Compliance mapping, ongoing security training, endpoint detection and response, password management, and 24/7 monitoring – if you pictured a whole team of security consultants while reading this, you’ve clearly not met Judy. She’s a browser-based, AI-powered cybersecurity platform that does it all and keeps small and midsize businesses safe from attacks.
Behind the AI stands the AaDya Security team, led by founder and CEO Raffaele Mautone. We sat down with him to learn more about their work:
Hello, Raffaele! Tell us more about yourself and AaDya Security.
Throughout my professional career I have been fortunate to work in a variety of roles in the areas of IT, sales and operations at some of the top technology and cybersecurity companies in the world, including Duo, FireEye, McAfee and Dell.
In March of 2019, this extensive experience in the IT and security industries inspired me to launch AaDya Security with a mission to provide smart, simple, effective and affordable cybersecurity solutions for the small and midsize business customer in the form of Judy, a browser-based, all-in-one cybersecurity platform.
Instead of individual point products which require large budgets and teams to manage, Judy is designed to meet the specific needs and budgets of SMBs and their service providers. It’s easy-to-use, easy-to-manage and affordable, with next-generation security tools and 24/7 support from our live team of experts.
What’s the biggest security problem you’re aiming to solve? And how?
While the enterprise remains an attractive target for cyber criminals, they are also well-protected. Conversely, since a large percentage of SMBs are either under- or unprotected, they are seen as low hanging fruit. As a result, SMBs have experienced an increasing number of ransomware attacks, along with cybercrime such as phishing, malware and credential stealing which continue to be the biggest threats to organizations of all sizes.
Cybersecurity remains at the forefront of many of these leaders’ minds as the need increases to protect their companies. However, many small businesses do not own security software because of competing priorities, high costs, and lack of internal knowledge, specific expertise, or dedicated security staff.
For too long, small and midsize businesses have been overlooked in favor of serving the enterprise. They are left to try to build a strong security stack with point products that are often too expensive, and too complicated for small teams to manage. And, while they have the technical expertise to manage these solutions, the service providers that support these businesses have to pass along the costs to their customers. The end result is the business makes the decision to operate with less protection which puts their operations and the customers they serve at risk.
SMBs account for the majority of businesses here in the US and across the globe. Between increasing attacks, the move to remote work, and the need to meet the same compliance requirements as their enterprise counterparts in order to win and keep customers, access to security solutions like Judy, built with their needs and budgets in mind, has never been more critical.
Judy makes cybersecurity effortless and efficient by protecting their virtual environments with a comprehensive suite of security features they won’t find anywhere else:
- DNS Filtering
- Integrated Single Sign-On/2FA
- Password Management
- Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
- Mobile (Android & Apple)
- Judy’s Team Blue: Managed Threat Detection & Automated Remediation
- Judy’s Learning: Security Awareness Training
- Automated Compliance Management & Reporting
Tell us about the value you bring to your customers. How do they describe you?
AaDya provides our SMB customers and their service providers with a flexible, comprehensive solution that is light and accessible, unlike heavy, complicated traditional point products. We pride ourselves on offering exactly what SMBs need to secure their most sensitive company and customer information, and meet compliance requirements – without the cost or hassle of trying to leverage enterprise solutions.
Judy was built using the latest artificial intelligence and machine learning technology, which differentiates us from our competition. This proactive approach manages, monitors, protects and informs by bringing together interactive access management tools and industry-leading software. The power of automation combines with human intervention to quickly find and mitigate issues before they do harm.
One customer talks about their challenge and how Judy helps to solve it:
“SMB’s are under-resourced and understaffed. They need something that does the job, but doesn’t require lots of resources and people to make it work. Judy was the first product I saw that actually accomplished that. Judy is not as intrusive as some of the other security products out there. Sometimes I forget that Judy is actually working, until you try to click on a bad website. Then, you know she’s doing her job!”
How do AaDya Security and Cobalt click together? What do you think the security community will find most valuable about our partnership?
We are building a Partner program to bring real value to this underserved sector and to those who support it. It gives service providers, value-added resellers and consultants an offering that is easy for them to deploy and manage, and provides their customers with enterprise-level security in one package that even their non-technical users will enjoy using.
Partnerships, like the one we have with Cobalt, allow us to recommend trusted providers and products to our clients that are complementary to what we offer with Judy. We feel confident because we are not only partners, but we also leverage Cobalt’s pentesting services ourselves to ensure our own offerings and processes are as secure as possible.
What's on the horizon for you — any previews you can give into what lies ahead for AaDya Security, or where you think the industry as a whole is going?
Our future is bright as we will continue to bring on new MSP and MSSP as we grow globally and evolve our product accordingly.
The risk will continue to be the attack surface and what businesses can control. The reliance on large centralized infrastructures and software services will mean that one attack could have ramifications for thousands of businesses. More and more connected devices which are not (and in many cases cannot be) managed will create risk for organizations.
Additionally, individual online users now have access to the same tools and the ability to develop TTPS skills on par with APT and cyber criminal organizations. Ironically the same fundamentals as noted in Question 2 will remain the best way to mitigate these risks. Remember the threat actor only needs to be right once, but your security needs to be right 100% of the time.
We always sneak a fun question at the end: If AaDya Security had a mascot, what would it be?
Well, that’s easy because we already have one, Judy! She’s the heart (and brains) of our platform and embodies the innovative AI and machine-learning technology that holds everything together to keep our clients safe from threats. Her persona is light and fun but she also represents that strong, smart, watchful and resourceful presence that won’t let anything get past her to do harm to those she protects.
