January 22, 2026 • 35 mins
Cut The Tie Podcast with Elizabeth Wu
What happens when the people ultimately responsible for a company’s survival are the least informed about its biggest risk?
In this episode of Cut The Tie, Thomas Helfrich sits down with Elizabeth Wu, a lifelong entrepreneur, IT auditor, and inventor who has spent four decades building businesses without ever working for someone else. Elizabeth breaks down why data breaches keep happening, why executives are being fired for failures they never had visibility into, and how the disconnect between IT and leadership has quietly become one of the most dangerous problems in modern organizations.
Elizabeth shares how a forced pivot during COVID led her to invent a new category of cybersecurity visibility designed specifically for executives. What started as solving her own problem has now turned into global conversations with governments, regulators, and enterprises looking to prevent breaches before they happen. This is a conversation about cutting the tie to blind trust, technical intimidation, and boxed-in thinking.
About Elizabeth Wu:
Elizabeth Wu is a serial entrepreneur with over forty years of experience building and scaling businesses. She is the founder of EDD-i, a cybersecurity platform designed to give executives real visibility into the security status of their organizations. With a background in IT auditing and infrastructure, Elizabeth focuses on preventing data breaches by addressing vulnerabilities from the inside out. Her work spans private enterprise, government policy, and international cybersecurity initiatives.
In this episode, Thomas and Elizabeth discuss:
- “The executives never had visibility”
Why CEOs are being held accountable for IT failures they were never equipped to understand. - The real reason data breaches keep rising
How companies focus on perimeter security while leaving internal vulnerabilities exposed. - Why compliance does not equal security
The dangerous assumption that certifications automatically mean protection. - The IT power imbalance inside organizations
How technical opacity creates fear, dependency, and poor decision making at the executive level. - Safe Harbor and executive liability
Why legislation is shifting responsibility and how leaders can protect themselves.
Key Takeaways:
- Visibility is not optional
Leaders cannot manage or protect what they cannot see. - Executives are paying the price for ignorance
One in three CEOs are fired after a breach, even when the root cause sits elsewhere. - Security must be practical, not theoretical
Checklists do not stop breaches. Understanding does. - True innovation solves communication problems
The biggest gap is not technology, it is language.
Connect with Elizabeth Wu:
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-wu11/
🌐 Company Website: https://www.edd-i.com/
Connect with Thomas Helfrich:
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/thelfrich
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thelfrich/
🌐 Website: https://www.cutthetie.com
📧 Email: t@instantlyrelevant.com
🚀 Instantly Relevant: https://instantlyrelevant.com
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to the Cut the Tie Podcast.
Hi, I'm your host, ThomasHelfric, and I'm here to help
you cut a tie to whatever it isholding you back from success.
And as I always say, you have tofind your own success and own
it.
Otherwise, uh, if it's somebodyelse's.
When you achieve it, it won'tmean much and you'll feel a bit
hollow.
And today I am joined byElizabeth Wu.
Elizabeth, how are you?
SPEAKER_01 (00:20):
Hi, good.
Thank you so much, Tom, forhaving me on the show.
Appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00 (00:24):
I know a little of your story, and I'm excited to
hear uh or share this with thewith the audience.
Uh take a moment, uh introduceyou uh yourself and who who you
are.
SPEAKER_01 (00:32):
Sure.
Um so I'm Elizabeth Wu and I'mhere in Atlanta, Georgia.
I have been an entrepreneur umfrom the moment that I was about
16 years old.
I started my first business.
And so I have been self-employedfor 40 years.
And a lot of people are shockedover the fact that I've never
had a job and that I've had thatuh, that I've just been always
(00:53):
on my own, creating my owndestiny every single day.
So um, and I am here.
I moved from Canada to the US ayear and a bit ago uh to create
a brand new category and changethe world as what we all dream
about.
So I invented something, createda new category, and about to
rock the world.
SPEAKER_00 (01:13):
I love the tease that.
All right.
So, first of all, today, yeah.
Uh how how do you definesuccess?
SPEAKER_01 (01:19):
Oh, man, resilience and commitment, uh, integrity,
um, those three things are big.
And I think they're really morefor yourself, integrity and
commitment to yourself, makingsure that what you're doing, how
you're doing it, is living byyour principles, your values.
(01:40):
And that will give you theresilience to overcome whatever
obstacles come your way becauseyou can measure does that fit
for you and your path, really.
That's uh Simon Sinek uh hassomething called the celery
test.
Uh I love Simon.
If we all know who Simon andhe's the one that created the
golden circle and why.
(02:00):
But celery test is really likeif you want to lose five pounds,
you aren't going to acceptchocolate cake, right?
You just are gonna continue oneating celery.
So I I live by that too.
It's like so I know who I am,I'm clear on my values, my
principle, and my mission to theworld, to the um, to the
business that I'm I'm running.
(02:21):
And you know, I'm looking forpeople who are gonna be on my
bandwagon and align with myvalues.
So uh that creates theresilience and success and
commitment that I have to tothat.
So that's it.
40 years right here.
SPEAKER_00 (02:36):
So take it back.
SPEAKER_01 (02:38):
Oh, and can I also say energy you're uh it's all
mindset.
Don't complain, don't waste yourtime, don't uh the distractions
of of whining and complaining donothing for you.
So just keep it going and behappy for be grateful for every
day, even if it's a small littlesuccess, celebrate it and enjoy
it because you know it's bepresent at that moment.
(03:00):
I think it's really those arebig key things for me too.
I don't live on the past, I moveon, just drop it, keep going.
SPEAKER_00 (03:07):
That's good advice.
Uh it's hard, it's personalitydriven on that one a bit because
some people just can't do it.
And you know, we were off theretalking about this a bit as
well.
But taking me back, uh, so let'slet's let's get dive into your
journey a little bit, uh, youknow, in wherever it's most
relevant for you.
Uh but take take us on thejourney of how you began uh to
where you are today.
SPEAKER_01 (03:27):
Began for a while.
Uh I just don't like living in abox, and I can't be imagined the
imagination of having to workfor somebody on somebody else's
time just doesn't fit with me.
But um, my mission for at leastbeing here.
Uh five years ago, COVID, youknow, up in Canada, we were
doing IT consulting and ITauditing, and the world changed
(03:48):
as every everywhere changed.
COVID shut us down because wewere on site.
And uh so I had to figure out umsolve my own problem, big
problem solver.
That's my mission.
That's what I if I don't have aproblem to solve, I I I'm
useless.
So the problem that I saw had tosolve was how do we, as a
business that was going on site,now not how do we become a
(04:11):
business that is no longer onsite?
So that is so I try to figureout like how do we create
auditing so we don't we are noton site?
Can we create it into asoftware?
That was the beginnings of anytechnologies.
So we what we've done is we'vedeveloped a way to measure the
security status of a networkwith our platform, very much
(04:33):
like a thermostat, because thenetwork environment is dynamic
and so it's constantlyfluctuating in terms of security
and vulnerabilities.
And that's what we have done iswhat we've created a thermostat
for executives to know thesecurity status to prevent data
breaches from happening.
SPEAKER_00 (04:49):
So, okay, I I you've been from the beginning.
I cannot work for somebody else.
So do you but you did you everwork for somebody else?
Did you did you kind of jump infor a day and be like, nope?
Or or or just from day one,you're like on my own.
SPEAKER_01 (05:03):
Oh yeah, I mean like temping, right?
Yeah, and then but just likelittle stuff or helping people
out, volunteering for stuff, butthat's just like not my
commitment.
It's just maybe for like cash,you know, this way, that way,
but that's it.
SPEAKER_00 (05:18):
Entrepreneur through and through day one, knew what
you wanted, and and you knew youknew you just maybe not knew
what you wanted to do, but yoursuccess was not working for
somebody else, your own tech.
SPEAKER_01 (05:27):
Absolutely, for sure.
I create from nothing.
I declared that was back in my20s, 2021, 22.
I was in a uh, I don't know,we'll call it course, but and it
was very enlightening.
I don't really want to talkabout who what it was, but I
just decided I who my identity.
Everybody has an identity.
I'm an accountant, I'm adentist, right?
(05:49):
And I didn't have one.
I didn't have anything inparticular.
I was good at a whole bunch ofdifferent things, so but I
wasn't clear on an identity.
But but back then, 35 years agoor 30 years ago, I declared I
was an entrepreneur and I createevery day out of nothing.
So whatever that is, yeah, I geta choice to create it.
SPEAKER_00 (06:09):
Did you uh did you when you went to school, did you
did you uh struggle with therigors of school?
Like let's say like I'm curious,take high school versus college?
SPEAKER_01 (06:20):
Well, yes and no.
I didn't struggle because I knewI like I was really good at math
and uh and sciences, and so Ireally in fact, you know, but it
was limiting to me because youknow, I was I had to be there
and I had to do stuff that wassomebody else telling me to do
stuff.
So I yeah, do I have a problemwith you know other people
(06:42):
telling me to do stuff?
Yeah, maybe a little right.
But um, but uh yeah, school was,you know, I and then but I like
the point of something.
So kind of like what you hearabout maybe Steve Johns or you
know, Bill Gates, they droppedout of university for whatever
their reasons were.
But my second year, I was I waspart of the Association of
(07:03):
Entrepreneurs and the CommerceSociety.
I was on the executive, and wewere having an alumni event.
So I was eager to hear from thealumni, like, so what you've
done at school, you know, howmuch of that has impacted your
work?
And they're like, we haven'ttouched my books since, you
know, last exam, and you know,nothing I've learned is uh is
(07:23):
applicable to my job.
And I'm thinking, well, sowhat's the point of going to
school?
And that's kind of like where itstarted, and I I left for the
year and my parents weren'thappy about it, but that's what
happened is I I just didn't seethe point of going to university
for I don't know, myfulfillment.
I didn't even know what myfulfillment was, but I knew that
I thought this is a waste oftime.
(07:43):
If whatever I'm learning is notgoing to be applicable to a job,
then what's the point?
SPEAKER_00 (07:50):
It was and I and I I wanted to touch because you know
I think one of the things thatthe kind of there's there's a
bunch of ties in life who cut,and they usually what we find
fall they fall into finances,relationships, your your
wellness, uh, and in faith.
And the relationships piece,specifically when you're first
starting, is a big one.
They're usually tied veryclosely to finances because
people have expectations of you.
(08:11):
And when you do something that'soutside those expectations and
they are your center ofinfluence, parents, whatever
else, you know, kids, anybody,uh spouse spouse, partner, those
become huge things to have toovercome.
So I'm curious, how did youovercome it?
SPEAKER_01 (08:27):
It wasn't easy.
SPEAKER_00 (08:30):
I would hope it wasn't because you know what?
SPEAKER_01 (08:32):
It wasn't easy because I don't know if you
know, but I'm Asian, right?
And this whole oriental thingabout like, oh, you must do well
in school, you must become adoctor or a lawyer or whatever.
Like, I just did not fit thebill.
I was so black swan.
My my brother and sister beingolder, they were like the
perfect engineer, theybiomedical engineering, physics,
(08:53):
whatever.
And I just said, not that atall.
Like, are you sure we're not atyou're not adopted like that to
that degree?
And I just I fought my waybecause I just didn't fit.
And my parents didn't like it,but what what could they do?
I just fought it all the way.
You love me or you leave, or Ileave.
(09:14):
But I you know, I couldn'tleave, but I did.
They just eventually had toaccept it.
Like, as long as I guess you'rehappy at the ultimate.
That's the ultimate.
And and anybody else that didn'tfit too, like, yeah, I've been
told, oh, you're different.
I've never met anybody like you.
But you know what?
It goes up back to acceptance.
I love me, I I know who I am.
(09:35):
Um, I'm a good person.
Like you know, I'm I that goesagain back to your values and
your principles and havingintegrity to loving yourself and
having in the confidence.
I'll tell you, it was hard.
It's been really hard.
I am they say that after 50,that's when you really get to
live your life.
So I'm 56 and I was a I rememberat 49, you know, some older
(10:00):
people had said, yeah, whenyou're 50, it's gonna change for
you.
And I'm like, really, I'm notsure how that could be.
And what happens is that becauseyou've had 25 years, you'll have
a 25, 30 year career ofsomething.
And then you've gained thatconfidence to be able to say,
yeah, I've been 25 years at thisor 30 years of that.
And uh, and that immediatelygives you the confidence to to
(10:22):
be able to speak to whatever itis that you're you're on your
topic.
But up until then, it's like,yeah, I'm trying to fit in, I'm
trying to be part of a group,I'm trying to, you know, get
gain acceptance because we aresocial beings and we want to be
accepted and loved by otherpeople.
And um, but when you're not andyou're always being the
exception to the rule, then youjust have to be okay with the
(10:42):
fact that you're exception tothe rule and you're not gonna
have the you know, the thehundred friend birthday party or
whatever, and you know,followers.
Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (10:54):
You'd uh you could argue that uh it's hard to have
a hundred friends, too.
SPEAKER_01 (10:58):
Yeah, that's true.
SPEAKER_00 (10:59):
You have a hundred people that are around you and
acquaintances, and but but but Iyou know, anyway, I think
there's uh there's a there's adegree of that.
So I but I think that's a bigpiece.
It is hard.
Um and there's culturaldifferences too.
So I don't have the I mean, as aas a white male, I don't have a
perspective of an Asian womangrowing up here, and I don't um,
you know, I don't know how longago your family came over, but I
do know when it's uh for the fewpeople that I do know that have
(11:22):
parents that have immigratedthat are Asian, it's a huge deal
that you go to school and getthat career.
Um, because uh that sometimesthat's like that's why we moved
here and you're telling me kindof throws it up in their face a
bit.
SPEAKER_01 (11:36):
You know, I can I just say that the difference I I
was born in Toronto, so I haveno issues there.
But you know, where that I'mgonna hopefully be inspirational
to, and I know I I have in othertimes, being a woman in IT is a
big deal.
The fact that I have gonethrough what I've gone through.
Back in the early days, I wasone of five women at the
(11:58):
Microsoft event.
SPEAKER_00 (12:00):
Oh wow.
SPEAKER_01 (12:01):
Yeah.
So there was no lineup at thewashroom, and there was only
five of us.
And I that that's that's huge.
And not only am I a woman in IT,but I'm technical.
I'm, you know, right in, I canbuild a computer, I can transfer
it, I can crimp um networkcabling, termination, like I
could do stuff like that.
Like I'm a mechanic.
(12:22):
So that's what also what makesme different.
Um, because I don't look it, andyou don't expect that type of um
knowledge and skill skill setfrom me because I'm a short
Asian female, but I do, and Ihave that ability, and I and
then I've added the IT auditingaspect to it, etc.
So um, but growing through um inthe early days, as I said, one
(12:47):
of five, and then the next yearthere was like maybe, I don't
know, a another, a little bitmore of a handful.
And eventually it just uh becamewhatever it was.
But what I decided to do, andagain, it's all about intention,
is that I decided, okay, I'm oneof five, and I'm going to make
it, I'm gonna just rock it withthat, and I'm gonna embrace the
(13:08):
fact that I am one of five andbe incredibly proud.
So instead of like trying to fitin, I got dressed up and I just,
you know, made everybody knowthat I notice that I was a
woman, one of the five women.
And I can be beautiful, I can beconfident, and I can be smart
and be sitting at the table justlike everybody else.
And that's what I decided to do.
SPEAKER_00 (13:31):
And I think that's that that's owning your spot,
right?
But also I think recognizingit's better to be one of the
five than one of the fivemillion.
Because if you prefer to be onein five million, that's a whole
mindset difference that, like,hey, I'm okay.
And it's not a wrong or rightthing.
It's just you're not probablybuilt for creating new and
taking the risks and you know,rolling the dice on everything
(13:51):
for sure.
So I want to get into your bigstory though.
So just just so we just soconscious time.
So take me to just recentevents, you know, uh maybe start
first with the big problem isyour your technology solves and
who's who you solve it for.
And then let's tell the the thekind of power story that's going
on right now.
SPEAKER_01 (14:09):
Yeah, yeah, totally.
Yeah, thanks.
Okay, so the mission is the ITand business don't the two sides
of the equation on theorganization have never seen eye
to eye.
There's always been a problem.
So that's a communicationproblem that has existed since
the beginning of time.
But the result of that has beenlook at what's happening to the
(14:31):
world.
The data breaches continue torise.
And I couldn't figure out why itis that we have so much
technology and so many smartpeople around the world that has
allowed these data breaches tooccur and allowed suffering to
happen in these organizations.
Not suffering, I mean, not justa loss of revenue, but the loss
of revenue or bankruptcysometimes occurs for the fact
(14:52):
that people are now losing theirjobs and data, uh private,
private data is out into thestreets.
So that is a lot of sufferingthat happens.
So just over the course ofyears, since the moment like
that, as I mentioned in COVIDtimes, just even to understand
that how do I solve my ownimmediate problem and realizing
(15:13):
that our work prior to that hasin terms of auditing has been
about creating stability,security, and then operational
excellence.
So I have proof of that of ourmanual work and then trying to
automate it.
So then I also realized, hey, atthe same time, all these
breaches are occurring.
Okay, so time passes, and thenyou see breaches continue to
(15:34):
have.
And again, why is this happeningwhen there's so much genius out
there?
So then I realized that theworld hasn't gotten the fact
that what I got was that youhave to look at the
infrastructure.
The common cause for all these,most of these data breaches is
the fact that people are leavingthe windows and doors open to
their house.
They're looking at the fence.
(15:55):
I'm using a metaphor here.
So if the house was yourorganization and the data was
your valuables, like your house,uh, your jewelry, your money,
your TV, like that.
Um, what they're doing is thatthey're leaving the windows and
doors open.
And the penetration testing andscanning that everybody's so
busy doing is that reallythey're just still scanning the
(16:17):
perimeter of the house and thefence.
And they're not actually lookingat where the actual
vulnerabilities and holes are.
That's where the IT auditingcomes in.
And so we're looking at from theinside out versus outside in.
That is the that's one part ofthe problem.
The other part of the problem isthat the executives, the CEOs,
the COOs have never had anyvisibility to the IT data in
(16:41):
which they have.
So they can't make properbusiness decisions.
So if that makes sense to you isbecause what IT has always done,
going back to communication, isthat they've always said, hey,
we've got this iron curtainaround us, you guys don't
understand, blah, blah, blah,just pay our bill.
And we've victims as CEOs,having to just pay the bill and
hope that our email keepsworking.
(17:03):
That's the overall generalproblem.
And so what we have are havesolved is that we have taken all
those different aspects,variables, and created a
thermostat platform specificallyto the CEOs in the way that CEOs
need to see it, want to see it,so they can make better business
decisions.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (17:23):
So what did you do with that?
You mean you mean your let'slet's dive into the you're
ready, grab some popcorn.
It's numb numb.
So what have I done with what doyou mean?
Oh, sorry.
You're kind of a celebrity in acontinent.
SPEAKER_01 (17:35):
Oh, oh yeah.
So what did I do with so thatlittle thing?
Yeah.
So my leadership has been aboutuh about IT auditing and being
able to.
Well, I've done a couple things,one.
Um, so the Center for InternetSecurity is the IT auditing
framework that we use, and thatis based on the infrastructure.
So all these IT audit frameworksout there are very specific to
(17:58):
applications and industry.
CIS is for agnostic industriesor agnostic size of companies,
because we all deal with thesame thing, computers and
servers.
So that's one.
And then I also found out fromthem that they they see um
there's uh legislation calledSafe Harbor Digital Wellness
(18:19):
that is in five statescurrently.
And that what that means is thatif there should be a data
breach, the uh executives whowould normally be personally
liable and sued, if they canprove uh that they have
attempted to use the CISframework, they uh there's a
(18:41):
likelihood that they will nolonger be personally liable, if
that makes sense.
Okay, so what I did was and Istarted Georgia, so Georgia's
Safe Harbor Digital Wellness, Iwrote the proposed bill for that
to help the businesses here inGeorgia be protected should
there be a data breach.
But I it and so what is going tobe good for them is to be able
(19:03):
to help conform with the CIS ITaudit framework.
That will protect them becausethere is a 70 to 80 percent.
If they institute that in theirorganizations, they will be
protected.
And that will also shield themfrom any type of liability.
So that's one.
And then because of that type ofwork, that kind of got
springboarded into um my recenttrip to Africa.
(19:26):
So I was asked to uh to speak ata privacy symposium in Nigeria,
and I was the only, guess what?
Again, exception to the rule.
Out of all the hundreds ofpeople who attended and the
speakers that were flown in fromaround the world, I was the only
IT person, I was the only ITauditor person, and everyone
(19:46):
else was talking aboutcompliance and privacy.
That came into the fact that Iwas the missing piece that
nobody knew about.
And so from there, thecommissioners of two contuivers.
SPEAKER_00 (20:00):
of the four countries that attended have
asked me to um start discussionson start discussions on on how
do we implement our platforminto their countries and their
data protection act issupporting of that which is
amazing because I it's a bigopportunity can you can you uh
(20:22):
how does that line up to yourvision of your company and
exiting or or whatever the uh Imean if you I don't know if you
always share exact exit strategybut usually it's an exit
strategy so how does that lineup and accelerate or what you
know tell me about how thatfeels maybe a little bit first
and then what it actually isgoing to do.
SPEAKER_01 (20:37):
One of the countries which is really which would be
small relative um geez that onewhat that's the small country
small country 23 million peopleum by because they've made it
law to have IT audit otherwiseif you don't have an IT audit
you get fine if we if that goesthrough we'll be easily over a
(20:58):
hundred million dollars in oneyear just like that within six
months just like that the othercountry which is far larger
actually it's 10 times that putsus into a billion dollars in
into one year I mean if they ifwe could roll it out into one
year throughout the entirecountry that's crazy.
So acceleration in terms of exitmy this kind of goes back to
(21:22):
what what's my value my value isnot money related otherwise we
would not be suffering asfounders right um our mission is
to achieve a particular type ofgoal my goal is to change the
world and have the impact thatthat I know can be had people
just don't have not realized andhave become aware of it.
(21:44):
So as when my exit is to allowfor that change of the world to
happen not just by one countryor five countries but like
literally around the world justlike Steve Jobs did and just
like Bill Gates and et ceteraand Elon Musk like they've all
changed how we live.
So that is my intent as well andI I just you know realize that
(22:06):
we are a necessity antivirus hasbeen a necessity we are
something that the executiveshave always wanted to know but
have been afraid to know becausethey just didn't know how to
ask.
The vocabulary of IT is verydifferent from management and
they don't grow up in theircareer learning IT.
So when they get to managementthey become accountable for IT
(22:30):
but it's really not fair thatthey should be accountable since
they've never had any type ofcourse or any type of learning
understanding of how IT works.
Yet they're the ones that areaccountable.
So the guys that let in the databreaches from happening are
still working there.
And meanwhile the CEOs are firedfrom it and that's a Kaspersky
(22:51):
that by the way is a Kasperskysurvey they did 6,000 surveys
post breach and one out of threeCEOs were fired as a result of
the data breach.
SPEAKER_00 (23:00):
But the CIOs or the CTOs that were there were still
working I'm like how how is thishow is it how does this make
sense is part of that because ofthe keys of the castle it's
harder to get rid of the CIOthan it is a C CEO.
SPEAKER_01 (23:18):
But yeah they're really a dime a dozen and
there's and there's so much it'sso much ambiguity as to what is
a good CIO no offense to theseguys but you know anybody who
knows a little bit of C of ITlanguage is the IT guru expert
really I mean that is the honesttruth.
If I say something about IT thatand you're like wow you know so
(23:39):
much you're an expert so let'sand I and I hire you and I've
again IT auditing I have I Ihave audited a lot of IT
departments or infrastructureI've had a vice president
charged of crime and I've hadmultiple directors fired and
it's system administrators youknow just kind of there's a lot
(24:01):
of bad apples out there.
And unfortunately because ofthat what you're saying the keys
to the castle iron curtain fogof more like there's all sorts
of different sayings around itit's it all it all turns around
the fact that IT doesn't want tobe seen and they're they're
trying to hold that type ofpower over the CEOs or the
(24:22):
management let's not say CEOspecifically but I over
management.
And that's not that's not rightlike because they have a a huge
responsibility to theorganization.
It's without IT if IT is not runefficiently then the
organization does not run andtherefore cannot feed the
families and the livelihood ofthe organization.
(24:44):
And if IT is not doing well thenwe have slowness we have
production we have backorders wehave high turnover there's a lot
of results for when that aresymptoms to why IT isn't work or
the fact that IT isn't workingvery well.
It's just that people don'tcorrelate it they think oh it's
something else it's culture it'sthis it's that but it's not
(25:05):
there's actually a lot of to mypoint of case studies that I've
had and been participant of thatwhen we get IT working well and
stable is it then we can providethe security and then we
actually create operationalexcellence.
People can understand how do youcreate operational excellence
through IT?
Because again IT is thelivelihood of everybody's
(25:27):
function on a daily basis.
And if we get that working thenwe can create high productivity
and amazing yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (25:36):
Even beyond that right today we're I looked at IT
as always like hey you know getyour images right get the
security machines just geteverything kind of normalized
standardized.
It's so integrated to even kindof like marketing and sales from
a data collection and how youleverage the technologies let's
say to capture conversationsbecause this is some of the work
we'll we'll do like we'll helpcompanies integrate AI and
marketing and sales together sothey can continuously be
(25:58):
learning, leverage it to buildSOPs, you know, all this kind of
stuff.
And if you don't have atechnology partner so to speak
someone who really understandswhat you're trying to do as an
organization and they're moretraditional I think I keep
everything I you know I own allthe processes I don't share I
have no transparency which is avery like paranoid IT kind of
director if you will and it it'smaybe the it's a very common
(26:22):
personality I've seen incorporate small companies is
that but if they don't have thatbusiness sense of hey I need to
be able to keep things securebut make the business operate
and be transparent abouteverything I do and and where
the faults are I think that'sthe director of the future.
That's the IT leader of thefuture has the ability to have
that um you know capacity to tobe vulnerable to say hey listen
(26:44):
we need to fix this I don't knowwhat to do with it which is not
usually the answer people give.
SPEAKER_01 (26:50):
Are you seeing any trends of like the modern day
technology executive that's morelike here are our problems, here
it is, we're we're gonna be openabout what's going on internally
you can't put that outward butlike are you seeing a training
that change in that or is itstill the guarded paranoid IT
person um well they putdifferent titles into the
organization they've got theCISOs out there which you know
(27:14):
I'm not too fond of that thatrole because you know I've met a
lot of CISOs and and they don'tseem to know a lot in terms of
technical there's still a gap.
So while businesses try to fillfill the gap of communication by
putting these types of titles inthere is still that gap because
IT is still holding very closeto their chest what's going on
(27:39):
they're still very defensive umas much as people are trying to
pull information out of themit's still very closed because
it's so I think this is thenature of it's not it's not a
from the top down I think it'sfrom the bottom up that it's
very segregated and granular.
So and because of that they'reable to hide a lot of this and
(28:01):
keep it ambiguous for people tonever be able to see what's
really going on under the hood.
Yeah and that's where you guyscome in and say hey listen
here's what actually yourvulnerabilities are you know
what here's the thing aboutabout auditing everybody hates
the word auditing because theythink of IRS or you know any
type of financial and they alsothink about I Deloitte's version
of IT auditing which is verylinear and comprehensive and it
(28:24):
takes a lot of time and verydistracting to the organization.
That's a compliance audit andthey that's also a media thing
that compliance does not equalsecurity.
So the understanding of like anIT audit is based on compliance
while compliance is nothing todo with your security because if
you look at SOC 2, SOC 2 standsfor systems organizational
control, guess what?
(28:44):
It was developed by a bunch ofCPAs it was a the AI CPA
developed this compliance ITaudit framework but accountants
don't know anything aboutsecurity of IT, right?
So I would that was one of theproblems that I couldn't
understand.
Why do all these companies thathave SOC 2 certification still
getting breached?
(29:05):
Well it's because they'refollowing uh the trusted advisor
of the CA or CPA to do thisinstitute this certification
that is actually not really haveanything to do with the
security.
So when I come in and I say Iwant to do a security audit,
they're like, oh no, we'vealready done that because we
have SOC two but SOC 2 isn'tyour security it's a compliance
(29:25):
guideline.
SPEAKER_00 (29:26):
It's nothing to do with the actual infrastructure
so that's that's that's what wehave to get out there is to know
that hold your checklist rightso you can uh have insurance and
claim we've done all we cananother actually addresses
problems beyond that.
SPEAKER_01 (29:42):
Yeah I say about like locking the door I used
that earlier like you can have aclosed door and say is it
locked?
I don't know it it looks to belocked but you don't know until
you actually turn the handleright it looks locked it it
feels locked but it's not lockeduntil you actually check it.
And that's what we do we'rewe're very practical in that
way.
SPEAKER_00 (30:00):
I mean you're in your you roll today what are you
what are you resisting?
SPEAKER_01 (30:06):
What am I resisting?
What's the metaphoric tie that'sholding you back today that
you're just really struggling toget through um I don't know what
am I resisting uh I don't thinkI am I what do you think um I am
(30:26):
no I I'm I I'm not resistinganything actually I don't know I
hope I'm glad we're gonna getthis edited we have to keep this
part in yeah I I don't I don'tknow I'm not I can't I don't
(30:46):
think I am resistant.
Actually I think I'm more I'mliving on abundance now more
than anything because now that Ihave the validity and the of two
two countries not two companiesbut two countries who who want
to discuss institutingimplementing our our software
and and be able to support themwith their protection acts I I
(31:12):
don't I can't get any morevalidation than that.
It's like which country's nextwho are we caught who we're
going to talk to next um I alsohave a huge law firm here in the
States where they are also Ihaven't had the meeting yet but
they the fact that they agree toit and they want to speak to me
about it uh about Georgia's actspecifically and how they can
(31:33):
help support that and get thatlobbied through again just shows
you know the the work that I'mdoing is is on the right track.
And so I I don't think I'mresisting anything.
I'm very open to anybody whowants to join my bandwagon and
and get this get this out thereto change the world.
SPEAKER_00 (31:51):
I love it.
It's it's uh it's a good placeto be and uh if you know if and
and I appreciate your time todayuh you know before I asked you
the last question uh who shouldget a hold of you and how should
they do that?
SPEAKER_01 (32:02):
Sure.
So a LinkedIn is also a goodone.
Um phone number, email, all ofthe above are good to know, good
to have oh what's a website youthink you can go to oh so eddy
uh eddy.com so ed it's like thated dash i dot com um my phone
(32:24):
number 404706 4854 and uh emailis elizabeth at eddy.com uh
linkedin you'll find meelizabeth woo um yeah all of the
all of the above I love to chatand demo and you know looking
looking for scaling and um yeahjust looking for people to align
(32:49):
in in the mission and wanting tochange the world if there was a
question I should have askedtoday and I didn't what would
that question have been?
Um you asked a lot of reallygreat questions Tom I I don't
think that I can I can put thatin there it's like um what
(33:10):
what's the question the uhwhat's the uh well I don't think
we would have had time tobecause clearly I'm passionate
and um committed to my role andwanting to do this but I think
(33:32):
the granularity of like itbecause it's quite complex about
how how how does our ourplatform and our thermostat work
and what are the benefits to itwhat are what sort of features
would be involved of type ofdata that they would be able to
reflect to towards and and howwould that work?
(33:54):
I think going through that wouldhave been awesome but I I also
recognize we don't have the timefor it and this isn't about
sales here but it's uh the factthat I I do a Venn diagram my my
world lives in Venn diagrams andit's not over just two circles I
like to have three four as fiveand I think from an Eddie
perspective I've created a fiveVenn five circle Venn diagram.
(34:18):
So I'm really proud of that.
Um and to be able to see it cometo fruition is also really
awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (34:25):
The validation's amazing and uh I appreciate your
time.
You coming on the show at thevalidation that uh we're getting
more and more interesting peoplethat are that are there are huge
deals uh and you're you'reyou're famous in Africa now so
it's good.
You know it's they're name athong after you but I think
there's a baker.
SPEAKER_01 (34:42):
Uh yeah I think it's a little coming sheet I also
have a little uh child uh bookcoming out um in a couple of
weeks and but it's for CEOs it'suh but it's in a child book
format and it's uh it's it'sactually to address the fact
that CEOs are scared about andintimidated by their IT.
(35:04):
So it's Eddie being our owl andthe um mountain of of
cybersecurity summit and how theCEO is able to climb the
mountain without fear andgetting to the top.
So yeah that's that's what'scoming out.
SPEAKER_00 (35:20):
That's that's a f we'll do a follow up uh
interview on on that one.
Sure.
Thank you, Elizabeth listen uhthank you so much for coming on
today and anybody who made it soto this point in the show, you
rock I hope this was uh this wasthe first time that you've
listened to the show I hope it'sthe first of many uh and you
know get out there go cut a tieto something holding you back
and go own your success.
Thanks for listening.
Welcome to the Cut the Tie Podcast.
Hi, I'm your host, ThomasHelfric, and I'm here to help
you cut a tie to whatever it isholding you back from success.
And as I always say, you have tofind your own success and own
it.
Otherwise, uh, if it's somebodyelse's.
When you achieve it, it won'tmean much and you'll feel a bit
hollow.
And today I am joined byElizabeth Wu.
Elizabeth, how are you?
SPEAKER_01 (00:20):
Hi, good.
Thank you so much, Tom, forhaving me on the show.
Appreciate it.
SPEAKER_00 (00:24):
I know a little of your story, and I'm excited to
hear uh or share this with thewith the audience.
Uh take a moment, uh introduceyou uh yourself and who who you
are.
SPEAKER_01 (00:32):
Sure.
Um so I'm Elizabeth Wu and I'mhere in Atlanta, Georgia.
I have been an entrepreneur umfrom the moment that I was about
16 years old.
I started my first business.
And so I have been self-employedfor 40 years.
And a lot of people are shockedover the fact that I've never
had a job and that I've had thatuh, that I've just been always
(00:53):
on my own, creating my owndestiny every single day.
So um, and I am here.
I moved from Canada to the US ayear and a bit ago uh to create
a brand new category and changethe world as what we all dream
about.
So I invented something, createda new category, and about to
rock the world.
SPEAKER_00 (01:13):
I love the tease that.
All right.
So, first of all, today, yeah.
Uh how how do you definesuccess?
SPEAKER_01 (01:19):
Oh, man, resilience and commitment, uh, integrity,
um, those three things are big.
And I think they're really morefor yourself, integrity and
commitment to yourself, makingsure that what you're doing, how
you're doing it, is living byyour principles, your values.
(01:40):
And that will give you theresilience to overcome whatever
obstacles come your way becauseyou can measure does that fit
for you and your path, really.
That's uh Simon Sinek uh hassomething called the celery
test.
Uh I love Simon.
If we all know who Simon andhe's the one that created the
golden circle and why.
(02:00):
But celery test is really likeif you want to lose five pounds,
you aren't going to acceptchocolate cake, right?
You just are gonna continue oneating celery.
So I I live by that too.
It's like so I know who I am,I'm clear on my values, my
principle, and my mission to theworld, to the um, to the
business that I'm I'm running.
(02:21):
And you know, I'm looking forpeople who are gonna be on my
bandwagon and align with myvalues.
So uh that creates theresilience and success and
commitment that I have to tothat.
So that's it.
40 years right here.
SPEAKER_00 (02:36):
So take it back.
SPEAKER_01 (02:38):
Oh, and can I also say energy you're uh it's all
mindset.
Don't complain, don't waste yourtime, don't uh the distractions
of of whining and complaining donothing for you.
So just keep it going and behappy for be grateful for every
day, even if it's a small littlesuccess, celebrate it and enjoy
it because you know it's bepresent at that moment.
(03:00):
I think it's really those arebig key things for me too.
I don't live on the past, I moveon, just drop it, keep going.
SPEAKER_00 (03:07):
That's good advice.
Uh it's hard, it's personalitydriven on that one a bit because
some people just can't do it.
And you know, we were off theretalking about this a bit as
well.
But taking me back, uh, so let'slet's let's get dive into your
journey a little bit, uh, youknow, in wherever it's most
relevant for you.
Uh but take take us on thejourney of how you began uh to
where you are today.
SPEAKER_01 (03:27):
Began for a while.
Uh I just don't like living in abox, and I can't be imagined the
imagination of having to workfor somebody on somebody else's
time just doesn't fit with me.
But um, my mission for at leastbeing here.
Uh five years ago, COVID, youknow, up in Canada, we were
doing IT consulting and ITauditing, and the world changed
(03:48):
as every everywhere changed.
COVID shut us down because wewere on site.
And uh so I had to figure out umsolve my own problem, big
problem solver.
That's my mission.
That's what I if I don't have aproblem to solve, I I I'm
useless.
So the problem that I saw had tosolve was how do we, as a
business that was going on site,now not how do we become a
(04:11):
business that is no longer onsite?
So that is so I try to figureout like how do we create
auditing so we don't we are noton site?
Can we create it into asoftware?
That was the beginnings of anytechnologies.
So we what we've done is we'vedeveloped a way to measure the
security status of a networkwith our platform, very much
(04:33):
like a thermostat, because thenetwork environment is dynamic
and so it's constantlyfluctuating in terms of security
and vulnerabilities.
And that's what we have done iswhat we've created a thermostat
for executives to know thesecurity status to prevent data
breaches from happening.
SPEAKER_00 (04:49):
So, okay, I I you've been from the beginning.
I cannot work for somebody else.
So do you but you did you everwork for somebody else?
Did you did you kind of jump infor a day and be like, nope?
Or or or just from day one,you're like on my own.
SPEAKER_01 (05:03):
Oh yeah, I mean like temping, right?
Yeah, and then but just likelittle stuff or helping people
out, volunteering for stuff, butthat's just like not my
commitment.
It's just maybe for like cash,you know, this way, that way,
but that's it.
SPEAKER_00 (05:18):
Entrepreneur through and through day one, knew what
you wanted, and and you knew youknew you just maybe not knew
what you wanted to do, but yoursuccess was not working for
somebody else, your own tech.
SPEAKER_01 (05:27):
Absolutely, for sure.
I create from nothing.
I declared that was back in my20s, 2021, 22.
I was in a uh, I don't know,we'll call it course, but and it
was very enlightening.
I don't really want to talkabout who what it was, but I
just decided I who my identity.
Everybody has an identity.
I'm an accountant, I'm adentist, right?
(05:49):
And I didn't have one.
I didn't have anything inparticular.
I was good at a whole bunch ofdifferent things, so but I
wasn't clear on an identity.
But but back then, 35 years agoor 30 years ago, I declared I
was an entrepreneur and I createevery day out of nothing.
So whatever that is, yeah, I geta choice to create it.
SPEAKER_00 (06:09):
Did you uh did you when you went to school, did you
did you uh struggle with therigors of school?
Like let's say like I'm curious,take high school versus college?
SPEAKER_01 (06:20):
Well, yes and no.
I didn't struggle because I knewI like I was really good at math
and uh and sciences, and so Ireally in fact, you know, but it
was limiting to me because youknow, I was I had to be there
and I had to do stuff that wassomebody else telling me to do
stuff.
So I yeah, do I have a problemwith you know other people
(06:42):
telling me to do stuff?
Yeah, maybe a little right.
But um, but uh yeah, school was,you know, I and then but I like
the point of something.
So kind of like what you hearabout maybe Steve Johns or you
know, Bill Gates, they droppedout of university for whatever
their reasons were.
But my second year, I was I waspart of the Association of
(07:03):
Entrepreneurs and the CommerceSociety.
I was on the executive, and wewere having an alumni event.
So I was eager to hear from thealumni, like, so what you've
done at school, you know, howmuch of that has impacted your
work?
And they're like, we haven'ttouched my books since, you
know, last exam, and you know,nothing I've learned is uh is
(07:23):
applicable to my job.
And I'm thinking, well, sowhat's the point of going to
school?
And that's kind of like where itstarted, and I I left for the
year and my parents weren'thappy about it, but that's what
happened is I I just didn't seethe point of going to university
for I don't know, myfulfillment.
I didn't even know what myfulfillment was, but I knew that
I thought this is a waste oftime.
(07:43):
If whatever I'm learning is notgoing to be applicable to a job,
then what's the point?
SPEAKER_00 (07:50):
It was and I and I I wanted to touch because you know
I think one of the things thatthe kind of there's there's a
bunch of ties in life who cut,and they usually what we find
fall they fall into finances,relationships, your your
wellness, uh, and in faith.
And the relationships piece,specifically when you're first
starting, is a big one.
They're usually tied veryclosely to finances because
people have expectations of you.
(08:11):
And when you do something that'soutside those expectations and
they are your center ofinfluence, parents, whatever
else, you know, kids, anybody,uh spouse spouse, partner, those
become huge things to have toovercome.
So I'm curious, how did youovercome it?
SPEAKER_01 (08:27):
It wasn't easy.
SPEAKER_00 (08:30):
I would hope it wasn't because you know what?
SPEAKER_01 (08:32):
It wasn't easy because I don't know if you
know, but I'm Asian, right?
And this whole oriental thingabout like, oh, you must do well
in school, you must become adoctor or a lawyer or whatever.
Like, I just did not fit thebill.
I was so black swan.
My my brother and sister beingolder, they were like the
perfect engineer, theybiomedical engineering, physics,
(08:53):
whatever.
And I just said, not that atall.
Like, are you sure we're not atyou're not adopted like that to
that degree?
And I just I fought my waybecause I just didn't fit.
And my parents didn't like it,but what what could they do?
I just fought it all the way.
You love me or you leave, or Ileave.
(09:14):
But I you know, I couldn'tleave, but I did.
They just eventually had toaccept it.
Like, as long as I guess you'rehappy at the ultimate.
That's the ultimate.
And and anybody else that didn'tfit too, like, yeah, I've been
told, oh, you're different.
I've never met anybody like you.
But you know what?
It goes up back to acceptance.
I love me, I I know who I am.
(09:35):
Um, I'm a good person.
Like you know, I'm I that goesagain back to your values and
your principles and havingintegrity to loving yourself and
having in the confidence.
I'll tell you, it was hard.
It's been really hard.
I am they say that after 50,that's when you really get to
live your life.
So I'm 56 and I was a I rememberat 49, you know, some older
(10:00):
people had said, yeah, whenyou're 50, it's gonna change for
you.
And I'm like, really, I'm notsure how that could be.
And what happens is that becauseyou've had 25 years, you'll have
a 25, 30 year career ofsomething.
And then you've gained thatconfidence to be able to say,
yeah, I've been 25 years at thisor 30 years of that.
And uh, and that immediatelygives you the confidence to to
(10:22):
be able to speak to whatever itis that you're you're on your
topic.
But up until then, it's like,yeah, I'm trying to fit in, I'm
trying to be part of a group,I'm trying to, you know, get
gain acceptance because we aresocial beings and we want to be
accepted and loved by otherpeople.
And um, but when you're not andyou're always being the
exception to the rule, then youjust have to be okay with the
(10:42):
fact that you're exception tothe rule and you're not gonna
have the you know, the thehundred friend birthday party or
whatever, and you know,followers.
Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (10:54):
You'd uh you could argue that uh it's hard to have
a hundred friends, too.
SPEAKER_01 (10:58):
Yeah, that's true.
SPEAKER_00 (10:59):
You have a hundred people that are around you and
acquaintances, and but but but Iyou know, anyway, I think
there's uh there's a there's adegree of that.
So I but I think that's a bigpiece.
It is hard.
Um and there's culturaldifferences too.
So I don't have the I mean, as aas a white male, I don't have a
perspective of an Asian womangrowing up here, and I don't um,
you know, I don't know how longago your family came over, but I
do know when it's uh for the fewpeople that I do know that have
(11:22):
parents that have immigratedthat are Asian, it's a huge deal
that you go to school and getthat career.
Um, because uh that sometimesthat's like that's why we moved
here and you're telling me kindof throws it up in their face a
bit.
SPEAKER_01 (11:36):
You know, I can I just say that the difference I I
was born in Toronto, so I haveno issues there.
But you know, where that I'mgonna hopefully be inspirational
to, and I know I I have in othertimes, being a woman in IT is a
big deal.
The fact that I have gonethrough what I've gone through.
Back in the early days, I wasone of five women at the
(11:58):
Microsoft event.
SPEAKER_00 (12:00):
Oh wow.
SPEAKER_01 (12:01):
Yeah.
So there was no lineup at thewashroom, and there was only
five of us.
And I that that's that's huge.
And not only am I a woman in IT,but I'm technical.
I'm, you know, right in, I canbuild a computer, I can transfer
it, I can crimp um networkcabling, termination, like I
could do stuff like that.
Like I'm a mechanic.
(12:22):
So that's what also what makesme different.
Um, because I don't look it, andyou don't expect that type of um
knowledge and skill skill setfrom me because I'm a short
Asian female, but I do, and Ihave that ability, and I and
then I've added the IT auditingaspect to it, etc.
So um, but growing through um inthe early days, as I said, one
(12:47):
of five, and then the next yearthere was like maybe, I don't
know, a another, a little bitmore of a handful.
And eventually it just uh becamewhatever it was.
But what I decided to do, andagain, it's all about intention,
is that I decided, okay, I'm oneof five, and I'm going to make
it, I'm gonna just rock it withthat, and I'm gonna embrace the
(13:08):
fact that I am one of five andbe incredibly proud.
So instead of like trying to fitin, I got dressed up and I just,
you know, made everybody knowthat I notice that I was a
woman, one of the five women.
And I can be beautiful, I can beconfident, and I can be smart
and be sitting at the table justlike everybody else.
And that's what I decided to do.
SPEAKER_00 (13:31):
And I think that's that that's owning your spot,
right?
But also I think recognizingit's better to be one of the
five than one of the fivemillion.
Because if you prefer to be onein five million, that's a whole
mindset difference that, like,hey, I'm okay.
And it's not a wrong or rightthing.
It's just you're not probablybuilt for creating new and
taking the risks and you know,rolling the dice on everything
(13:51):
for sure.
So I want to get into your bigstory though.
So just just so we just soconscious time.
So take me to just recentevents, you know, uh maybe start
first with the big problem isyour your technology solves and
who's who you solve it for.
And then let's tell the the thekind of power story that's going
on right now.
SPEAKER_01 (14:09):
Yeah, yeah, totally.
Yeah, thanks.
Okay, so the mission is the ITand business don't the two sides
of the equation on theorganization have never seen eye
to eye.
There's always been a problem.
So that's a communicationproblem that has existed since
the beginning of time.
But the result of that has beenlook at what's happening to the
(14:31):
world.
The data breaches continue torise.
And I couldn't figure out why itis that we have so much
technology and so many smartpeople around the world that has
allowed these data breaches tooccur and allowed suffering to
happen in these organizations.
Not suffering, I mean, not justa loss of revenue, but the loss
of revenue or bankruptcysometimes occurs for the fact
(14:52):
that people are now losing theirjobs and data, uh private,
private data is out into thestreets.
So that is a lot of sufferingthat happens.
So just over the course ofyears, since the moment like
that, as I mentioned in COVIDtimes, just even to understand
that how do I solve my ownimmediate problem and realizing
(15:13):
that our work prior to that hasin terms of auditing has been
about creating stability,security, and then operational
excellence.
So I have proof of that of ourmanual work and then trying to
automate it.
So then I also realized, hey, atthe same time, all these
breaches are occurring.
Okay, so time passes, and thenyou see breaches continue to
(15:34):
have.
And again, why is this happeningwhen there's so much genius out
there?
So then I realized that theworld hasn't gotten the fact
that what I got was that youhave to look at the
infrastructure.
The common cause for all these,most of these data breaches is
the fact that people are leavingthe windows and doors open to
their house.
They're looking at the fence.
(15:55):
I'm using a metaphor here.
So if the house was yourorganization and the data was
your valuables, like your house,uh, your jewelry, your money,
your TV, like that.
Um, what they're doing is thatthey're leaving the windows and
doors open.
And the penetration testing andscanning that everybody's so
busy doing is that reallythey're just still scanning the
(16:17):
perimeter of the house and thefence.
And they're not actually lookingat where the actual
vulnerabilities and holes are.
That's where the IT auditingcomes in.
And so we're looking at from theinside out versus outside in.
That is the that's one part ofthe problem.
The other part of the problem isthat the executives, the CEOs,
the COOs have never had anyvisibility to the IT data in
(16:41):
which they have.
So they can't make properbusiness decisions.
So if that makes sense to you isbecause what IT has always done,
going back to communication, isthat they've always said, hey,
we've got this iron curtainaround us, you guys don't
understand, blah, blah, blah,just pay our bill.
And we've victims as CEOs,having to just pay the bill and
hope that our email keepsworking.
(17:03):
That's the overall generalproblem.
And so what we have are havesolved is that we have taken all
those different aspects,variables, and created a
thermostat platform specificallyto the CEOs in the way that CEOs
need to see it, want to see it,so they can make better business
decisions.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (17:23):
So what did you do with that?
You mean you mean your let'slet's dive into the you're
ready, grab some popcorn.
It's numb numb.
So what have I done with what doyou mean?
Oh, sorry.
You're kind of a celebrity in acontinent.
SPEAKER_01 (17:35):
Oh, oh yeah.
So what did I do with so thatlittle thing?
Yeah.
So my leadership has been aboutuh about IT auditing and being
able to.
Well, I've done a couple things,one.
Um, so the Center for InternetSecurity is the IT auditing
framework that we use, and thatis based on the infrastructure.
So all these IT audit frameworksout there are very specific to
(17:58):
applications and industry.
CIS is for agnostic industriesor agnostic size of companies,
because we all deal with thesame thing, computers and
servers.
So that's one.
And then I also found out fromthem that they they see um
there's uh legislation calledSafe Harbor Digital Wellness
(18:19):
that is in five statescurrently.
And that what that means is thatif there should be a data
breach, the uh executives whowould normally be personally
liable and sued, if they canprove uh that they have
attempted to use the CISframework, they uh there's a
(18:41):
likelihood that they will nolonger be personally liable, if
that makes sense.
Okay, so what I did was and Istarted Georgia, so Georgia's
Safe Harbor Digital Wellness, Iwrote the proposed bill for that
to help the businesses here inGeorgia be protected should
there be a data breach.
But I it and so what is going tobe good for them is to be able
(19:03):
to help conform with the CIS ITaudit framework.
That will protect them becausethere is a 70 to 80 percent.
If they institute that in theirorganizations, they will be
protected.
And that will also shield themfrom any type of liability.
So that's one.
And then because of that type ofwork, that kind of got
springboarded into um my recenttrip to Africa.
(19:26):
So I was asked to uh to speak ata privacy symposium in Nigeria,
and I was the only, guess what?
Again, exception to the rule.
Out of all the hundreds ofpeople who attended and the
speakers that were flown in fromaround the world, I was the only
IT person, I was the only ITauditor person, and everyone
(19:46):
else was talking aboutcompliance and privacy.
That came into the fact that Iwas the missing piece that
nobody knew about.
And so from there, thecommissioners of two contuivers.
SPEAKER_00 (20:00):
of the four countries that attended have
asked me to um start discussionson start discussions on on how
do we implement our platforminto their countries and their
data protection act issupporting of that which is
amazing because I it's a bigopportunity can you can you uh
(20:22):
how does that line up to yourvision of your company and
exiting or or whatever the uh Imean if you I don't know if you
always share exact exit strategybut usually it's an exit
strategy so how does that lineup and accelerate or what you
know tell me about how thatfeels maybe a little bit first
and then what it actually isgoing to do.
SPEAKER_01 (20:37):
One of the countries which is really which would be
small relative um geez that onewhat that's the small country
small country 23 million peopleum by because they've made it
law to have IT audit otherwiseif you don't have an IT audit
you get fine if we if that goesthrough we'll be easily over a
(20:58):
hundred million dollars in oneyear just like that within six
months just like that the othercountry which is far larger
actually it's 10 times that putsus into a billion dollars in
into one year I mean if they ifwe could roll it out into one
year throughout the entirecountry that's crazy.
So acceleration in terms of exitmy this kind of goes back to
(21:22):
what what's my value my value isnot money related otherwise we
would not be suffering asfounders right um our mission is
to achieve a particular type ofgoal my goal is to change the
world and have the impact thatthat I know can be had people
just don't have not realized andhave become aware of it.
(21:44):
So as when my exit is to allowfor that change of the world to
happen not just by one countryor five countries but like
literally around the world justlike Steve Jobs did and just
like Bill Gates and et ceteraand Elon Musk like they've all
changed how we live.
So that is my intent as well andI I just you know realize that
(22:06):
we are a necessity antivirus hasbeen a necessity we are
something that the executiveshave always wanted to know but
have been afraid to know becausethey just didn't know how to
ask.
The vocabulary of IT is verydifferent from management and
they don't grow up in theircareer learning IT.
So when they get to managementthey become accountable for IT
(22:30):
but it's really not fair thatthey should be accountable since
they've never had any type ofcourse or any type of learning
understanding of how IT works.
Yet they're the ones that areaccountable.
So the guys that let in the databreaches from happening are
still working there.
And meanwhile the CEOs are firedfrom it and that's a Kaspersky
(22:51):
that by the way is a Kasperskysurvey they did 6,000 surveys
post breach and one out of threeCEOs were fired as a result of
the data breach.
SPEAKER_00 (23:00):
But the CIOs or the CTOs that were there were still
working I'm like how how is thishow is it how does this make
sense is part of that because ofthe keys of the castle it's
harder to get rid of the CIOthan it is a C CEO.
SPEAKER_01 (23:18):
But yeah they're really a dime a dozen and
there's and there's so much it'sso much ambiguity as to what is
a good CIO no offense to theseguys but you know anybody who
knows a little bit of C of ITlanguage is the IT guru expert
really I mean that is the honesttruth.
If I say something about IT thatand you're like wow you know so
(23:39):
much you're an expert so let'sand I and I hire you and I've
again IT auditing I have I Ihave audited a lot of IT
departments or infrastructureI've had a vice president
charged of crime and I've hadmultiple directors fired and
it's system administrators youknow just kind of there's a lot
(24:01):
of bad apples out there.
And unfortunately because ofthat what you're saying the keys
to the castle iron curtain fogof more like there's all sorts
of different sayings around itit's it all it all turns around
the fact that IT doesn't want tobe seen and they're they're
trying to hold that type ofpower over the CEOs or the
(24:22):
management let's not say CEOspecifically but I over
management.
And that's not that's not rightlike because they have a a huge
responsibility to theorganization.
It's without IT if IT is not runefficiently then the
organization does not run andtherefore cannot feed the
families and the livelihood ofthe organization.
(24:44):
And if IT is not doing well thenwe have slowness we have
production we have backorders wehave high turnover there's a lot
of results for when that aresymptoms to why IT isn't work or
the fact that IT isn't workingvery well.
It's just that people don'tcorrelate it they think oh it's
something else it's culture it'sthis it's that but it's not
(25:05):
there's actually a lot of to mypoint of case studies that I've
had and been participant of thatwhen we get IT working well and
stable is it then we can providethe security and then we
actually create operationalexcellence.
People can understand how do youcreate operational excellence
through IT?
Because again IT is thelivelihood of everybody's
(25:27):
function on a daily basis.
And if we get that working thenwe can create high productivity
and amazing yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (25:36):
Even beyond that right today we're I looked at IT
as always like hey you know getyour images right get the
security machines just geteverything kind of normalized
standardized.
It's so integrated to even kindof like marketing and sales from
a data collection and how youleverage the technologies let's
say to capture conversationsbecause this is some of the work
we'll we'll do like we'll helpcompanies integrate AI and
marketing and sales together sothey can continuously be
(25:58):
learning, leverage it to buildSOPs, you know, all this kind of
stuff.
And if you don't have atechnology partner so to speak
someone who really understandswhat you're trying to do as an
organization and they're moretraditional I think I keep
everything I you know I own allthe processes I don't share I
have no transparency which is avery like paranoid IT kind of
director if you will and it it'smaybe the it's a very common
(26:22):
personality I've seen incorporate small companies is
that but if they don't have thatbusiness sense of hey I need to
be able to keep things securebut make the business operate
and be transparent abouteverything I do and and where
the faults are I think that'sthe director of the future.
That's the IT leader of thefuture has the ability to have
that um you know capacity to tobe vulnerable to say hey listen
(26:44):
we need to fix this I don't knowwhat to do with it which is not
usually the answer people give.
SPEAKER_01 (26:50):
Are you seeing any trends of like the modern day
technology executive that's morelike here are our problems, here
it is, we're we're gonna be openabout what's going on internally
you can't put that outward butlike are you seeing a training
that change in that or is itstill the guarded paranoid IT
person um well they putdifferent titles into the
organization they've got theCISOs out there which you know
(27:14):
I'm not too fond of that thatrole because you know I've met a
lot of CISOs and and they don'tseem to know a lot in terms of
technical there's still a gap.
So while businesses try to fillfill the gap of communication by
putting these types of titles inthere is still that gap because
IT is still holding very closeto their chest what's going on
(27:39):
they're still very defensive umas much as people are trying to
pull information out of themit's still very closed because
it's so I think this is thenature of it's not it's not a
from the top down I think it'sfrom the bottom up that it's
very segregated and granular.
So and because of that they'reable to hide a lot of this and
(28:01):
keep it ambiguous for people tonever be able to see what's
really going on under the hood.
Yeah and that's where you guyscome in and say hey listen
here's what actually yourvulnerabilities are you know
what here's the thing aboutabout auditing everybody hates
the word auditing because theythink of IRS or you know any
type of financial and they alsothink about I Deloitte's version
of IT auditing which is verylinear and comprehensive and it
(28:24):
takes a lot of time and verydistracting to the organization.
That's a compliance audit andthey that's also a media thing
that compliance does not equalsecurity.
So the understanding of like anIT audit is based on compliance
while compliance is nothing todo with your security because if
you look at SOC 2, SOC 2 standsfor systems organizational
control, guess what?
(28:44):
It was developed by a bunch ofCPAs it was a the AI CPA
developed this compliance ITaudit framework but accountants
don't know anything aboutsecurity of IT, right?
So I would that was one of theproblems that I couldn't
understand.
Why do all these companies thathave SOC 2 certification still
getting breached?
(29:05):
Well it's because they'refollowing uh the trusted advisor
of the CA or CPA to do thisinstitute this certification
that is actually not really haveanything to do with the
security.
So when I come in and I say Iwant to do a security audit,
they're like, oh no, we'vealready done that because we
have SOC two but SOC 2 isn'tyour security it's a compliance
(29:25):
guideline.
SPEAKER_00 (29:26):
It's nothing to do with the actual infrastructure
so that's that's that's what wehave to get out there is to know
that hold your checklist rightso you can uh have insurance and
claim we've done all we cananother actually addresses
problems beyond that.
SPEAKER_01 (29:42):
Yeah I say about like locking the door I used
that earlier like you can have aclosed door and say is it
locked?
I don't know it it looks to belocked but you don't know until
you actually turn the handleright it looks locked it it
feels locked but it's not lockeduntil you actually check it.
And that's what we do we'rewe're very practical in that
way.
SPEAKER_00 (30:00):
I mean you're in your you roll today what are you
what are you resisting?
SPEAKER_01 (30:06):
What am I resisting?
What's the metaphoric tie that'sholding you back today that
you're just really struggling toget through um I don't know what
am I resisting uh I don't thinkI am I what do you think um I am
(30:26):
no I I'm I I'm not resistinganything actually I don't know I
hope I'm glad we're gonna getthis edited we have to keep this
part in yeah I I don't I don'tknow I'm not I can't I don't
(30:46):
think I am resistant.
Actually I think I'm more I'mliving on abundance now more
than anything because now that Ihave the validity and the of two
two countries not two companiesbut two countries who who want
to discuss institutingimplementing our our software
and and be able to support themwith their protection acts I I
(31:12):
don't I can't get any morevalidation than that.
It's like which country's nextwho are we caught who we're
going to talk to next um I alsohave a huge law firm here in the
States where they are also Ihaven't had the meeting yet but
they the fact that they agree toit and they want to speak to me
about it uh about Georgia's actspecifically and how they can
(31:33):
help support that and get thatlobbied through again just shows
you know the the work that I'mdoing is is on the right track.
And so I I don't think I'mresisting anything.
I'm very open to anybody whowants to join my bandwagon and
and get this get this out thereto change the world.
SPEAKER_00 (31:51):
I love it.
It's it's uh it's a good placeto be and uh if you know if and
and I appreciate your time todayuh you know before I asked you
the last question uh who shouldget a hold of you and how should
they do that?
SPEAKER_01 (32:02):
Sure.
So a LinkedIn is also a goodone.
Um phone number, email, all ofthe above are good to know, good
to have oh what's a website youthink you can go to oh so eddy
uh eddy.com so ed it's like thated dash i dot com um my phone
(32:24):
number 404706 4854 and uh emailis elizabeth at eddy.com uh
linkedin you'll find meelizabeth woo um yeah all of the
all of the above I love to chatand demo and you know looking
looking for scaling and um yeahjust looking for people to align
(32:49):
in in the mission and wanting tochange the world if there was a
question I should have askedtoday and I didn't what would
that question have been?
Um you asked a lot of reallygreat questions Tom I I don't
think that I can I can put thatin there it's like um what
(33:10):
what's the question the uhwhat's the uh well I don't think
we would have had time tobecause clearly I'm passionate
and um committed to my role andwanting to do this but I think
(33:32):
the granularity of like itbecause it's quite complex about
how how how does our ourplatform and our thermostat work
and what are the benefits to itwhat are what sort of features
would be involved of type ofdata that they would be able to
reflect to towards and and howwould that work?
(33:54):
I think going through that wouldhave been awesome but I I also
recognize we don't have the timefor it and this isn't about
sales here but it's uh the factthat I I do a Venn diagram my my
world lives in Venn diagrams andit's not over just two circles I
like to have three four as fiveand I think from an Eddie
perspective I've created a fiveVenn five circle Venn diagram.
(34:18):
So I'm really proud of that.
Um and to be able to see it cometo fruition is also really
awesome.
SPEAKER_00 (34:25):
The validation's amazing and uh I appreciate your
time.
You coming on the show at thevalidation that uh we're getting
more and more interesting peoplethat are that are there are huge
deals uh and you're you'reyou're famous in Africa now so
it's good.
You know it's they're name athong after you but I think
there's a baker.
SPEAKER_01 (34:42):
Uh yeah I think it's a little coming sheet I also
have a little uh child uh bookcoming out um in a couple of
weeks and but it's for CEOs it'suh but it's in a child book
format and it's uh it's it'sactually to address the fact
that CEOs are scared about andintimidated by their IT.
(35:04):
So it's Eddie being our owl andthe um mountain of of
cybersecurity summit and how theCEO is able to climb the
mountain without fear andgetting to the top.
So yeah that's that's what'scoming out.
SPEAKER_00 (35:20):
That's that's a f we'll do a follow up uh
interview on on that one.
Sure.
Thank you, Elizabeth listen uhthank you so much for coming on
today and anybody who made it soto this point in the show, you
rock I hope this was uh this wasthe first time that you've
listened to the show I hope it'sthe first of many uh and you
know get out there go cut a tieto something holding you back
and go own your success.
Thanks for listening.
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