00:00:00

Show Notes

In this episode of the Hacker Valley Studio podcast, Ron and Chris are joined by co-founders of Material Security, Ryan Noon and Abhishek Agrawal. They co-founded Material Security in 2017, today Ryan serves as the CEO, and Abhishek the CTO. Abishek has a background in engineering, infrastructure and analytics and his MBA from Harvard.  Ryan’s background is in engineering and data analysis, and holds multiple computer science and security degrees from Stanford. Before they moved on to creating their own company, they worked together at DropBox.

While they both have a strong engineering background, they are developing a security product. Ryan explains that coding and engineering is why he’s able to work in cyber security, all his years of engineering helped him make a reliable and effective product. Abhishek agrees that both their different backgrounds have carried over into the security industry and says the lessons he learned in productivity and engineering have been incredibly useful. Despite these diverse backgrounds, Ryan says going into security was an easy decision. “Go to where the problems are,” he says. Around the time of the founding of Material Security, there were a lot of problems with email. Abhishek agrees, and says he’s always been interested in email and how it’s being destroyed by threats. 

When hackers access your email, what are they looking for? Abhishek explains that they may be downloading all of its contents, or resetting passwords to services like Twitter or Instagram. Material Security works to ask those questions and stop the effectiveness of a breach in email security. This shifts the focus from all the ways someone may hack you, to the implications of that hack. Ryan likens it to a burglary, explaining that their security is less about all the doors and windows - ways to get into your home - but rather what someone may want once they’re inside.

There is a lot of hand wringing in startup land, Ryan says, but there is no one right way to do it. The startup can burn you out, and what made Material Security’s leadership work was the reliance on each other, both he and Abhishek and their third co-founder, Chris Park. For them, this was the magic answer, having a third person gives them a tie breaker and someone who could cut through the noise with clarity. Abhishek agrees, joking that they compliment each other by Ryan giving long detailed answers, and Abhishek can summarize his thoughts. In all seriousness, this balance of responsibility and strengths requires a level of trust and lack of ego but makes the team work smoothly. Having unique skill sets is important, but Abhishek explains overlap is important as well because you can speak the same language and push each other for the best solutions.

When you come from similar backgrounds, no one is the authority and ideas get pressure tested. One of the challenges is using this overlap of skills for good - not letting it paralyze you. Another challenge they faced is knowing where to question and press industry standards, versus where to accept and excel at current practices. When thinking over their challenges and journey they offer some advice to new founders. Ryan stresses, “stop trying to get into things.” People can fall into the trap of trying to get into college, programs, and industries, and end up giving up some of their productivity and creativity to others. He also encourages people to know their partners and communicate with them about everything. Abhishek says people should divorce the idea of leaving their job from starting a company. Instead you should decide if you’re ready to leave your current job and then if you want to go to a new company or start your own.

 

0:00 - Intro

1:40 - Listeners are introduced to co-founders of Material Security and the episode ahead.

3:05 - Ryan and Abhishek introduce themselves. 

5:38 - How do engineering and cyber security intersect?

8:39 - Why did Ryan and Abhishek decide to go into security?

14:28 - Ryan and Abhishek explain what hackers do when they’ve gotten into email.

18:08 - How do Ryan and Abhishek navigate their relationship?

24:19 - Ron asks Ryan and Abhishek about the challenges of the founder’s journey.

26:45 - What piece of advice do they have for new founders?

 

Links:

Learn more about Material Security.

Learn more about Hacker Valley Studio.

Support Hacker Valley Studio on Patreon.

Follow Hacker Valley Studio on Twitter.

Follow hosts Ron Eddings and Chris Cochran on Twitter.

Learn more about our sponsor ByteChek.

Recent Episodes

December 5, 2023

Ransomware: How to Use AI to Create

a Readiness Kit with Scott Suthe...

The adversary is using Artificial Intelligence. Why aren’t you? In this episode, Host Chris Cochran talks with Scott Sutherland, VP of Research at NetSPI, about everyone’s favorite hot topics; ransomware and AI...

November 28, 2023

Cover Your SaaS: Navigating OAuth

and SaaS Security Challenges

SaaS misconfigurations may be responsible for up to 63% of security incidents. Do your SaaS applications have risky OAuth grants and misconfigurations? Let’s not find out. We will unravel the complexities of OA...

November 21, 2023

Standing Out On LinkedIn as a

Cybersecurity Professional with ...

In this episode, host Ron Eddings speaks with Chris Hughes, President at Aquia, Cyber Innovation Fellow at CISA, and cybersecurity legend. Special guest, Chris Hughes, was initially inspired to build a personal...

November 7, 2023

Adversarial AI: Navigating the

Cybersecurity Landscape

In this episode, host Ron Eddings is joined by Sr. Director of Red Team Operations at Coalfire, Pete Deros, to discuss the hottest topic around; adversarial AI. Ron and Pete discuss how AI is used and how the a...

October 31, 2023

Protecting What You Can’t See with

HD Moore

In this episode, host Ron Eddings is joined by Metasploit creator, co-founder and CEO of runZero, HD Moore. HD changed the world with Metasploit and he’s doing it again with runZero. Attack Surface Management c...

October 24, 2023

Penetration Testing, Public

Speaking, and Content Creation w...

In this episode, Ron Eddings is joined by Penetration Tester, Instructor, International Speaker, Best Selling Author, and Podcast Host, Phillip Wylie. Phillip shares how pen testing and the need to educate peop...

October 17, 2023

Ruse and Deception: From Hollywood

to Corporate Espionage with Robe...

In this episode, Host Ron Eddings interviews Robert Kerbeck, author of Ruse: Lying the American Dream from Hollywood to Wall Street. Robert shares how his professional acting skills helped his career in corpora...

October 10, 2023

Hacker Culture and ADHD with Kim

Crawley

In this episode, host Ron Eddings is joined by cybersecurity researcher and writer, Kim Crawley, to deep dive into one of her greatest passions; computing! From its origins to its newest capabilities in quantum...

October 3, 2023

Starting at the Endpoint with Danny

Jenkins

In this episode, host Ron Eddings is joined by Co-Founder and CEO of ThreatLocker, Danny Jenkins, to talk about his "Hero’s Journey" from IT to launching ThreatLocker. From spam emails, bots, and ransomware to ...

September 26, 2023

Having Resilience In Your Cyber

Career with Erika Eakins

In this episode, host Chris is joined by Erika Eakins — a cybersecurity sales ninja, podcaster, and co-founder at Teach Kids Tech. Erika opens up about her challenges entering tech and cybersecurity as a woman ...

WORK WITH US

PODCASTS + SPEAKING + EVENTS

Are you the best kept secret in cybersecurity? Let's change that by partnering together for podcast ads, social campaigns, and your next event or keynote. Send us your details to get started.