CSO SPOTLIGHT
Working hard is nothing new for Scott Hagizadegan.
Hagizadegan watched his family leave their country and start over with nothing in the United States. He watched his father start three companies, all of which failed. After each failure, Hagizadegan’s father got back up, putting his all into the next endeavor.
“Watching my father be unafraid to take risks is what planted the entrepreneurial seeds in me and pushed me to help others,” he said.
Hagizadegan said he understands the challenges business owners and entrepreneurs face and because of that, cybersecurity gets pushed down the list. That’s why he decided to step up and fill the gap.
During his time as a cybersecurity expert, Hagizadegan has seen many devastating events. But there was one event that changed everything for him, he said.
“I’ve seen the type of devastation a hacker can make to a company and it’s just heartbreaking to see someone who took all this risk and tried for the American Dream to have it come to an end just overnight.”
“The company was a large multistate retailer. The hackers got in and everything ground to a halt. I worked on similar situations before but this one was different. I was working on the ground. I was working with the people who were impacted,” Hagizadegan said.
For Hagizadegan, it’s always about the people. The people matter, he said.
“A breach can shake you to your core and there is a domino effect that happens when a company is hacked that takes everyone down from upper levels to regular employees. The loss of morale and momentum that can happen after a breach is lifechanging,” he said.
After that event is when Hagizadegan decided it was going to be his mission to protect 1 million employees’ livelihoods.
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