Extropa was founded by unlikely bedfellows, lawyers and geeks, whom, having shared a common interest in stale coffee, energy drinks and cold pizza, spent hours lamenting the state of the technology industry. More specifically the alarming trends emerging in the cybersecurity consultancy market.
The common theme was always the same: What compels IT pro's and other consultants to recommend or even implement, vastly complex and expensive security solutions which either over-secure information assets, or simply fail due to the sheer complexity of the solution? A few seconds of personal reflection later, the answer was obvious. Fear and ignorance. Indeed. Plain and simple. Knead these toxins together and pound them into the heads of CEO, Managing Partners, and the rest of the corporate decision makers, or world for that matter, and you can pretty much get them to do anything, at any cost. It works. But not for long.
Our way is different.
Having spent years implementing solutions around the world for IBM and others, watching good ideas turn into very bad deliverables, we decided to create a methodology that ensures the highest degree of stakeholder delight as possible. That's right, stakeholders. The day-to-day users, the heart and soul of the organization, the people whose livelihood your choices and actions can turn into a living hell, or, with a little hard work and luck, make life a little less hard. We leverage proven frameworks and architectures, doing all that is possible to extract, understand and document user input and leadership goals. Cybersecurity success is a balance. There is no worse implementation scenario than having over paid, and over secured your operation, while at the same time crippling it because information workers simply cannot get the job done. Congratulations, you have just transformed your workforce into an army of hackers dedicated to finding away around your controls.
Reasonable security based upon periodic review of quantifiable and qualified risks. That is our offer. Plain and simple.
Technology's mandate is not absolute. We believe that technical solutions should be founded upon a clearly defined, stated objectives, with as much input as the engagement will allow for and delivered with mosh-pit enthusiasm, fully supported by easy-access and universally convenient training backed by army of life-loving technical (and emotional) support engineers.
So, yes, we are the cheesy, people-people. If your people, your workforce, your drones, whatever you call them, are not happy, then sooner or later you won't be happy. And if you're not happy, we're the hacks and charlatans we just tried to warn you about.