Technology can be a boon for some, while bane for others, all depending on how people choose to use it. While everything going digital today, things have got easier yet a lot more vulnerable. And this vulnerability can cause great destruction to businesses. Gaining access to a computer network without authorization or permission from the owners is not uncommon these days. What is uncommon though, is prevention from such malicious acts. While there are numerous types of threats, including Phishing, Trojans, Botnets, Malvertising, Man-in-the-middle attack, SQL Injection attack etc., even one of them is enough to destroy a company’s reputation and years of hard work and there is a desperate need for a solution which guards a network against all of this. SwiftSafe provides 100% security from the cyber threats.
Based out of Hyderabad, it migrated to Victoria and is now looking forward to expanding in USA and Middle East countries. Their target is the IT firms which are under IT infrastructures, specially E-commerce, B2B and other enterprises which are vulnerable to cyber-attacks. They test a computer system to find the weak points which could be exploited by an attacker. The types of penetration testing they provide include:
• WEB application Penetration Testing,
• Mobile Application Penetration Testing
• Networking application Penetration Testing
• IoT application Penetration Testing
• Voice over Internet Protocol application Penetration Testing,
while Compliance like HIPPA, ISO270001, and PCI-DSS for IT auditing are a part of the parcel.
What makes them different from their rivals is the pentest conducted by them with real-time hackers and an accurate result.
Being an engineer and possessing a keen interest in hacking and cybersecurity, Akhil Rapelli started SwiftSafe with a vision to be the topmost cybersecurity professional. Let us move ahead to his interview and know more about how SwiftSafe works.
1. What is the Name of Your Venture? Any specific reason for this name?
Our venture has been named to SWIFTSAFE, and the reason, why we have chosen up this name is very simple. We give fast response to any vulnerability found in an organization under any circumstances and according to it we also provide 100% security from the cyber threats.
2. Who is your target Audience/clients?
Our targets of business is focused on IT firms which are under IT infra structures, specially E-commerce, Business to Business and other enterprises
3. Where is your venture based (city, state, country), & What are your geographical target areas?
First, we started and launched in one of the Indian metro city, Hyderabad and later on migrated to Victoria, Australia and also probably looking forward to launching and work in USA and middle East countries too.
4. What problems does your venture resolve? What are your products or services?
We are perfect in detecting and solving the cyber threats, which are raised in IT infra firms, generally, by conducting the Penetration Testing with real time hackers. We are currently offering services like penetration testing and Vulnerability assessment also.
Types of Penetration testings:
WEB application Penetration Testing,
Mobile Application Penetration Testing ,
Networking application Penetration Testing
Internet of things application Penetration Testing
VOIP Voice over Internet Protocol application Penetration Testing
Also, we provide Compliance Like HIPPA, ISO270001 and PCI-DSS for IT auditing. Along with this, we provide cloud security scanner which is completely developed and designed using machine learning & artificial intelligence Technologies to detect the advance levels of threats.
5. Share the idea or story behind the venture. How did it come to existence? What motivated you to start your own venture?
Basically, I am a security analyst, and I have seen a lot of companies that are spending millions of dollars in order to provide cybersecurity for their organization. Even Alexa top 100 companies are still working on vulnerabilities which are not fully patched. This gave me a thought of launching our own cybersecurity company, with a group of people who are passionate about cybersecurity and ready to pursue entrepreneurship at the starting level. Though we all were living in different locations, still we were connected and working remotely. Hence, finally, we stood up with an own mark of cybersecurity.
6. Who are your biggest competitors and how do you differentiate yourself from them?
Honestly speaking, till now we never imagined the current competition level in the market, but yes our competitors are such cybersecurity companies which are providing false positive results with a demand for high charges for auditing.
The uniqueness we have is, we conduct security audits, with hackers perspective to detect the threats, and secure them with real time penetration testing.
7. How did you identify your co-founder? Tell us something about your co-founder/s?
Those who were interested in entrepreneurship and highly affected with startup culture, and came up with new ideologies and stand up by their own.
Co founders: Manchala Sreeja & G Prasanna Reddy
Manchala Sreeja: Masters in Computer science, Passionate in entrepreneurship. She always says, “Individuality is her motto”.
G Prasanna Reddy: Masters in Electronics Communications from Melbourne Australia. Interested to start an IT firm and used to encourage new ideologies.
8. How did you hired your first team members? What skills do you want in your employees/team?
Our first team was started with a set of 20 members, who were much interested in hacking and passionate about cybersecurity.
Qualities we look up in our team: Passion, Dedication, Researching and Individuality.
9. What expansion plans are you looking for the next 2 years, next 5 years?
We are currently working on launching our own advanced tools, that uses machine learning and artificial intelligence in cybersecurity, also, cyber forensics for detecting and analyzing threats within next 2 years. We are providing cybersecurity to a medium level of companies with a hope to work with top most companies with our advance penetration testing methods.
10. Where do you want to see yourself in next 10 years?
I want to be a topmost cybersecurity professional with this company.
11. What are your immediate goals over the next 1, 3, 6 and 12 months?
Our immediate goals are in Upcoming months.
We are launching our tools with beta versions officially to the clients.
Increasing the count of clients, and
Also, we want to make this a million dollar company in the future.
12. Have you raised any funding? Or have any plans for the funding?
We have started it with zero investment so Currently we have no funding and also we are not looking much into funding.
But yes, if any opportunity arises, we might think of it for sure.
13. What were the problems you faced during the starting days and how did you resolve them?
Actually, our complete team is from the technical background. We were completely unaware about the marketing and leads generations that was a problematic situation raised up, but however, we have started learning up the marketing tips and after the great struggle, we finally settled up with good marketing ideologies and opportunities in leadership and promoted our self as the best.
14.What was the most challenging part of your journey till now? How did you overcome those challenges?
The most challenging part of our journey is Definitely marketing, and no profit earned up to 6 months, also in starting we were unable to give our complete attention to stick with the organization. But, once we stick up to it with full dedication, and with a single idea, we leveled up with profits.
15.What are your hobbies? What do you do in your non-work time?
Researching cybersecurity technologies.
Actively participating in bug bunting.
Learning mythologies to find a vulnerability.
And in non-working days, I love traveling and establishing new contacts.
16. Whom do you consider your idol or biggest motivator?
My biggest motivator is Steve Jobs. He says, “I’m as proud of many of the things we haven’t done as the things we have done. Innovation is saying no to a thousand things”.
17. What do you feel is the major difference between entrepreneurs and those who work for someone else?
The main difference between an entrepreneur and someone who works for another person is that someone is getting paid for his/her time and it is an employer’s terms, how he/she will operate. An entrepreneur has his time and does what he wants on his terms.
18. If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?
No. I do not want to start again but, If in case I have to answer this, I would say, I could be a great chef.
19. How has being an entrepreneur affected your family & Social life?
It hasn’t affected my family but yes social life was quite discouraged due to the initial struggle of establishing the business.
20. Anything, you would like to say to our readers or upcoming entrepreneurs?
To entrepreneurs; never plan or start running for the profits, just begin the game with your own perspective and stick to your ideology, and never forget your goals. Do not get affected whether it may be success or failure what matters is the experience, lessons, and hard-work.
21.Tell us something about your education & family background.
I completed my graduation in the stream of Computer Science and Engineering while pursuing that I was very much interested in hacking & cybersecurity. So, I actively spent more than 24hrs on hacking. Later on, I chose it as a career. Right now I am currently pursuing cyberlaw & enforcement which helps in my career growth. I came from an upper middle-class family. My dad is an Ayurvedic doctor and works in various fields like acupuncture, numerology, etc.
22. What is your USP which makes it unique & different from other start-ups in similar domains.
Manual Penetration Testing with 100% results, Researching cyber threats in cybersecurity and cyber forensics. Where no similar start up domain was founded.
23. What do you think is the biggest threat to the success of small businesses & Start-ups today?
The biggest threats are Funding, Security unawareness, competition, compliance & regulations and trust of customers.
24. Do you consider yourself successful and by what means do you measure success?
Yes. I am a successful person but still, there’s a long way to go.
After all the efforts I have put in, finally I got success in what I chose to do. According to me, success is not measured by profits, but by the satisfaction it gives you.
Akhil Rapelli
Chief Technology Officer, SwiftSafe
Postal Address: SwiftSafe, beside kotak Mahindra Bank, Market Road, Mancherial, Telangana – 504208
Office Address: SSDN Apartments, Plot No 13, First Floor, Vahininagar Lane No 1, Sikh Road, Secunderabad – 500011
Phone: +91 9885455522
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://swift-safe.com
Other Co-founders:
1, Sreeja Manchala,
Chief Marketing Officer, SwiftSafe.
2, Prasanna Reddy,
Chief Operations Officer, SwiftSafe.
