Mach37 Spring Class 2016 Interview: Hilltop Security

2016-06-14 - M37 Demo Day - 08 - HTSI - DSC_3364

Tom Gilmore, Hill Top Security CEO

What opportunity did you recognize that led to the founding of Hill Top Security?

HTSI

Tom Gilmore: We saw that most organizations were faced with a shortage of skilled security personnel and that any strategy built around creating more security analysts was not going to be effective. In addition, security personnel are overwhelmed with security alerts and spend too much time processing false-positive alerts. We also believed that the time to detect a breach which is on average 206 days is a direct result of these problems and that time could be dramatically decreased with automation and better tools.

What specific value does addressing that problem provide for your customers?

Gilmore: We provide customers with a security incident response platform that ingests data and performs complex event processing to save analysts time allowing them to move to detection and response activities faster.

Why aren’t current solutions addressing this problem effectively?

Gilmore: Most solutions on the market today are focused on prevention, or detection, or response. Our product is designed to do all three and also provides analysts with the ability to work in a single environment instead of having to login and operate every security tool independently.

What makes your approach different and better from existing approaches?

Gilmore: Solutions on the market now are very narrowly focused and fragmented creating more work and reducing efficiency. Our product is designed to enhance and improve the utility of our customer’s current resources. By interconnecting all the devices and systems that make up the security architecture, we are able to increase the value of the data being generated by enriching the data with such things as business impact analysis, business rules, and risk assessments.

What about your team’s background puts you in a unique position to succeed?

Gilmore: We have a team that has experience in national and military intelligence, cyber security, and industrial engineering. I personally have one start-up under my belt that made the Inc. 500 and exited. Neil Wright spent 7 years designing UPS’s global package handling system and Steve Baker has over 30 years of national security and intelligence experience working in such places as the White House National Security Council.

What one aspect of the Mach37 programs did you personally find most beneficial?

Gilmore: Learning the intricacies of being a successful product company. Having come from a government services background, making that transition can be very difficult and Mach37 helps you define what that will look like and develop a plan to get there.Learn more about Hill Top Security here.