Fresh off his pitchfest win at last week’s AccelerateOTT, CybernetIQ founder Joe Cummins joined Techopia Live this week to talk about how his history as a blackhat hacker helps his startup protect its customers.
Cummins took us back to his early days in the Canadian military, when he was on the front line of cyber-warfare. When he later started his own company, he was tasked with breaking into clients’ own systems to show them where vulnerabilities existed and found he could use that same offensive skill set to better defend those companies against attack.
“They’re looking for somebody else to come in and tell them the threat scenario they haven’t thought of yet,” Cummins told Techopia Live.
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CLAW, CybernetIQ’s flagship software, visualizes an organization’s “cybersecurity posture.” Cummins describes it as an “MRI” that collects the numerous cybersecurity layers and tools a company is using and lays them on top of one another to reveal gaps or vulnerabilities. The Ottawa-based firm can then recommend fixes to patch up the holes in clients’ systems.
Cummins’ pitch at last week’s AccelerateOTT event earned the company a $250,000 investment commitment from the MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund. In just a week’s time, Cummins says life has gotten a lot busier.
He’s been inundated with messages from cybersecurity experts across North America, asking for his input on cyber-solutions for a range of industries. CybernetIQ’s newfound prominence has coincided with a similar rise in Canada’s cybersecurity industry as a whole – Cummins says that the country used to be viewed as a little brother to the United States’ cyber dominance, but lately he feels Canada is coming into its own as a major player in the space.
Canada’s rise, paired with a timely pitchfest win and seed round, is equipping CybernetIQ to make an impact in the ever-growing cybersecurity market.
“We’re now punching above our weight class,” Cummins said.
To hear more about Cummins’ thoughts on Canada’s cybersecurity field, watch the video above.
