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Posted January 19, 2019
“These people, dressed as they are, come from all over the United States to make deals here in the marketplace of America, ‘Let’s Make a Deal.’ And now, here’s America’s top trader, TV’s big dealer, Monty Hall!”
This is how every episode of the game show “Let’s Make a Deal” began in the 1970s. Whether or not you’ve seen the show, you may be familiar with the so-called Monty Hall Problem. This probability puzzle introduces the following scenario: you’re a contestant on a game show and you’ve been given the choice of three doors. Behind one of the doors is a car. Behind the other two doors? Goats. You choose door #1 and the game show host, who knows what’s behind each door, opens door #3 to reveal a goat. He then asks you if you want to switch your choice to door #2.
Thankfully, the man who posed the problem in 1975, American statistician Steve Selvin, also gave the answer: yes.
According to Selvin, under standard assumptions, contestants that switch to door #2 have a 2/3 chance of winning the car, while those that stick with their original choice have only a 1/3 chance of winning.
To put it both bluntly and simply, if you don’t change, you lose out on the deal.
At GreyCastle Security, we are often approached by companies that are trying to make multi-million dollar deals with large multinational corporations. These large corporations require that the companies they work with have strong cybersecurity programs in place because the vendor contract requires them to access sensitive information and the corporation wants to avoid any compromise of that data.
For the smaller company, making the deal often means making a change.
Nine times out of ten when these companies approach us, they have no cybersecurity program at all – and this leads to a “fire drill” situation where they now need to rush to put a program in place (or they’ll end up with the business equivalent of the goat behind door #1).
As a business, you need to have an evolving and organic cybersecurity program. Don’t let the lack of a formalized cybersecurity program get in the way of your business growing. Here’s what you’ll need to do to get started:
You’ll also need to be able to properly communicate what risks, if any, you introduce to clients or prospective clients and you’ll need to have the ability to push back on requests from clients and prospects if needed. You need to communicate to clients that you’ve put these things in place.
At this point in our Monty Hall Problem, our contestant made the change. They switched to door #2 and won the car. Now that they’ve got this new opportunity – where are they going to take it?
What about your deal? When it comes to cybersecurity, making necessary changes to your program introduces new opportunities, but, thanks to security questionnaires, it may not feel that way at first.
When large, risk-averse corporations want to bring on a new partner or vendor, they’ll have their vendor risk management team evaluate whether or not the potential partner has their stuff together from a cybersecurity perspective. A part of this process often includes a 250-page document that asks questions about your cybersecurity program. Some of the questions within the security questionnaire document are relevant while others are not, but your success in growing your business with large corporate clients is dependent on your ability to give a satisfactory response.
Many companies don’t understand how to fill out these security questionnaires or don’t have resources available to fill them out accurately (including not having the amount of staff needed to fill out a growing number of questionnaires). There is also the added difficulty that questionnaires from different corporations may all be different, with different questions. It’s not unusual for companies to feel like they’re drowning in security questionnaires. The best course of action? Get ahead of these questionnaires by building a strong, foundational and formalized cybersecurity program that helps you address the issue proactively.
Being able to properly communicate what risks you may introduce as well as explain the compensating controls and security measures to control the risks you introduce should streamline the process and help you secure business with big clients.
The more business you earn, the more difficult your job gets in processing an increasing number of security questionnaires, but it also provides you with a golden opportunity to make significant and measurable improvement to your cybersecurity program. This is the silver lining.
Want to win more business? Then you’ll need to build a cybersecurity program that looks at your people, processes, and technology as well as understands the risks you have internally and the risks you introduce to clients. At GreyCastle Security, we help organizations become armed with a system to identify and categorize these areas. And those people in your organization getting hammered with security questionnaires? Their job gets easier because they have a formalized process.
Once your cybersecurity program is fully functioning and harmonious, your company can grow more quickly, with the added bonus of lowering your risk.
So… which door do you want to open?
Mike Stamas is an entrepreneur, Chief Business Development Officer and Co-Founder of GreyCastle Security. GreyCastle Security is the industry’s leading provider of cybersecurity risk assessment, advisory, and mitigation services.
With over two decades of experience in the technology sector, Mike pairs his management and business development skills with a deep understanding of information security. He brings a unique brand of risk-based advising to clients and prospects.
Mike holds certifications in numerous security and related areas, including the Department of Homeland Security and other security technologies like Symantec, Cisco and Microsoft.
Mike also plays an active role in his community and currently serves as a Board Member and Vice President of InfraGard in Albany as well as serves on board positions for the Capital Region YMCA, Troy Branch and the Downtown Troy Business Improvement District. He has been recognized for his numerous achievements through various honors including the Albany Business Review’s prestigious 40 Under Forty award.
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Ho Chin is Chief Financial Officer at GreyCastle Security. In this role, Ho leads Finance, HR, IT and Professional Development. As part of the executive leadership team, Ho works to establish the company’s overall strategy and ensure proper execution of the supporting initiatives pertaining to the above areas of responsibility.
Prior to joining GreyCastle Security, Ho led finance and administrative functions at multiple private equity and venture-backed portfolio companies across multiple industries. Ho holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Pennsylvania State University in Centre County, Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in Business Administration from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Dan Kalil is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Board Chairman at GreyCastle Security. In this role, Dan provides vision, leadership and strategies that drive GreyCastle Security’s position as an industry leader. With an emphasis on customer success, Dan’s profitable growth model leverages a customer-centric business approach that balances employee wellbeing and social responsibility.
Prior to becoming CEO, Dan served as the company’s Chief Strategy Officer, during which he supported multiple acquisitions and helped the organization achieve substantial sales growth. In addition to serving as CEO at GreyCastle Security, Dan continues to hold the position of Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Assured information Security (AIS) in Rome, New York, a company he co-founded in 2001.
Over the course of the last 22 years, Dan has been committed to advancing the state of cybersecurity and has played an instrumental role in the identification and development of critical, next-generation cyber capabilities. He has held positions in almost every facet of cybersecurity, beginning as a computer forensic examiner and progressing through the management and executive leadership ranks. In addition to co-founding AIS, Dan has facilitated multiple cybersecurity startups, raised investment capital and has served in various lead and support roles toward the acquisition of five companies in the last eight years.
Dan has a bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity and a master’s degree in Cybersecurity from Utica College in Utica, New York.
Michael Stamas is an entrepreneur, board member, Vice President and a founder of GreyCastle Security. With more than two decades of experience in the technology sector, Mike pairs his management and business development skills with a deep understanding of cybersecurity. Mike brings a unique brand of risk-based advising to GreyCastle clients and prospects.
Mike holds certifications in numerous security and technology related areas, including the Department of Homeland Security and other security technologies like Symantec, Cisco and Microsoft.
Mike plays an active role in his community and serves as a board member and Vice President of InfraGard Albany as well as an advisory board position with the Capital Region YMCA.
Mike has been recognized for his numerous achievements through various honors including the Albany Business Review’s prestigious 40 Under 40 award.
Dan Maynard serves as GreyCastle Security’s Chief Operating Officer, where he currently leads Sales, Marketing and Legal.
Dan has enjoyed a 30+ year career in the Information Technology and Telecommunications industry, during which time he has held various leadership positions for organizations such as Rochester Tel/RCI, Citizens Communications (Frontier), PAETEC Communications, IntegraOptics, tw telecom/Level3 and Centurylink.
In addition to various voice and data technology platforms, he possesses a strong background in leadership development, sales and marketing leadership, transformational leadership and strategic planning. Dan has a thirst for knowledge and as a committed lifelong learner, he encourages and supports professional development initiatives for his teams and continues his involvement with Vistage International.
Dan holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, where he was selected as a member of their Athletic Hall of Fame in 2016.
When not at work, Dan enjoys traveling, golfing, attending Utica Comets hockey games and relaxing in the Adirondacks on beautiful Canada Lake with family and friends.
Dan Didier is the Vice President of Solutions and board member at GreyCastle Security.
Dan has been a cybersecurity practitioner for more than 20 years and uses his knowledge and experience to develop cybersecurity solutions that ensure readiness and preparedness.
Dan received his bachelor’s degree in Telecommunications from SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica, New York, and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a master’s degree in Information Assurance from Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont.
Our Computer Incident Response Teams (CIRTs) have responded to hundreds of breaches, intrusions, malware infections, thefts, employee investigations, fraud cases and other incidents. Our highly-certified experts have extensive experience in command, coordination and correction of incidents in nearly every industry throughout North America, from local businesses to Fortune 500 international conglomerates.
800-403-8350Francesca LoPorto-Brandow is Director of Culture at GreyCastle Security. In this role, Francesca leads all social responsibility efforts and partnerships and develops effective strategies that promote organizational-wide behaviors and attitudes consistent with a culture of safety, inclusion, teamwork, motivation and high-performance.
Prior to this role, Francesca was Director of People & Culture at GreyCastle and with her leadership, the company’s culture has been recognized by Inc. Magazine as a Nationally recognized Best Workplace, Albany Business Review Best Places to Work and Albany Times Union Top Workplaces.
Before joining GreyCastle Security, Francesca worked as an OD consultant and focused on strategic culture change at The Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group, Inc. for more than six years. There, she facilitated client education sessions, coached leaders and teams, developed and executed consulting interventions and served as strategy project leader on various client engagements. Her work has taken her into Fortune 100 companies and across borders including Panama, Singapore and beyond.
Francesca is a Lean Six Sigma–certified Green Belt, a proud YWCA-GCR board member and in 2013, she coordinated and emceed the inaugural TEDx Troy—a livestream of TEDCity 2.0. Since 2012, she has coordinated and emceed the Troy 100 Forum, a biannual forum for government, religious and community leaders to discuss issues vital to the future of Troy, New York.
Bilingual in English and Italian, Francesca holds a bachelor’s degree in Management and Technology from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Lally School of Management & Technology. She was awarded Cybersecurity Recruiter of the year North America in 2017 by the Cybersecurity Excellence Awards.
Jamie Aiello is Senior Vice President of Services and Product Management at GreyCastle Security. In this position, Jamie is responsible for leading a high performing and well-balanced team that is ultimately responsible for the identification, selection, execution and successful performance of our company’s diverse portfolio of cybersecurity offerings.
Prior to joining GreyCastle Security, Jamie has held leadership positions with Annese and Associates, ConvergeOne and BlueSky IT Partners with a focus on delivering cost effective information technology solutions for companies across multiple verticals.
Jamie holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York, a master’s degree in Business Administration from Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina and a master’s degree in Computer Information Systems from University of Phoenix in Phoenix, Arizona.
