Cyber Threat Be Gone
Cyber Strategies for the Future Market

The political and corporate barrage of devastating 2016 cyber-attacks has forced non-enterprise businesses to rethink whether cyber security should earn a spot on their 2017 budget. No longer do you need to have a direct connection to the cyber space to see that attack techniques are getting bolder and more sophisticated daily. All you’ll need in 2017 is access to news. As per cyber security market report, “Worldwide spending on cyber security is predicted to top $1 trillion over the next five years.” But where will the spending occur? Are multi-national, enterprise companies going to simply spend more in the future to avoid cyber-attacks? Or will a new wave of non-enterprise businesses soon add cyber security to their budget for the first time? A unique company out of Houston, TX is betting on the latter.

Co-founders Ted & Cherise Gutierrez of “Cyber Threat Be Gone” (CTBG) offer comprehensive cyber security solutions to companies that traditionally have not purchased cyber security in the past. CTBG is unique in that Ted’s personal story later defined their target market. “In late 2014, I owned a relatively small company and things were going great. I was so focused on growing; I didn’t pay attention to our cyber security. We were hacked on a Friday and everything changed,” recalled Ted, CTBG’s CEO. Ted and Cherise’s joint research during recovery from the attack revealed that the smaller IT footprints of non-enterprise companies that was once protected from cyber-attacks now has become their primary weakness due to a lack of defenses. Cherise, a 15+ year veteran of cyberspace and President of CTBG recalls the defining moment of their inception stating, “I knew we wouldn’t find a reasonable cyber security option for Ted’s business. All the solutions required a ton of employees for the finances to make sense. So, we decided to create a company that could do better.”

Since starting, they’ve captured an untamed market of generally uninformed, fearful, and willing businesses by providing a vulnerability assessment program unlike any in the market.

CTBG’s products range from managed security services through a 24/7 Security Operations Center (SOC) or professional solutions that augment existing security staffs.

Their Gulf Coast Houston location has led them to help manage automated and process-based security functions such as SCADA and PCD in the oil & gas market including development of ongoing assessment programs and table-top exercises with drilling contractors, maritime assets, and public utility companies. Although a crucial tenet to CTBG’s offerings is their ability to provide incident response teams, their unique market position is helping companies in the preventive space with a vigorous vulnerability assessment program that goes beyond technology. Cherise sums up CTBG’s focus well stating, “There are tons of technologies that can help identify a cyber-attack. We even re-sell a few. The real security players of the future are those that help prevent cyber-attacks.”

CTBG believes true protection is deployment of defenses tied with a unique understanding of how their clients’ businesses operate. Their vulnerability management program bypasses IT/CIO staffs and instead helps top-tier business leaders understand and translate technical risks to business needs. As such, their vulnerability management solution is successfully changing the concept of cyber security as a risk indication program to an effective value-added service for their client's portfolio.

There are tons of technologies that can help identify a cyber-attack. We even re-sell a few. The real security players of the future are those that help prevent cyber-attac

CTBG is working closely with Liongard, a cyber security software company, to leverage their platform for continuous pre-incident security management. Ted shared in January, “We’re very excited about 2017 as we continue to invest in the pre-incident realm where monitoring and assessing the security health of companies before breach is a large, untapped, and very vulnerable market. Stay tuned for more!”