A Drive to Defend: How a Car Ride Led to the Start of Defendify

The Aha Moment

It all started with a car ride. Rob Simopoulos and Andrew Rinaldi, co-founders of Defendify, were driving back from a cybersecurity conference in Boston to their homes in Portland, Maine. As security experts, they had just spent the day meeting with technology vendors and were shocked to learn that none were interested in serving small and medium- sized organizations. The industry focused solely on large enterprises willing to purchase thousands of licenses upfront. 

Rob and Andrew knew that left mid-size organizations vulnerable. Rob had implemented physical security at previous companies and saw how piecemeal and incomplete solutions were. As the I-95 highway miles passed, Rob turned to Andrew and asked, “why is there no cybersecurity in a box?” 

That was the aha moment.

Defendify was born out of realizing midsize organizations were being ignored and deserved protection too.

Filling the Gap

Andrew and Rob had unique experiences that made them the perfect pair to help midsize organizations with their cybersecurity needs. Rob came from the physical security world, where he saw how layered approaches evolved to protect buildings and assets. Andrew brought deep expertise in web development, recognizing the importance of securing websites and apps.

Together, they noticed an immense gap in the market. Midsize organizations lacked the comprehensive cybersecurity larger enterprises implemented, yet faced all of the same threats and regulatory requirements for securing information. Major vendors weren’t interested in serving these customers, focusing instead building complex offerings to match the resources available in large “enterprise” accounts.

With their diverse backgrounds, Andrew and Rob knew they could make an impact. Their cybersecurity consulting firm helped many mid-size organizations implement stronger protections. But they saw an opportunity to do more by creating an integrated platform combining the tools and services needed into a single, easy-to-use solution.

Developing the Platform

The Defendify platform was built from the ground up as a 13-tool-in-one-platform cybersecurity solution focused on providing layered security tailored to the needs of midsize organizations.

“If you take a look at the Defendify logo, you’ll see that there’s three layers in the shield,” Rob explained. “That’s been our approach from day one.”

Those three key layers include assessments and testing, policies and training, and detection and response. By developing modules to address each layer, Defendify is able to offer a comprehensive cybersecurity package that provides organizations with protection against sophisticated attacks.  

“We knew that if we wanted a comprehensive cybersecurity package for our customers, we were going to need a multilayered solution,” Rob said. The result is a robust platform with over 13 integrated tools designed to protect organizations from end to end, without adding all the administrative overhead required by solutions designed for large enterprises.

Driving Innovation

Defendify’s development is driven by a single guiding force – customer feedback. The team stays in close contact with users and meticulously tracks every suggestion that comes in, ranking and prioritizing based on demand. This direct input shapes the platform’s evolution.

Some of the company’s proudest achievements originate from stories of how Defendify has made a tangible difference for its users. Like the time a customer reached out to share that Defendify’s security awareness training helped a finance employee identify and avoid a sophisticated phishing scam. Or the instance when a vulnerability scan alerted a customer to patch a critical security appliance they didn’t even know was vulnerable.

There are countless examples of the Managed Detection and Response solution detecting and containing live attacks against customers as well. Defendify’s cybersecurity experts work around the clock to protect users. For the team, the real-world impact they have on customers is the greatest validation possible.

Continuing the Mission

Defendify’s mission is to continually innovate and expand its capabilitiesto protect customers from evolving cyber attacks. With more than 3,500 customers relying on the platform for their cybersecurity, the team is dedicated to enhancing the product through new features, modules, and integrations.

But behind the scenes, there are real people working hard to ensure the success of every client. The Defendify customer success team assists users daily – answering questions, reviewing reports, providing recommendations, and being a trusted resource. Customers aren’t just getting cutting-edge technology, but ongoing personalized support on their cybersecurity journey.

No matter how the threat landscape evolves, Defendify will keep improving its platform to meet the needs of modern IT teams. With the right technology and dedicated human assistance, Defendify is enabling organizations to implement layered cybersecurity effectively.

Looking to see how you can get 13 of the most essential cybersecurity tools all within one platform? Schedule a call with one of our cybersecurity experts here.