The Secops Group: Eliminating Security Risks by Helping Organizations Assess Threats to their Assets
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The global cyber security consulting market is expected to expand significantly in the near future, with an estimated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.4% till 2031. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a global rise in cyberattacks, which is the main factor driving the growth of the cyber security consulting market. Cyber threats are continually evolving, improving, and getting costlier for businesses. Sumit Siddharth, the founder and CEO of The SecOps Group, has over 15 years of experience providing cyber security consultancy and has worked with some of the largest blue-chip companies. Being an independent boutique company, The SecOps Group enables its customers to continuously identify and assess their security postures and provide advice in securing against adversaries.Sumit Siddharth is a serial cyber entrepreneur and experienced professional in setting up and scaling up businesses and is using this expertise to provide cyber security to businesses.
What are your current roles and responsibilities at The SecOps Group?
As this is my second time forming a business and scaling it up, I am fortunate to have some prior experience, and I rely on it to make a judgment call on what works and what doesn't. For me, the key to any startup is the people. I am fortunate to have found some amazing people to back me in this business, and we are building a great business around them. My role as the company's CEO is to oversee everything from sales to marketing, handle some technical consulting engagements to recruitment and make decisions on what we should do next as a business to make us stand out. I feel very blessed to have some amazingly talented people on board to whom I can delegate duties.
Tell us about the expertise you possess in the cybersecurity market. How are you driving growth within the company?
I have over 16 years of experience in cyber security, and we have a team of talented people in the business who are far more experienced than me. At the SecOps group, we take great pride in being a research-driven company. Research is at the heart of everything we do, and we feel obliged to give it back to the community. We launched a free online learning platform called www.Vulnmachines.com, six months ago where users can learn about ethical hacking. It has lab based challenges which attendees can solve and learn various disciplines of ethical hacking. We cover a wide range of topics from beginner to expert levels. Further, we are now in the process of launching a certification program for industry professionals. We offer these at really low prices (sometimes even free) as another way to give back to the community.
What are the most significant milestones you have achieved so far in your professional journey? What is your guiding leadership philosophy?
Although I did crack IIT, I was not clever enough to get a degree in Computer Science. I majored in Material Science and Metallurgy at IIT Kanpur. I dreamt of becoming a hacker, and it was a hobby during my IIT days. I would spend nights in front of the computer trying to learn new ways of hacking. To be able to pursue that hobby as a profession and to be able to do that successfully for 16+ years is a decent achievement. However, I always tell myself that the best is yet to come, which keeps me going.
How do you keep yourself well aligned with the periodic revolutions occurring within your industry and the tech world?
In cyber security, things change very quickly, and staying up to date with the latest tricks in our space is challenging, but this is what we thrive on. My team does a fantastic job of staying up-to-date, and we have some excellent tools to share knowledge among the group. We have invested in our people, and we continue to invest in our team,which is why we are a successful company.
As a successful business leader, what would your advice be to young aspirants who aspire to become business leaders and entrepreneurs in the future?
The cyber security sector is booming, and the awareness and demand for this sector are at an all-time high. We are seeing more cyber security startups and some great products and services offered by them. People turning to entrepreneurship need to ensure that they are at a stage where they understand their strengths and weaknesses and have an adequate solution to compensate for weaknesses. Entrepreneurship also comes with financial risk. So, they need to have a plan B should plan A does not work. Also, the most important thing you cannot teach in entrepreneurship is passion. How badly do you want some thing?When I turned to entrepreneurship, I was clear in my head that if this did not work, I would be prepared to sleep on the street but would not take another 9-5 job. So, that was my plan B!
Sumit Siddharth, Founder & CEO
A graduate of IIT Kanpur with over 15 years of experience in the IT security field, Sumit Siddharth, also called Sid, is passionate about working with clever people and bringing cuttingedge technology to life. Besides wearing the CEO hat at The SecOps Group, Sid also serves as an active investor, mentor, and board member at security startups like RedHunt Labs and PureID. Sid is actively looking to back other innovative startups, primarily in cybersecurity. He runs an initiative called Disrupts which startups can apply for seed funding and mentorship.
Although I did crack IIT, I was not clever enough to get a degree in Computer Science. I majored in Material Science and Metallurgy at IIT Kanpur. I dreamt of becoming a hacker, and it was a hobby during my IIT days. I would spend nights in front of the computer trying to learn new ways of hacking. To be able to pursue that hobby as a profession and to be able to do that successfully for 16+ years is a decent achievement. However, I always tell myself that the best is yet to come, which keeps me going.
I always tell people that if they are doing this as a job, it will never work
How do you keep yourself well aligned with the periodic revolutions occurring within your industry and the tech world?
In cyber security, things change very quickly, and staying up to date with the latest tricks in our space is challenging, but this is what we thrive on. My team does a fantastic job of staying up-to-date, and we have some excellent tools to share knowledge among the group. We have invested in our people, and we continue to invest in our team,which is why we are a successful company.
As a successful business leader, what would your advice be to young aspirants who aspire to become business leaders and entrepreneurs in the future?
The cyber security sector is booming, and the awareness and demand for this sector are at an all-time high. We are seeing more cyber security startups and some great products and services offered by them. People turning to entrepreneurship need to ensure that they are at a stage where they understand their strengths and weaknesses and have an adequate solution to compensate for weaknesses. Entrepreneurship also comes with financial risk. So, they need to have a plan B should plan A does not work. Also, the most important thing you cannot teach in entrepreneurship is passion. How badly do you want some thing?When I turned to entrepreneurship, I was clear in my head that if this did not work, I would be prepared to sleep on the street but would not take another 9-5 job. So, that was my plan B!
Sumit Siddharth, Founder & CEO
A graduate of IIT Kanpur with over 15 years of experience in the IT security field, Sumit Siddharth, also called Sid, is passionate about working with clever people and bringing cuttingedge technology to life. Besides wearing the CEO hat at The SecOps Group, Sid also serves as an active investor, mentor, and board member at security startups like RedHunt Labs and PureID. Sid is actively looking to back other innovative startups, primarily in cybersecurity. He runs an initiative called Disrupts which startups can apply for seed funding and mentorship.