Fortify Sensitive Data With Information Security Startup We45

We spend a sizeable part of our day online and exchange a lot of sensitive data with our colleagues, peers and acquaintances. Information security has become a major concern, with data theft, phishing and other forms of cyber crimes increasing rapidly.

we45 (spelt we’fortify’), a Bangalore based information security specialist startup, hopes to change this. Founded by Abhay Bhargav (Co-founder & CTO) and Rahul Raghavan (Co-founder & VP), we45 works towards ensuring that the challenge of securing information is met by organizations. we45 provides both consultation and training services, in regard to information security.

The beginning

we45 started out mainly owing to the opposing synergy that Rahul and Abhay had in terms of their line of work. Rahul is a qualified Software Engineer and was working with Infosys. He was in charge of the development and engineering of hard core banking applications. Abhay, on the other hand is a CPA turned security professional and was working with another compliance organization and was involved in breaking into applications (ethically!). These opposing energies in addition to the potential that Information Security had in this part of the world, was the seed of thought on which we45 was started.

“we45 is one of the few companies to have not diversified its line of business. We have no tie ups with product companies and we are agnostic of any development language or platform. Like they say, from a safety pin to a motorboat, if there is something that someone needs to know on security, we45 is the place,” said Rahul.

The we45 duo

Abhay Bhargav and Rahul Raghavan are the driving forces behind we45. Abhay currently leads the information security and compliance consulting practice at we45. In his earlier avatars, Abhay has performed security assessments for various enterprises in various domains like banking, software development, retail, telecom and legal. He specializes in web application security.

Rahul is presently in charge of risk assessment and web application security practice at we45. He also contributes to we45’s internal training initiatives. He was part of the core research and development team of Finacle, the in-house banking product of Infosys.

Also part of the team is Siddharth Kundekar and Sandeep Patil. Siddharth has a Masters in Computer Application and is the Associate Security Analyst at we45. Sandeep is an Associate Security Analyst as well and has a B.E in Information Systems.

Plans for the near future

“Right now, for the next 15 months, we are targeting the software/product development companies, large scale manufacturing companies and the healthcare segment,” said Rahul. “In addition, we also want to actively engage with the colleges and universities and conduct workshops for students (especially those who want to get into the IT aspect of things after graduation) and talk to them about InfoSec and tell them how they can have a significant leverage in their career options but being aware and educated on Information Security,” added Rahul.

Engagement with clients

we45 engages with its clients, primarily in two ways. “First is a get-in-get-out assignment, where we are called in to perform a very specific assignment over a fixed period of time,” said Rahul.

They also engage with customer over a longer period of time. They virtually become a part of the client’s team with a definite agenda of creating a secure IT environment from all aspects of the business.

“We also engage with organizations as partners helping them serve their clients better by providing our services to their clients, through them as a partner,” added Rahul.

Some of the major recognitions

• Recognized as one among the Top 20 startups in 2010
• Accredited by NASSCOM and the DSCI (Data Security Council of India)
• Taken part and presented in a large number of conferences including the Java One conference at San Francisco
• Been one among the very few companies to have worked for a Fortune 500 firm in the first year of business

we45 plan to expand into the Middle East market by end of 2012. Entering the North American market is also on their mind.

“As far as we45 is concerned, the biggest challenge (which we still face day in and day out) is we are in a very niche and boutique domain,” said Rahul. “So we are selling the concept first, and then the service,” signed off Rahul.

To find out more about we45, visit http://www.we45.com/