“Safeguarding the Company & Clients”

Through Mario’s leadership, Exceture has gained stature and name in the industry as an expert in its field that can match or exceed the competence and proficiency of the well-known Big Four companies. Mario has assembled some of the best minds in the industry when it comes to data security and privacy with over a hundred years of combined experience. The core team comes from the Big Four and private companies from the financial, manufacturing, technology, retail, oil and gas, and contact center. They have been trained with the right skill sets and have a list of skills-based certifications as testament to their lifelong commitment to improve their craft.

Although a boutique company, Exceture, Inc., through Mario’s leadership, has catapulted itself into a formidable force in the cybersecurity and privacy of information space in the years to come. It is with his team that Mario has carved a niche in the industry that no one else can match at the right price point for its clients.

According to Mario, Cyber Criminals are the biggest threat, but they are not discounting attacks from within. The typical attack methods are malware propagation through compromised sites and social engineering attacks and exploiting vulnerabilities across applications and platforms – web server, database, network, and security devices on cloud and on-premise setup. “Know your IT and information assets to be able to protect it, implement processes and tools that will assist in detecting and responding to any malicious activities toward these assets and prepare to respond to any attack,” says Mario. “To respond to any attack, it requires a combination of organizational, physical and highly dependent on technical controls. There is a need for constant awareness on new and emerging attacks and be updated on ways to counter these attacks.”

“Although a boutique company, Exceture, Inc., through Mario’s leadership, has catapulted itself into a formidable force in the cybersecurity and privacy of information space in the years to come.”

One of Mario's mistakes was to assume that everyone has the same understanding of cybersecurity concepts, given the easy access to informational resources, which was not the case when he was starting his cyber security career, about the topic. This made him impatient in running cybersecurity-related programs due to this faulty assumption. But he immediately understood and accepted that those who are learned have the responsibility to patiently educate others to achieve a common understanding that will aid in the successful delivery of projects. Another mistake is the tendency to knowingly and/or unknowingly discuss cybersecurity details in technical terms rather than in business terms. “This led to difficulty in getting buy-in for the cybersecurity programs by those who do not understand its value. Now, Mario’s mindset is as if he’s explaining it to his 8-year-old son, so decision makers can have a better appreciation of the risks involved prior to making a decision.” Armed with these qualities, Mario has been taking the Company to new heights.

Exceture turned five (5) years last October, but their team’s average industry experience separates them from the competition. It is 10 years with more than 200 years of professional experience in software engineering, data privacy, information/cyber security, information systems assurance, IT operations, system administration, business continuity management, risk management, and project management.

Sharing an instance, Mario says cloud computing adoption is critical for any digital transformation initiative. Due to siloed acquisition and implementation of cloud computing resources, companies have incurred unnecessary costs because (1) Cloud Instance 1 might be highly utilized, and additional costs are incurred for the additional resources while Cloud Instance 2 is under-utilized and yet one is paying for the unused resources which could have been re-allocated to Cloud Instance 1 and (2) Cloud instances that are no longer needed are not de-commissioned promptly which results in recurring expenses. “We developed a tool that serves as an inventory management of these cloud instances, monitor its usage and re-allocate unused resources to those that need it and provide insights to the Company on which cloud instances are no longer needed and due for de-commission.”

For the days to come, Exceture is continuously cultivating potential business partners that will enable them to provide comprehensive products and services, develop new products, and improve service offerings by tapping new team members with industry experience and skills. “We are also improving the training and development of our current team and enhancing our internal processes in preparation for ISO certifications and other accreditations.” IE