Ken Pfeil, Chief Security Architect and CSO for TechDemocracy, Profile

Ken Pfeil
Chief Security Architect and CSO for TechDemocracy,


Ken Pfeil, Chief Security Architect and CSO for TechDemocracy, Certificate

“Navigating the Security Risks with Poise”

Ken Pfeil, Chief Security Architect and CSO for TechDemocracy, is a long-time veteran in cybersecurity and a noted expert in the subject. His experience applied to his foresight has prevented many breach situations across the board. His leadership and ability to train, mentor, and counsel over the last 20 years have enabled many senior-level security executives to protect more companies today. Being a steadfast leader, he has always been guiding young leaders towards success, “one of the things I suggest to future leaders is to contribute back to the community. Contribute to standards, write publications, blogs, etc. and get involved with the security community.” According to Ken, with the advent of social media, it’s a lot easier today than it was almost 30 years ago. “Never stop learning about the technology, and how it is related to your business. You need to balance your understanding of technology with your understanding of applicability to your business model, but remain strong in each.”

"TechDemocracy was born more than two decades ago to help businesses transform the security of their organizations to stay ahead of the times. "

TechDemocracy was born more than two decades ago to help businesses transform their organizations' CYBER security to stay ahead of the times. Formed initially around identity and access services, the company naturally expanded to include many security services vital to an organization’s risk posture. TechDemocracy’s Flagship IT Risk Management product Intellicta was embarked upon almost four years ago to enable enterprises to gauge real-time risk, breachability, compliance, and estimated financial loss in a manner that correlates to all existing security frameworks. This unique approach led to being named in the Magic Quadrant of ITRM by Gartner.

“I am fortunate in the respect that we face internally a lot of the same challenges as our customers. That enables us to not only use the technology we’ve developed here, such as Intellicta, but to incorporate our internal practices more effectively and in line with our customer practices,” explains Ken. “We outlined some very effective practices in our book “Network Security Assessment: From Vulnerability to Patch” 14 years ago, and many of the basics have not changed. In short: Identify, Assess, Remediate, Report, Improve and Monitor.” System roles, business impact, and feasibility are also key. “You don’t, and probably won’t, have a patch for every condition. Communication is also essential at every stage of the game.”

TechDemocracy’s framework (centered upon the principles of Informed, Secured, Governed, and Resilient) applied to a 3-tiered security metrics model allows them to flexibly integrate into any existing security framework or incorporate any regulatory or governance requirement. Their intelligent use of predictive analytics also allows them to spot potential breach situations more accurately, more effectively. This also allows and facilitates a predictive financial liability model for both board reporting and cyber-liability insurance purposes.

For instance, one of the largest public-school district administrators of the United States needed a systems administration and identity and access management Services for school employees, contractors, and students. But there were many student registrations, school transfers, and staff roles to be managed and the challenge of integration with DW, EBS, GAPPS, and AD for seamless integration with Oracle Identity Management. The solution approach involved defining a multiphase implementation approach using the IAM product to provision and de-provision user accounts based on record systems. Upgrading Identity & Access Management components to the latest version, and utilize the latest features offered in setting up role, responsibility, and attribute-based access control to Active Directory, Oracle E-Business Suite, SMAX Application and Data Warehouse and external applications like Google Apps. The results improved SLA's availability for the IAM services, reduced password-related help desk calls significantly, improved customer service through a fast and automated account set up for students, staff, and increased internal and external customer satisfaction.

The continued improvement of TechDemocracy’s internal practices, security framework, and product, Intellicta, are the reasons that Tech Democracy believes will benefit their customers the most. “We strive to ensure that we can provide the services and solutions that are most important to our customer base, and will continue to innovate and stay ahead of the pack, so to speak,” adds Ken. IE


Company

TechDemocracy,

Management

Ken Pfeil
Chief Security Architect and
CSO for TechDemocracy,

Description

TechDemocracy is a global cyber risk assurance solutions provider whose DNA is rooted in Enterprise Identity solution, Cyber advisory, managed and implementation services. We are an advisor and integrator at heart, striving to create centers of excellence to provide solution to compliance, risk, identity management and governance across enterprise.


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