As a President and CEO, Ray Georges Chehata compares leading a company to running a relay race. He thinks that throughout a company’s lifecycle, different leaders will take the baton and run their race to the best of their abilities, until passing it on to the next runner. Just like in a race, a company goes through different stages and each stage requires the expertise and skill set of a different type of leader. What’s important as a CEO is to adapt to the company’s situation, help the company improve, compete and excel, until it is time to pass the baton on to the next CEO. Before passing on the baton, the current CEO must be able to identify and recruit a suitable next CEO from within or outside of the organization and properly train the candidate for the great opportunity and challenge that is leading a company.
Before joining Above Security as President and CEO, Ray filling all the abilities of a true entrepreneur, spent his career in corporate consulting, finance, turnaround management, and marketing. Aside from dedicating his time between business endeavors and his family, he also spends a great deal of time volunteering as a coach in various sports: hockey, baseball, football, etc. Ray’s key values that helped him advance in his career as CEO are honesty, integrity and never playing politics. One of the most memorable incidents in Ray’s career was launching annual cyber-security conferences at Above Security in 2011. Bringing together leading experts in the IT security field, his objective of private conferences is to provide attendees with a platform for continuous learning, training and knowledge exchange with industry experts and peers. Since its first iteration in 2011, Above Security’s conferences have educated hundreds of security professionals on today’s most relevant and critical topics in the industry.
“We truly see continuous learning education and learning as one of our main responsibilities as a security service provider, and we are grateful to have collaborated with many embassies and partners around the world to raise awareness for cyber-security and IT risk management. Many now consider it as a best-kept secret in the industry,” assured Ray.
Above Security – A Hitachi Group Company: Monitoring and Protecting Your Organization’s Critical IT Assets on a 24/7 Basis
The current cyber security threat landscape is becoming increasingly complex, and more and more organizations are falling prey to cyber-attacks on a daily basis. Cybercrime is becoming an important factor not only in the minds of CIOs and IT professionals, but also for CEOs, CFOs, compliance officers and business owners. Unfortunately, the decision of buying, implementing and maintaining solutions to defend against cyber-crime can be quite challenging for internal IT teams.
Above Security was founded with the objective of protecting organizations’ sensitive data assets by becoming an extension of their internal security teams, a true partner in all matters security that is more than just a technology vendor. The company provides managed security services and professional security services to help internal IT teams to focus on running their day-to-day operations, all while protecting organizations’ most valuable IT assets and customer data. They offer the full suite of managed security services to help improve their customers’ security posture, including real-time threat monitoring, incident response management, intrusion detection, log management and correlation, and vulnerability management, to name a few. Their professional security services are centered around the Governance – Risk – Compliance framework, including penetration testing, vulnerability assessments, PCI DSS compliance engagements, risk and control assessments, IT security governance mandates, etc.
Partners in Information Security
Above Security has come to realize that there are no quick fixes, no magical solutions to prevent cyber-attacks. Regardless of the size of your organization or the technologies that you have in place, your data will always be exposed to risk. Therefore, the company has developed an approach towards data protection that is unique in the security industry.
At Above Security, they are not trying to develop and sell that one perfect magic solution that will protect organizations from hacking and cybercrimes. Having monitored the networks of customer in over 50 countries around the world, they have come to understand that no technology can ever stop cyber-crime; no service will ever be able to prevent risk. Instead, they focus on being ready for cyber-attacks, always honoring honesty and transparency with their clients to manage their expectations. Unlike their competition, their authentic approach to risk management and incident response management is something which really sets them apart.
Successful Team, Successful Company, Successful Clients
Considering endless opportunities in the IT security industry, Above Security has developed a clear and concise plan of action for the coming years. Ray understands that they cannot be everything to everyone, but instead most focus on their core strengths and capabilities of being a true partner, an extension of their customers’ internal IT teams rather than just a technology vendor.
In terms of benefits to their clients, Above Security is committed of maintaining the boutique environment and partnership approach and not being lost in a large, conglomerate-structure. While they are now a part of Hitachi Systems, Ltd., a large global IT security services company, they are dedicated to respecting and applying their core values of honesty, integrity and pioneering spirit and always treat their clients as people and not as a number. Above Security always tries to deliver customer value.
Future Prospects
Above Security has an aggressive plan to increase its market share in the US market. The company recently opened a brand-new Security Operations Center in the Dallas-Fort Worth region in Texas, USA. “We will be investing heavily in new US staff members to meet the increasing demand for security services. Personally, I will make sure to continuously motivate the team to strive for excellence and doing the best they possibly can, without ever losing the essence of what differentiated Above Security as a security service provider prior to its acquisition in October 2015,” asserts Ray.
www.abovesecurity.com
