CyberWire Daily - Aviv Grafi: There needs to be fundamental changes in security. [CEO] [Career Notes]

Episode Date: December 8, 2024

CEO and Founder of Votiro Aviv Grafi shares his story from serving as a member of the IDF's intelligence forces to leading his own venture. Aviv says his service in the IDF shaped a lot of his thinking and problem solving. Following his military service, Aviv worked to gain more real world and business experience. Starting his own business as a pentester was where the seeds for what would become Votiro would form. Aviv talks about the roller coaster that you experience when starting your own venture and offers some advice. And, we thank Aviv for sharing his story with us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to the Cyber Wire Network, powered by N2K. of you, I was concerned about my data being sold by data brokers. So I decided to try Delete.me. I have to say, Delete.me is a game changer. Within days of signing up, they started removing my personal information from hundreds of data brokers. I finally have peace of mind knowing my data privacy is protected. Delete.me's team does all the work for you with detailed reports so you know exactly what's been done. Take control of your data and keep your private life Thank you. JoinDeleteMe.com slash N2K and use promo code N2K at checkout. The only way to get 20% off is to go to JoinDeleteMe.com slash N2K and enter code N2K at checkout. That's JoinDeleteMe.com slash N2K, code N2K. My name is Aviv Grafi.

I'm the CEO and founder of Votiro. I'm based in Tel Aviv, I live in Israel. So after high school, I was recruited for the intelligence forces here in Israel, in the IDF. So I was working on security for almost five years. I learned a lot about security, defense and offense. So that was a really great experience and a lot of learning. Learning that almost everything is possible. And I think that's actually shaped a lot of my thinking and problem solving. shaped a lot of my thinking and problem solving.

So after that service, I started to work for a startup in the development, the security. I was one of the core team developers. And after two years of having some more business and real world experience, I actually started my own business. I was doing pen testing, penetration testing. So I was traveling around the world, doing audits for companies, for IT security staff. And that was one of the first experiences I had with understanding there are problems that need to be solved

that two years afterwards became what is now Votero with slightly different idea and approach but that was the root or the seed for what today I have in the company that I'm heading. I'm accommodating. I treat my management team as my peers as a team, usually I'm expecting them to own and to be responsible for their area. I expect them to improve. I expect them to come to me and say, and this is very, I would say, reasonable. If someone would step into my office and say, look Aviv, I'm sorry, I've done a mistake on this path. And that's completely fine. And I appreciate that admitting in mistakes and weaknesses. But at the same time, I'm expecting him to say, this is how we're going to fix it.

And I believe that admitting in mistakes, that's the number one principle of getting better as a person, as a team, as a company. The approach that I'm taking and what I believe in, that there need to be fundamental changes in security and the way that I'm seeing what I'm building and what I believe in is that you need to turn the problem on its head. And in my world, in the company that I'm running that deals with weaponized documents and emails, I want, for example, in 10 years from now, that people will say, yeah, Votiro of Vivagraphy, yeah, he was the mind that thought how we really solved that problem. And it was really crazy, but we see now that it's really working. I think that one thing that I've learned that the roller coaster of running adventure, in my case,

the roller coaster, this is something that you need to understand that the highs are not that high and the lows are not that low. That's something I've learned. I was thinking a very personal a lot of things that happened in that roller coaster. I think that a few years now, I understand that you need to take that in proportion.