This post is based on an interview with Richard Blech, Founder and CEO of Secure Channels.  It is part of our series of interviews of OODA Network members. Our objective with these interviews is to provide actionable information of interest to the community, including insights that can help with your own career progression. We also really like highlighting some of the great people that make our continued research and reporting possible.  For the full series see: OODA Expert Network Bio Series.

Career Progression:   Richard grew up in California.  His father had emigrated from Czechoslovakia, and Richard had visited the country when he was a teenager.  He dreamed of a career in International Investment Banking.  Richard moved to Switzerland to obtain his BA degree in Business Administration at the Business School Lausanne in the mid-1990’s.  Upon graduation, he worked with various trade, import and export projects.  Richard credits his twenty years in Geneva for broadening his perspective on the world.

While in Geneva, Richard was exposed to the importance of authentication and cryptography when he became an Angel Investor in WISeKey.  This opened his eyes to the emergence of the internet and the security of the information that rode on it.  Richard was introduced to Robert Coleridge, the man who invented the SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) toolkit for Microsoft.

The world was becoming increasingly concerned about privacy issues, as Edward Snowden captured the Nation’s headlines by disclosing previously classified global surveillance programs.  Robert and Richard (back in California) partnered together to establish Secure Channels with an eye towards providing advanced data protection.  The current thinking at the time was AES (Advanced Encryption Standard), but AES was being increasingly challenged increasingly sophisticated threats.  They thought that if you encrypt the data, and then segment the encryption, it made for a better product. They developed the PKMS2 Encryption Protocol (Pattern Key, Multi-Segment, Multi-Standard) using multiple block cyphers, longer key lengths and layering through segmentation.

Richard says “I think it’s important to be leading edge and innovative – to go as close to the edge as you can.  You can only learn as you get more experienced and mature.   To drive something forward as an entrepreneur, you have to have passion.  It can’t be manufactured; it has to be natural.”

Richard enjoys the fast pace of cybersecurity, especially the encryption side.  He likes working with mathematics to discover ways to change data to make it unreachable to adversaries.  Every year the pace increases, as security breaches become more common.  This high-tempo excitement is his driving force.  “I wake up every day at 5AM excited to go to work.  We call our office ‘The Digital Blender’.  When you walk in, you are enclosed in a vortex of adrenaline and energy.”

Surprises:  In his world, Richard often finds academics who are only interested in “pure cryptographic theory”” and with the belief that all encryption should be fully open source and available for the public.  But Richard believes that innovation in cryptography pay dividends and is interested in commercializing these capabilities.  Sometimes there is a surprising conflict between the two.

Technologies you are watching: “Most of the authentication approaches are getting more interesting as we look for more secure ways to access our data.  Especially in the world of biometrics.” Richard says. “Technologies that help you prove that you are the true you – not the fake you – will be increasingly helpful.”

Richard is also following all the technologies being installed in the “smart” homes.  “While these tools can be fascinating and make our lives easier in many ways, there are some scary security implications.  Even with very secure passwords, I don’t trust the Chinese technologies.”

Technology threats you are interested in:  Richard watches how China conducts mass surveillance and is very concerned.  Additionally, he sees how they steal our encrypted financial and military data.  “Nothing that China does is arbitrary.  We have no idea what information they are providing to North Korea, for example.  Hackers avoid encrypted data.  China goes AFTER it.  They have different objectives, and I would like to know what their ultimate goals are.”

Advice for Decision Makers: “Everyone (government or industry) are dealing with PII (personally identifiable information) at some level.” Richard says.  “Think carefully how you handle it.  Consolidate your vendors and reduce the number of managers that have access to it.  Don’t consider security an afterthought!  Invest in an IT department that is solely focused on your organization and your needs.”

Views on Thought Leaders:  Richard follows Dr. Matt Green, respected cryptographer and security technologist at Johns Hopkins University.  He also follows Bob Gourley, who provides cutting edge information on the technologies and Dave DeWalt for his insights on the investment side of cybersecurity.

Quick Hits:

• Book Recommendation: The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography by Simon Singh
• Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford by Clint Hill
• Favorite piece of content on OODAloop: Richard enjoys articles that outline future technologies that are coming on the horizon.
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardjblech/