Catalyst taps political and policy network
by Megan Burns, Director - Catalyst
In the wake of recent high-profile cyber and ransomware attacks, the Biden administration, sector regulators and bipartisan leaders in Congress have joined forces, in an increasingly rare show of bipartisanship, to drive policy changes that significantly expand reporting requirements by critical infrastructure entities and all federal contractors.
Cybersecurity expert, Emily Coyle has more than 20 years experience in Washington, DC at the intersection of business, politics and policy. Together, with global cybersecurity luminaries and industry stakeholders, she is working to ensure middle market companies' needs and challenges are represented with key policymakers in Washington.
The U.S. Federal Reserve has identified cybersecurity as one the top risks to our national economic security. “Companies need to build resilience into their business model so they are able to adapt not only to evolving cyber threats but to heightened regulatory reporting requirements, investor and consumer expectations, and to protect against new liability exposures,” says Emily.
After speaking with Emily, I suggested an introduction to Azafran’s portfolio company, ArmorText. They provide true end-to-end encryption for employee, contractor, and customer communications while balancing the security & data retention requirements of large enterprises - including preventing providers from mining their data, while still being able to maintain records themselves.
What initially was a 30-minute introductory call with ArmorText’s Director Matt Calligan and Emily, quickly turned to a lively and engaging conversation focused on cybersecurity, cyber incident reporting and the need for improved regulatory compliance.
Emily and Matt agree - Communications tools designed for secure, out-of-band collaboration while also ensuring regulated entities can still meet their reporting requirements and regulatory obligations provide a level of operational resiliency for companies.
“Our initial discussion was intriguing, and we’ve already scheduled a follow up in person meeting. Partnering with companies and leveraging software solutions, like ArmorText, are essential to the overall strategy and success of our efforts in Washington” states Emily.
As previously shared, Azafran’s Catalyst is a strategy. We are dedicated to changing the future with emerging technology and networking is key and an intentionally strategic priority to expand Azafran's vast global business network. Leveraging our network to meet and establish a relationship with Emily is a perfect example of the power of Catalyst.
We’ll keep you posted as Emily and Matt continue their conversations and make progress. Meanwhile, do you have any questions for Emily? Would you like more information on the 16 critical infrastructure sectors included in the ‘Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act’? Please feel free to reach out directly: emily.coyle@bipc.com