Five Questions With: Matt Cullina

SYSTEM BUG: "Ransomware is the Zika virus of the business world right now," says Matt Cullina. / COURTESY IDT911
SYSTEM BUG: "Ransomware is the Zika virus of the business world right now," says Matt Cullina. / COURTESY IDT911

Since 2008, Matt Cullina has served as CEO of IDT911, a company which provides identity-management services to nearly 45 million consumers and more than half of the property and casualty insurance marketplace.
Under his stewardship, the company has evolved into a multifaceted, award-winning provider of identity and data risk management, breach response, resolution and education services throughout North America and Western Europe.
He spoke with PBN about the company’s origins and its work.

PBN: Tell me about your business and how it began. Can you explain the name?
CULLINA:
As the former director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, our chairman Adam Levin has always been a strong supporter of consumer advocacy and education. After recognizing the pervasiveness of identity theft and data-breach threats across today’s cyber landscape, Adam founded the company in 2003 as IDentity Theft 911, which was rebranded as IDT911 in 2014.
IDT911 currently provides service in the United States, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdowm and Europe.

PBN: How many locations do you have? How many people does the company employ in Providence? Do you have plans for additional expansion?
CULLINA:
IDT has five offices located in Providence, Rhode Island; Scottsdale, Arizona; New York; Montreal; and Galway, Ireland.
We have been in the Providence area since 2008, and currently have nine employees based in the Providence office. Our office space has doubled in the last two years as we continue to grow in the area.

PBN: How do you help companies guard themselves against data breaches and hackers?
CULLINA:
IDT911 offers full-service, comprehensive programs protecting business customers from the third certainty in life – consumer identity theft and commercial-data breaches.
We offer a variety of custom and scalable offerings to businesses and their customers for:

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  • Identity management.
  • Breach education, preparation, response and remediation.
  • Fraud, credit and reputation monitoring.
  • Cyber security and data-privacy consulting.

    This includes:

  • Proactive support [and] tools and reactive, full-service resolution assistance.
  • Setting up fraud alerts to help avoid identity theft, as well as credit monitoring, when personal data is compromised.
  • Helping to replace lost, stolen or destroyed documents [and] identification (passports, visas) and notifying government agencies and providers.
  • Placing an active-duty military fraud alert for military members overseas.
  • Providing educational tools and leadership on breach event response preparation.

    PBN: Is there a particular sector that you specialize in? (Health care, insurance, etc.) How many clients do you have approximately?
    CULLINA:
    We specialize in insurance (carriers, providers), financial institutions (credit unions, wealth advisers) and employee/healthcare benefits (brokers, employers).
    IDT911 offers a suite of solutions that include prevention education, proactive protection and incident remediation for more than 17.5 million households and more than 770,000 businesses.
    While IDT911 may not be a household consumer brand name, the company provides services through more than 600 client partners which include 16 of the top 20 U.S. property & casualty insurance carriers, six of the top 10 Canadian insurers, major credit unions, banks, employee benefits providers, and numerous Fortune 500 companies.

    PBN: What is the most serious threat to companies right now? Is it ransomware?
    CULLINA:
    Yes, ransomware is the Zika virus of the business world right now. According to the FBI, ransomware victims reported costs of $209 million in 1Q 2016, compared with $24 million for all of 2015.
    In the past, cyber criminals would steal data and then resell it. With ransomware, they block access to an individual or organization’s data by encrypting it, then selling the data’s owner a decryption key to regain access.
    And with the rise of hard-to-trace currency, such as Bitcoin, there is less chance of getting caught. Organizations will pay for fear that they’ll lose their data forever, and attackers can make thousands of dollars immediately instead of going through multiple, risky steps. The bad guys can use the same techniques and cyber tools against multiple victims.
    This is especially detrimental for smaller businesses. … In fact, we surveyed U.S. business owners recently and found that found 84 percent would not pay a ransom if they become the victim of an attack, even if that meant permanently losing data. Despite being aware of the risks associated, a 65 percent of owners do not, nor plan to, budget extra funds to regain access and more than half (52 percent) do not have cyber insurance protection.
    In addition to cyber insurance, the best protection is to have layers of security in place to stop ransomware, as well as training employees in best security practices. For example, employees should be told not to click on links or open attachments that are unsolicited. Organizations should also have strict change control, file integrity monitoring and timely backups of critical systems.

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