Teramind is a leading provider of insider threat management and data loss prevention. Since 2014, over 10,000 organizations across all major industries have trusted Teramind for their business process optimization needs. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Teramind Chief Product Officer and Founder Isaac Kohen to learn more.
Isaac Kohen’s Background
Kohen started his career in quantitative finance, developing complex trading algorithms for a major Wall Street hedge fund. And Kohen said:
“While working on Wall Street and for multi-national conglomerates securing their highly sensitive data, I recognized that, in many cases, the most significant security and data privacy threat came from inside the organization. This prompted me to start Teramind, which provides insider threat management, data loss prevention, and business process optimization through behavioral user data.”
“I lead the engineering and product vision and execution of the solution Teramind builds.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite moment working for the company so far? Kohen shared:
“When I think about my time at Teramind, it’s difficult to identify a ‘favorite’ moment. My favorite thing about Teramind is seeing everyone coming together and contributing their unique skills and knowledge to develop groundbreaking products. It has been truly inspiring. I feel immense pride when I see our solutions’ tangible impact on organizations, enhancing their operational efficacy and safeguarding their valuable assets.”
Challenges Faced
What challenges do you face in building and scaling the company? Kohen acknowledged:
“Unfortunately, threat actors often look to capitalize on moments of chaos or disruption. In other words, when the economy is bad, bad actors are looking to take advantage. At the same time, with many companies reorienting their workforce around hybrid or remote arrangements or restructuring their layoffs or new assignments, we feel that user behavior analytics have never been more important.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Kohen explained:
“At Teramind, we are deeply passionate about providing state-of-the-art software solutions focusing on user behavior analytics, insider threat detection, employee monitoring, data loss prevention, and productivity optimization.”
“We’ve developed key products to fulfill these needs. Our Teramind Starter is designed to give organizations a glimpse into user desktop activity, serving as an introductory session monitoring solution. Then, we have our Teramind UAM, a solution that delves deeper into user behavior analytics, employing smart rules, alerts, and reports to help organizations closely monitor user activities.”
“Understanding the vital need to secure sensitive information, we’ve engineered Teramind DLP to fortify security postures by safeguarding sensitive data from unauthorized access or transfer. For those with advanced and specific requirements, our Teramind Enterprise offers a customizable solution, complete with professional services to meet the unique needs of every organization.”
Evolution Of Teramind’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Kohen noted:
“Our team is always working to advance our technology as we stay ahead of the latest threat patterns and workplace trends. For example, as companies adapted to shifting economic realities and evolving workplace realities, like the shift toward remote and hybrid work, we launched an all-new Teramind solution for business process optimization.”
“This solution leverages accurate and actionable user behavior data to help companies maximize resources, improve processes, and avoid layoffs, making companies more operationally sustainable.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Kohen cited:
“We’ve historically done almost zero sales or marketing – the focus has always been on the product itself – so when large Fortune 100 firms and government organizations started knocking on our door because they’d heard good things, that was a real ‘aha!’ moment for us.”
Customer Success Stories
After asking Kohen about customer success stories, he highlighted:
Q.) Can you share any specific customer success stories?
“In addressing the specific challenges of a top-tier multinational bank, we employed our user behavior analytics solution to revamp their multi-step vetting process for new business customers. The bank, lacking visibility into analyst workflows and saddled with inaccurate productivity metrics, desperately needed a data-driven overhaul. Utilizing our advanced In-App Field Parsing and BI Reports, we provided granular, actionable insights and full visibility into every nuance of their customer due diligence process.”
“This not only illuminated the previously obscured workflow processes but also empowered the bank to drastically reduce analyst processing times from over 100 hours to under 20 hours per account. Additionally, we aided in eliminating 11 redundant steps in their vetting process, enabling the bank to accurately allocate resources and labor and to inform their business process optimization efforts with precision.”
“This collaboration demonstrated how our tailored solutions could unlock unparalleled efficiencies and insights, enabling the bank to transcend previous limitations and achieve a newfound operational zenith, informed by objective, reliable data and metrics.”
Funding
After asking Kohen about the company’s funding information, he revealed:
“We’ve never taken a dime of funding – all growth has been organically fueled by the product’s success.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Kohen assessed:
“At Teramind, we have strategically positioned our innovative solutions to address substantial and diverse markets, focusing on sectors like finance, government, healthcare, and retail, each presenting significant opportunities.”
“Our advanced suite of products, encompassing user behavior analytics, insider threat detection, data loss prevention, and business process optimization, allows us to tap into various lucrative markets, extending our reach across verticals such as banking and finance, healthcare, energy & utilities, and education.”
“The global insider threat protection market was valued at nearly $4 billion in 2022, but that’s just the beginning of what Teramind provides our customers. Therefore, while we don’t have a specific figure for our Total Addressable Market (TAM), our expansive portfolio and multi-industry applicability signify our pursuit of extensive market opportunities, aiming to deliver value and security to various organizations globally.”
“We aim to continue expanding our footprint, leveraging our innovative solutions to meet the diverse needs of enterprises and organizations in these substantial and varied markets.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates Teramind from its competition? Kohen affirmed:
“We are proud that Termaind has been listed as the “Best for Time Tracking” in the list of Best Employee Monitoring Software by Forbes Advisor, with a 4.9 rating out of 5.”
“What primarily differentiates Teramind from our competition is our capacity to deliver superior, granular insights with advanced features like keylogging, enabling a more detailed analysis of user activity and bolstering organizational cybersecurity.”
“Meanwhile, our platform’s flexibility—offering both stealth and visible monitoring—provides companies with the versatility to balance organizational security needs with employee privacy considerations, tailoring the approach to align with varying organizational policies and requirements.”
“With a competitive starting price of $12 per seat per month, we feel that we present a value-rich proposition, encapsulating advanced features at a reasonable cost that empowers our clients to do their best work ever.”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future company goals? Kohen pointed out:
“We’re looking to make the product truly predictive; right now, the breadth and depth of the data that it collects are unparalleled, but it is still somewhat up to the end-user to know what to look out for. In the very near future, we plan to have a robust Machine Learning layer that will truly amaze people looking for a tool that can mine predictive insights.”
Additional Thoughts
Any other topics to discuss? Kohen concluded:
“For the upcoming 2024, we foresee several trends that will shape the cybersecurity landscape. The continued proliferation of remote and hybrid working models is driving the evolution of threat landscapes, making endpoint security and insider threat detection even more crucial. Organizations are increasingly recognizing the importance of implementing comprehensive security solutions to monitor user activities, detect anomalous behavior, and mitigate potential risks.”
