SaltDNA, the Belfast N. Ireland, based Cybersecurity 500 company and leader in secure mobile communications for the enterprise, is celebrating its 5 year anniversary in 2018.
SaltDNA was formed in 2013 by a group of technology entrepreneurs with a shared history in enterprise security, telecoms, network optimization and mobile application development. Since their creation, the team has continually grown the product range, client base and reputation – now being recognised by Cybersecurity Ventures as the leader in secure enterprise communications.
“Speaking at BlackHat USA 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada, CEO at SaltDNA – Joe Boyle shared some of the key lessons which he and the other co-founders have learned over the years. “The journey that we’ve been on with SaltDNA has been fascinating, and very different to our previous startup experiences! Over the past five years we’ve learned more than we could have imagined, and lessons that we’ll continue to build upon.”
When asked about the five most important lessons that SaltDNA founders have learned in the past five years, Boyle responded:
- Developing a stable product takes time
“As a company SaltDNA have expanded so quickly in the past five years. Admittedly the first few years of the company’s history were very focussed on app development and ensuring that we had a well rounded product that was ready for operation in multiple industries. As a team we underestimated how long this process would take. To solidify the product to the point where we were really comfortable with it took around three years, instead of the twelve months that we had planned!”
- Importance of nurturing and spotting young talent
“We were very lucky that we had a very well rounded and experienced founders team to kick off the development process of SaltDNA. While we’ve brought in a small number of well experienced employees to strengthen our team, we’ve put a lot of time and effort into developing and spotting young talent. Being based in Belfast we’re extremely lucky to have two excellent campuses on our doorstep with Queen’s University and Ulster University. We have built strong relationships with these colleges and have been able to find world class developers, designers and business staff.”
- Innovation is key
“It’s taken time, but I can say confidently that we are the leaders in secure enterprise communications. This is down to the high levels of hard work and innovation we’ve shown to create a differentiated and successful solution in the market. We learned very quickly that innovation was key to growing our company in the way we wanted to. It took time to get ahead of our competition, and that was a tenuous process. However, we know that an even harder task is staying ahead of our competition. That’s why we continuously research to understand what our users want, and we’ve shown incredible levels of determination and focus to go above and beyond those expectations. We’ve won awards in the past two years for the level of innovation shown in our development work, and we will continue with this focus to supply the best product we can to the market.”
- Learning never stops
“With the industries that we operate in, you have to continue to learn and adapt to the challenges you face. Every day we are presented with new issues – and when addressing them you have to fall back on your past experience, or quickly step back and educate yourself. Working in a fast growing company, operating within an even faster growing Cybersecurity market – if you’re not open to learning you won’t survive. That’s what’s so great about our hungry group of staff at SaltDNA, we’re hungry for success and eager to learn – it’s a great combination to have as part of any organisational culture.”
- Mobile interception is only getting worse
“When we started developing the SaltDNA solution, we did so because of the demise of the BlackBerry and the rise of the iPhone. Since then the world has experienced the Edward Snowden revelations, the Facebook and Cambridge Analytica case, DC Cell Phone Spying stories and many more examples of how people’s mobile phone data is being stolen. Publicity and understanding of cybersecurity issues has increased dramatically in recent years. Issues that are easily detected such as ransomware have been the key focus of these reports. However, issues such as mobile interception, whilst not as easily detectable are as ever present as ransomware threats. IMSI catchers, devices for intercepting and eavesdropping on mobile phones are portable, affordable and available for anyone to purchase on eBay, Alibaba and many other websites. Just search for ‘buy an IMSI catcher’.”
To avail of a free trial of the award winning SaltDNA secure communications solution, or if you are interested in taking part in SaltDNA’s upcoming research piece, contact the team on info@saltdna.com.
About Salt Communications
Salt Communications, ranked in the top half in the Cybersecurity 500, provides a fully enterprise-managed software solution that enables absolute privacy in mobile communications. It is easy to deploy and uses multi-layered encryption techniques to meet the highest of security standards. The Salt Communications Desktop and Mobile apps are intuitive and easy to install and use. The Salt Communications Communication Manager provides a console for tight management of users and can be configured for the management of regulatory compliance. Salt Communications is headquartered in Belfast, Ireland, for more information visit saltcommunications.com.
