Tom Fox chats with Senior Vice President of Linedata Technology Services, Jed Gardner in this week’s show. They talk about how Linedata’s solution protects companies within the financial sector from cybersecurity risk and how this leads to increased productivity and profitability.

Mitigating Cybersecurity Risk
Jed says that LineData addresses three main challenges within the financial sector. They provide 1) cloud computing solutions to investment firms; 2) cybersecurity that is SEC- and FINRA- compliant; and 3) 24/7 managed support services that are both remote and on premises from their security operations center.
Tom asks Jed to explain how Linedata helps investment firm senior executives address cybersecurity risk. Jed replies that his company is “…providing a level of confidence to senior executives within investment firms that they are protected on a day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month basis… The way we’ve been addressing that is by providing levels of service and reporting that do meet the SEC and FINRA requirements, but really push beyond that.” He says that Linedata’s reporting capabilities allow them to use their tool sets to provide a day-to-day view.
Jed comments that categorizing data and defining its locations are important considerations in providing their services to clients. He points out that regulated businesses, in particular, should classify their data and understand where it is, understand the risks, and its impact on the business and stakeholders. As such, businesses should have prevention technologies and policies in place to protect their live and archived data. 
360° Risk Analysis
Jed and Tom discuss Linedata’s approach to cybersecurity with vendors down the supply chain. Jed comments that senior executives want to know all the risks to their business since they ultimately become personally responsible for it. A proper risk analysis, like the 360° risk analysis Linedata offers its clients, can unearth hidden risks. Jed describes the 360° risk analysis process. He remarks, “Being able to implement that for businesses and provide feedback on a regular basis allows us to correctly protect them as much as we possibly can, but also gives the senior executives confidence…” 
Beyond DDQs
Tom asks, “…can a compliance solution increase business efficiency and productivity leading to an increase in profitability?” Jed responds that using managed services such as Linedata add value by giving time back to key members of staff, who are then able to provide value back into the business. This increased productivity is what leads to increased profitability. He explains how Linedata gives time back to investment firms by taking away the tedious due diligence questionnaire (DDQ) process. He adds that his clients now have time “to look at how to enable the business to be more productive through the more efficient implementation of security and compliance and then, in turn, utilizing that knowledge to then allow the business to operate more freely and more efficiently.” 
Resources
Linedata.com