind in abundance, and this quality helps them come up with the most pragmatic solutions to the unforeseen challenges even at the spur of the moment. This is one of the best qualities of eminent leaders in the security industry. They adopt best practices to strengthen the security of the businesses. Innovativeness, Competence, and Presence of mind are vital attributes that help women leaders in security to be more eminent in the industry.

The Liberty in Security

Today, there are huge opportunities in the cybersecurity industry but a massive shortage of cybersecurity professionals. And diversity in the workforce can fill this space.

The problem really is not the industry being occupied by more number of men; not having enough women is the real problem.

If we look at the figures, indeed, the number of women has grown from the past years, but there are still many opportunities to be seized in cybersecurity careers.

Women have always proved their mettle in almost every industry. They have displayed what they can bring to the table. Be it building ground-breaking solutions or guiding budding women to make a career in the industry, women have contributed in every possible way to the development of the industry.

The Real Deal

Building a career in a field like cybersecurity needs not just knowledge but experience, and the constant focus to improve helps businesswomen go the distance. Adapting to new technologies is good, but it also means you are more prone to cyber-attacks. Today’s businesswomen realize the impact of technology and understand the extent of risks that technology brings along. They evaluate risks and provide solutions accordingly in a timely and cost-effective manner.

Beyond that, the journey is full of challenges, like – promoting ethics, diversity, and integrity in the organization and of course to keep the clients and the company away from any compliance. They understand that it is not an easy task, as they have to be ready with the options for any such challenges.

You cannot just raise your voice when things go wild; only better communication and understanding of the situation will get the job done. This is what women leaders exemplify. Sharing knowledge, attending seminars, interacting with industry experts clears their understanding of the complex and challenging fields like cybersecurity.

The Perfect Fit

Women in cybersecurity have changed the dogma of the industry, be it cybersecurity, IT, healthcare, or any other field for that matter. Their proactive leadership and building secure applications keep them stay ahead of the emerging competitive market. The key to their success is the promotion of inclusivity and diversity in their team, making the cybersecurity field maledominated-free. Yes, it will be a reality soon; there will be no longer a need for the term ‘male-dominated’ if only everyone is given equal opportunity to lead, of course.

The End Thought

Businesswomen have remained true in their mission, helped other women entrepreneurs, gathered and shared everything they have. Ultimately, the quality which stands out in them is never giving up; they always think of alternatives for every problem. Building a global workforce of women not just in cybersecurity but in every industry should be our goal as a society. That is the only way we can shape the future of women in the industries, including cybersecurity.