YourStory recently caught up with Dhruv Soi, founder of Torrid Networks, an end-to-end information security services company based out of Delhi NCR

If someone asked you to tell them about Torrid Networks in three sentences, what would you say?

Torrid Networks was started in 2006. It is an end-to-end information security services company based out of Delhi NCR. We are a team of expert ethical hackers in the team, we have worked with over 70 customers to secure critical information assets. We have a large alliance network to cater cutting-edge information security products needs of our customers and we are recognized as a leading information security consulting company.

How is Torrid Networks different from other information security service providers?

Where other information security service providers have limited service portfolio and most of the them simply act as flaw finders with no active participation in the remediation plan, Torrid Networks provides complete range of information security services including active, reactive, proactive and offensive security. Apart from the team of ethical hackers, we have tie-ups with product OEM companies and have got in-house security product implementation team along with operating system and application experts to help the customers executing remediation plan effectively. We have close association with international and open information security communities which helps it in staying abreast with the ever changing technology landscape.

How did the idea for Torrid Networks come about? How did you zero in on the name 'Torrid Networks'? How much capital was required to start the company?

Hacking has been my passion right from college days. In fact, I did my B.Tech. in Electronics but my interest and passion has always been towards hacking. Though it was more of fun and curiosity driven during college days, I always wanted of starting an ethical hacking company someday. After college, I worked for 3 years with different companies and then founded Torrid Networks. Selecting the company name is a tough job, and it becomes toughest if there ain’t other co-founders in the company. “Torrid” is a dictionary word which stands for “hot” and “burning”. Since company’s objective was to solve the problem of burning networks due to the security problems, I moved ahead with the name “Torrid Networks”. I had no money when I started the company so there was no option but to start from zero capital.

Tell us about your background.I am B.Tech. in Electronics from Y.M.C.A Engineering College, Faridabad. Before founding Torrid Networks, I worked with Fidelity Investments as security consultant where I was responsible to secure their transactional and non-transactional web infrastructure. Prior to Fidelity Investments, I served iPolicy Networks as vulnerability researcher, where I used to research upon the latest vulnerabilities and exploits to create IPS signatures for iPoicy IPS products. I previously worked with Momentum Technologies and FCS Software as Sr. Linux Administrator and network engineer respectively. I am also Chairperson for OWASP India from last 6 years which is a not-for-profit and global application security body with its application security guidelines recognized and accepted internationally.

Let us know about the tie-ups that you have (if any). Is there acceptance for your concept? Can you give us some incidents to illustrate the same?

We are working with many product OEMs including Checkpoint, Juniper, BlueCoat, Armorize, Beyond Security, etc. to become end-to-end information security providers to our customers. Markets were completely different 5 years ago when information security awareness was really lacking amongst the organizations. It was quite challenging at that time to find information security projects. Today, due to increased awareness on information security and regulatory requirements, most of the companies are interested to go for third party audit services.

Where do you see information security services and Torrid Networks five years from now?

Threat landscape has changed tremendously in last 5 years and it should follow the same spectrum in upcoming years. Demand for information security services is surely going to increase due to increasing awareness, regulatory needs and rising security breaches. Staying ahead in the technology is the basic need for our company and we foresee ourselves as a top information security services company with pan India presence in coming five years.

What is Torrid Networks' revenue model?

Our revenue is completely driven out of services including consulting, implementation and training services.

As an entrepreneur, what are your joys? What are the challenges?

The profile we are into is full of excitement and enjoyment. Ethical hacking has been my passion right from the beginning and it adds a flavour to my enjoyments while running an ethical hacking company. Running a self-funded company under limited budgets always restricts one to expand the operations and tap more customers quickly. Though it can’t be termed as a real challenge but one has to learn on how to live with it which is really difficult during initial years.

How big is the Torrid Networks team? Tell us a little bit about the team. Are you looking at hiring?

Our consulting team of around 40 technical consultants comprises of expert ethical hackers, auditors, product implementers, Unix, Windows and network specialists. Our stringent hiring process helps us pick the best industry talent and 85% of our staff has B.Tech. degree with an average of 4 years of industry experience. There are very senior team members with over 10 years experience who have joined us from big companies like HCL, Wipro, etc.

Yes. We are looking at hiring. We are currently expanding our sales and ethical hacking team.

Let us know about your expansion plans.

This financial year we have achieved 250% growth in our revenues and next year we are hitting an ambitious target of 400% growth. To penetrate deep into BFSI vertical, opening a branch office in Mumbai is right up on our agenda and we should achieve it by end of this year.

In the last 5 years, we have worked with over 70+ customers including govt. organizations, telecom companies, large manufacturing houses, software development companies, KPOs/BPOs, etc. Ethical hacking and application security are our core strengths and have been the best sellers for us. Our operations are broadly restricted to Delhi NCR, with companies interested in information security services mostly based out in Gurgaon, and for government projects Delhi is the obvious destination. With the increasing cyber attacks against the nation and cyber warfare being adopted into national security strategy globally, we foresee lot of investments to arrive from government into information security projects.

We at YourStory wish the Torrid Networks team good luck with their expansion plans. For more details, check out http://www.torridnetworks.com/ and please share your thoughts on this story with us. You can write to us at [email protected]