Opportunities At The Cusps: FireEye CEO Ashar Aziz (Part 8)

SM: Could I summarize your challenge as solving perception versus solving pain?

AA: That is a very good way to describe it. There are some proactive people who understand there is a gap. As I speak to savvier computer security organizations, I see they are very aware of this. Google did a study on their content cache and found that a substantial portion of their cache is malicious. That means the entire Internet is a gigantic minefield.

SM: How did they do that test?

AA: They ran a pre-filtering algorithm that is similar to what I did in phase one, only they were doing it in batch mode. They looked for suspicious pages, ran them in VMs, and were able to identify the malicious logic that way. They have the advantage that the pages are cached and not on the wire. That allows them to analyze as they need to, and they can see the true depth of infection on the web.

SM: Are you are starting to see case studies you can actually share?

AA: We will have some very soon. Two days ago I installed in another large company and the sensors lit up while I was there. One of their finance systems was infected and under remote control from the outside. They had to immediately shut off the switchboard because they are a public company. That is a pretty significant example of the type of impact we can have on an organization. Before we came there were no indications there was anything wrong with their systems, but once we installed we were immediately able to show them where the infections were.

SM: You are picking pilot projects which are really at the heart of the company. I think that is how you break through in this market.

AA: Intellectually it is a very easy argument to make. I can make that argument to Wall Street or anyone. If we can bring the system in then, we can actually show the real exposure.

SM: You really need to push the pilots.

AA: Once we get in and they see the exposure, companies say ‘whoops’ and we are in.

SM: This is a great effort. The Bay Area used to have real innovation, and then we got into the foo-foo stage. It is great, but it is not serious technology.

AA: The technology is what got me excited and inspired me to pick this area. It was very interesting and challenging to build. Given my background, I have to do a technology project otherwise I would not be using my advantage.

SM: Congratulations. I’ll keep an eye on your work!

This segment is part 8 in the series : Opportunities At The Cusps: FireEye CEO Ashar Aziz
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