SecurityHQ: Transforming the Cyber Space with Advanced Cyber-security Solutions
The 10 Most Innovative Companies to Watch in 2021
Feras Tappuni is the
CEO and founder of SecurityHQ and is responsible for overseeing all the
technical and financial aspects of the company. With over 25 years’ experience,
he has dedicated his life to cyber security and is driven by the desire to
offer his clients the highest degree of protection against today’s cyber
threats. Feras has delivered complex security and engineering projects to
prestigious clients globally. From harnessing the right technology, processes,
and people, he ensures that SecurityHQ delivers a truly enterprise grade
experience.
Every leader has a unique definition of
success. Tell us about your thoughts about success and why do you feel that?
The
definition of success changes depending on where you are standing. What I
deemed as success when I started the business, was simply to survive. All I
wanted was to make sales, and maintain another month, another quarter, another
year. Now that the business has grown globally, there are different forms of
success. There are sales numbers, targets, revenue generation, all those
metrics can provide you with the definition of success. But the real definition
of success for me is if my customers are happy with the service that we deliver
and that we are achieving their needs. If your customers are happy, and if you
focus all your energy on that, then you will succeed.
Leading a company to success is not an easy
road to take. What inspired you to take the step of faith? What laid the
foundation of SecurityHQ?
I
have spent a great deal of time helping friends start businesses by giving them
advice. But I had never ran my own business, despite really wanting to. Then
the company I was with at the time decided to restructure the business, and it
was very easy for me to see that I had to be part of that restructure and had
to exit. I knew the exit was coming, and the ugly part of that job was I had to
let quite a few people go, and the last person to go had to be me.
This
forced me to take the leap of faith to start my own company. It was something I
had wanted to do since I was a child. I did not need to think or write about it
anymore, I just needed to get on and do it. The way I did that was to just get
my first client, and then I just spent, and still do spend, the rest of my time
packing the backend to make sure that each element was a success.
Challenges make you stronger. What is your take
on this? What were the roadblocks that taught you valuable lessons in your
professional journey and helped the growth of the company?
When
you have a business that starts off with a few individuals and then it grows
from the ground up, personal life and business merges into one. There are huge
roadblocks and setbacks. I recently read an interesting stat, from a conference
in America know as ‘Titans of Business’. They estimated 20% of those types of
business were merely 4 weeks away from bankruptcy, at any one point. It is a
very stressful environment, and sometimes these stresses cannot be controlled.
But they do make you stronger. You have to go through the low points because it
makes you stronger, and it makes you say, ‘I won’t be in that position again, I
won’t let that happen’.
Tell us in brief about the products and
services of SecurityHQ.
SecurityHQ
is a Global MSSP that monitors networks 24/7, to ensure complete visibility and
protection against your cyber threats. Threats can be both external and
internal. Which means that the right combination of tools, skills, people, and
processes are essential, to manage, detect and defend your environment from all
malicious activity proactively and effectively.
From
Managed Detection &
Response to Managed Firewall, Managed Endpoint Protection, Digital Risk and Threat
Monitoring, SecurityHQ offers a wide range of services, covering both audit and management, and detection and response, to
ensure that all cyber security needs are met.
What are the growth strategies that you
implemented for the expansion of the company?
We
invested in marketing, we invested in our brand, we invested in understanding
the product range that was required and we went after it aggressively. We are
ideally positioned, because we have always been international/global, so we
just broke out into the separate markets, and we have an insistent 5-year plan
going ahead. The most important thing is we do what we say we are going to do.
That is the most important thing in business and in life.
What marked the beginning of the company as a
recognized brand in the cyber security industry?
We
always had a brand, but I would say the change of the name from Si Consult to
SecurityHQ was a turning point. When we rebranded ourselves, our name, our
services, our whole company, we made it globally known that we are serious
players in the industry.
How do you ensure a culture of integrity and
innovation in the company? What are the core values of SecurityHQ?
With
respect to integrity, we do not compromise. Never, ever compromise on
integrity. That integrity must permeate through everything we do. From how we
talk with colleagues, how we talk with clients, to the quality of service we
deliver. A patient does not self-medicate so, if the client wants you to do
something you are not comfortable with, then you do not do it. It is that
simple.
When
it comes to innovation, we work very closely with our clients, to understand
their needs and the risks of the market and the growing threats to make sure
that we are pivoting in the right direction. It is necessary to pivot
constantly as the threat landscape changes and grows daily.
How does the company stay abreast with the
increasing competition in the industry?
We
do not dwell on our competitors that much. We really are focused on ourselves.
We have a little look over the fence every now and then, but it is a waste of
time because you really should just stay focused on what you are supposed to be
doing.
How has SecurityHQ influenced the industry with
innovative ideas?
SecurityHQ
has been a successful business for over 15 years, which makes us a veteran in
the industry. We are not a start-up, we do not have any new VC, or equity, or
anything like that. We are engineers that built the company from the ground up.
That already makes us a huge differentiator. People who started this business
still run this business, we know where we are at and, more importantly, know
where we are going.
What has been the best recognition that the
company received? Tell us about the best client feedback you received that made
you proud as a leader.
We
have won some fantastic accolades. We were recently honoured as a 2021 IBM Beacon Award winner
for Outstanding Security Solution.
But
even though awards are testament to our hard work, our technology and dedicated
team, the greatest recognition we can have comes from our clients. An example
of this happened only 6 months ago, with a ransomware attack on one of our
clients who was significantly impacted. That client went through unmitigated
hell for 4/5 days. We were there with them when they basically went into
freefall. And after, when we pulled them out of the dark, got a call saying
thank you to all our team. That simple thank you means everything, absolutely
everything. We are very conscious that people’s jobs are at risk with this kind
of attack. It was a simple phone call, but it was the thing that made me so
proud of what we do.
What are your responsibilities as the CEO of SecurityHQ?
How do you keep your employees motivated?
You
have to worry about today, and you need to motivate your team. But your real
job as a CEO, is to focus on tomorrow. Make sure that the path is cleared for
your team of experts to trail blaze through it. Keeping staff motivated is
always hard because you have some tough days as well. But it’s just about
teamwork. And making sure that the team clicks. Great individuals don’t
necessarily make a great team, the team must work and run
as one unit. You have to keep that in mind.
Being
open and frank is crucial. Sometimes difficult conversations must happen. But
the most important thing is that we do not dwell on them and keep moving
forward as one.
What is your vision for the future of SecurityHQ?
How do you plan to extend the company services, globally?
Our
vision is to continually expand our services globally. Particularly in the back
end of the year you will see an aggressive push into the US market. We already have
some clients there, but we want to invest more in that area. And, who knows,
maybe in the future we will also delve into Latin America as well.
We
are also looking at continuous expansion in our current markets, which is MEA
and APAC.