A virus named after Mountain Dew became the unlikely catalyst for a cybersecurity career that would eventually spawn a successful managed service provider during one of the worst economic downturns in modern history.
The founder of Triada takes us through their fascinating journey from corporate IT professional to entrepreneur, describing how a 2003 "Code Red" virus attack sparked deep curiosity about cybersecurity. When malicious code rapidly spread through their investment firm's network, questions emerged that would shape their future: Why did someone create this? How did they do it? How could we stop it? This intrigue ultimately led them down a path toward deeper cybersecurity expertise.
By 2008, after building infrastructure from scratch at a small investment firm and developing crucial Silicon Valley connections, an opportunity emerged amid financial chaos. As professionals fled large firms to launch their own funds, they needed expert help with infrastructure, compliance, and security. With four young children at home and as the family's sole breadwinner, the founder made the bold decision—fully supported by their spouse—to launch Triada instead of returning to corporate safety. Their vision extended beyond themselves to creating a business that could support future generations.
The challenges of competing in New York City's dense marketplace, where potential clients and competitors exist in equal measure, required strategic differentiation. By offering unique experiences that professionals couldn't find at financial giants, Triada carved its niche. From its humble beginnings as a "fractional IT manager" splitting time between clients to becoming an established managed service provider, Triada's story demonstrates how entrepreneurial courage, family support, and long-term vision can transform crisis into enduring opportunity. Ready to secure and elevate your business? Reach out today and let's build something that lasts.
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Hi, I’m Marc Thomas, Founder and CEO of Current TEK Solutions and CYBER GUARDIANS. If you or someone you know could benefit from our cutting-edge IT and cybersecurity services, we’d love to help. Reach out to us today to learn how we can secure and elevate your business. https://www.currentTEKsolutions.com
Episode Transcript
So, right prior to 2008, I left that large company
to help a small investmentcompany startup.
I was a manager from that firm.
He had started a company afterhis non-compete was up and he
asked me to come join him.
So I got to build now acompany's infrastructure from
the ground up, instead ofdealing with legacy stuff like I
started from zero, which Ithought was really fascinating
(00:23):
and cool that I could.
I could basically create thisin my own image, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
So walk me.
You had this in the green roomwe were talking.
You talked about, uh, you hadthis aha moment in 2003.
Um, take me from that to 2008.
So what was this aha moment andwhere did Triada come from?
Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah, so even I'll take a little bit step back
before then.
So when we were in, I was atthe investment firm before I
started, triada, the company Iworked for, my first IT job,
starting in 95.
We were acquired twice so webecame now part of a larger
(01:09):
organization.
It was about 5,000 employees atthat point, whereas the
original company was 200employees just in New York, so
5,000 employees worldwide ITheadquarters out of Texas.
At that point I was runninginfrastructure for the group
Almost I think I may have beenthe help desk manager.
(01:31):
So we started.
We were starting to connectinto the internet and so I
started building out thesebeginnings of a security
practice and program within theoffice First firewall, first
connection to email, to pulldown email, all these things we
(01:52):
were kind of building along theway.
So I was really intricatelyinvolved in that and I did a lot
of that work.
And then when we got acquiredby this other larger firm, I was
involved in the new informationsecurity teams before it was
called cybersecurity.
So that was kind of like wewere still learning what is
(02:13):
cybersecurity?
What does information securitymean for an investment firm?
It was very compliance focused,but we were also looking at you
know what do we do to protectourselves from, from a potential
malicious attack.
We started like before uh, nowwe have something called the
common vulnerability databasethat we can look up cvs these
(02:33):
are numbers wherestandardization, um, one of my
colleagues in the companyactually built a version of that
for ourselves because thatthing didn't exist yet.
So we were collectingvulnerability information and
keeping track of it.
So we were like we were in themiddle of building a, a program.
So, fast forward, 2003, we get acall early morning, um, that,
(02:57):
uh, people, there's a, a persongot a pop-up on their, on their
computer.
Uh, so one of my uh help desktechnicians runs over to the
desk to go see what's going on.
Get another call, anotherpop-up, another pop-up, another
pop-up.
So, uh, what was happening was,um, there was a, there was a
(03:18):
worm which is basically a virusthat can jump from machine to
machine, um, moving away throughthe network, and the virus
would attack web servers.
Now, why, if it was attackingweb servers, why was it popping
up on these computers?
Well, there was a point of timethat Microsoft was, by default,
(03:42):
enabling web servers ondesktops.
Why, lord knows, but that waswhat it was.
Desktops.
Why, lord knows, but that waswhat it was, and because we
didn't really know any better.
It's not like we were goingthrough a hardening process,
removing services that we didn'tneed and that kind of thing.
All these computers weresusceptible and so this worm was
just wrapping through.
The good news was that itwasn't really doing any damage,
(04:03):
but it was massively.
It was very quickly movingthrough the entire network.
So by kind of by within acouple of hours, we we had we
basically had to disconnectthese computers from the network
as they got infected so that wecan clean them up, so we can
contain what was happening.
This was a code red virus.
(04:24):
If you look up the code redvirus, this is what was going on
.
The reason was code red.
It was the mountain dew had anew flavor called red at the
time and I guess the viruswriter really liked that flavor,
and so he had that embedded inthe uh in the codes.
Oh, my goodness, so the uh, thecode, right that this, this
fascinated me.
(04:44):
It's like a why did somebodywrite this thing?
And B how did he figure thisout?
Like, why did he go throughthis and how could we stop it?
Like these are the things thatwere kind of running through my
head and that was the aha moment.
It's like this is reallyinteresting, this is really cool
.
I like this kind of now we callit threat hunting, but it's
that aspect of kind ofunderstanding why these things
(05:04):
happen and how we can prevent it, and that kind of got me deeper
into the cybersecurity track.
So fast forward to 2008.
So right prior to 2008, I leftthat large company to help a
small investment company startup.
I was a manager from that firm.
He had started a company afterhis non-compete was up and he
(05:24):
asked me to come join him.
So I got to build now acompany's infrastructure from
the ground up, instead ofdealing with legacy stuff like I
started from zero, which Ithought was really fascinating
and cool that I could basicallycreate this in my own image, so
to speak.
And so modern tools, modernsolutions, and because I had at
(05:46):
that point with the larger firm,I had made a lot of connections
in Silicon Valley with theseemerging cybersecurity companies
because they were looking forinvestments.
The investment groups would askus for our feedback, our market
viability.
So I got involved with a lot ofthese companies.
So there was one of those earlyones was one, that's a couple
(06:11):
that are pretty well-known.
Now They've gotten giant firms,but at that time they were
scrappy.
They just wanted to getbusinesses, they just wanted to
get logos, and so I was able toget all this gear and software
for cheap or nothing, becausethey just wanted to get it
(06:34):
installed and and be able to useit.
So we uh, uh, so fire eye waslike one of those companies, and
that was early on that we wereable to get like one of their
early appliances, before theyactually were just doing
software.
These really early appliancesand so, um, allowed me to play
around with a lot of thesethings.
So the negative of this is thatI now that triggered my shiny
(06:58):
object right Now.
That continued going forward,but then I had to pay for it,
and at this point I didn't haveto pay for it and I only had to
do it for one small company,whereas now, doing it at a scale
, it becomes a little bitdifferent.
Anyway, so when I left in 2008,I saw an opportunity with a
(07:22):
couple other with the crashingof the financial system and a
lot of folks were leaving thelarge investment companies and
starting their own funds.
They still needed help settingup.
They still needed help withinfrastructure.
They still needed help withinfrastructure, they still need
help with compliance and, as aresult of that, they needed help
with cybersecurity.
So we started basically at thatpoint.
(07:46):
That's when we spun out andstarted Triada, my wife and I,
to kind of service these smallfunds that were starting out.
I see, and that was theimpotence and that was kind of
the genesis of what we weredoing.
But we didn't know what amanaged service provider was or
what we were supposed to bedoing.
We basically figured out, youknow, we were their outsourced
(08:08):
IT department and we were justbuilding these little IT
organizations within the firm,all run by me, like I was
splitting my time you can callme like a fractional IT manager
and I would fractionally workaround.
And so we started.
That's how we built that.
But I learned about the kind ofthe our world and the tools
(08:29):
that were available to us.
You know, fairly quicklythrough groups, you know
industry groups like asking whathave you?
And that's that's kind of howwe uh, we, we, we built and
started our company.
So Triada was a um.
So uh, uh.
Triada means Trinity in Greek,um, and the reason why I picked
(08:54):
uh Greek word was that theArmenian word for triada is
yerortuchun, which would bereally hard for most people to
pronounce.
Triada was a lot more easierfor folks to grasp and solve,
and so it was available.
(09:14):
We launched on it and that'skind of what we latched onto,
and so that's been us since then.
That's how it what we latchedonto, and so that's been us
since then.
That's how it's where it camefrom.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Wonderful.
And your wife obviously yousaid your wife and I started
Triada, so your wife wasobviously standing with you and
behind you on going out on yourown or creating your own company
.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
There was no way that I was going to be able to make
this decision and move offwithout the complete support of
my wife.
I mean, if you look at where wewere in our life so 2008, we
were, you know, we had, we hadfour kids at that point my
youngest was four years old.
(09:59):
So four, eight, 10, and 12.
So four little kids, yeah, yeah, you know, about to enter
probably the most expensive partof their lives.
And I was like you know, and Iwas the sole breadwinner at that
point.
I mean, my wife obviously hadher hands full with the, the
(10:20):
four of them.
So we didn't have a, uh, it wasso because of that, you know,
it had to be very, we had to bevery, um, you know, uh, specific
about what we were doing.
But we knew that I could have,at that point, gone back to a
larger corporation and, I'm sure, found employment, because
(10:44):
there was no way a small companythat only had 10, 15 employees
would be able to afford somebodylike us long term.
So I could have done that, or wecould have said, all right,
right, this is the time that wecan actually build something,
because we have this opportunity, we have this company, we have
(11:04):
this company that is asking forhelp and there's another one
around the corner, so these arethese three.
Could we supplement, can wecreate our, basically our income
with these three companies?
And we figured that we couldand said, all right, so this, so
this is now the start.
This is the start of something,and she was very keen on a
(11:26):
business that we could have,that could provide a future for
not only us but potentially, thenext generation, our family.
So this was a consciousdecision by both of us to move
forward, and without her, therewas no way that this was going
to.
Decision by both of us to tomove forward, and without her,
there was no way that this wasgoing to happen.
Because she needed to.
She had to be, uh, an integralpart of, uh, of what we did, um,
(11:47):
so that's, you know.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
No, it's wonderful that you had that kind of uh,
that relationship and that kindof support, um, supporting each
other and and doing that,because I'm sure I'm just trying
to remember myself, like whatwas that conversation?
Like going, hey, um, I thinkI'm going to do this thing, you
know, like you're crazy or no,that's like a great idea.
Let's do this Right, and eventhough it's scary as hell, um,
(12:09):
you know, and my parents thoughtwe were crazy.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
I mean my, my, my mom and dad, who are my, you know,
if you want to call it businessmentors.
At that point they're like,yeah, why do you want to do this
?
Like this is, this is, this is.
Have you seen what we've gonethrough running companies?
Like this is not.
Are you sure you want to dothis?
And uh, but you know we were.
(12:32):
We were pretty, I guess at thatpoint we were pretty convinced
that we were not making, we werenot making ourselves any better
off by working for somebodyelse.
I guess at that point and Ithink for some, and I think we
we probably just needed to waita little bit longer.
It would have been fine, but itwas a, it was a, you know it
(12:53):
was.
It was definitely a morelong-term kind of long-term
decision.
And maybe this is kind of anold world thinking a little bit.
We're thinking about the peopleright behind us, not just
ourselves.
In that sense it's a little bitbigger than yourself.
If we were thinking about justourselves, sure I could have
(13:15):
stayed in corporate.
I saw my friends that stayed inthat company and then went to
other companies that are doingreally well for themselves.
Not that I'm jealous a littlebit maybe Um, but they're,
they're uh, you know those.
That was the decision that theymade, you know.
And then so we uh, this wasdefinitely something that we uh
(13:35):
and this is not an easy city toto to start and run a company
with, I could imagine, and Iused to think there was
something weird about it.
I mean, I think every area hasits challenges and I think,
whether you're in an area thatis maybe less populated, you
(13:58):
have that issue where peoplelook at New York and say you can
throw a rock and you hit acompany that could be a
potential customer, and that'strue.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
A competitor beside it.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Exactly.
You're also hitting acompetitor while you're throwing
that rock, so there's, you canalso.
You're also hitting acompetitor along while you're
throwing that rock, so there's,that's, that's, you know they're
all, all of those things.
And and then you know, when itcomes to talent, you know
something that we haven't reallytalked about.
It's it's not easy to findcompetitive talent.
When you have these largecompanies with very deep pockets
(14:41):
hiring them too, you'reoffering a very unique
experience that they wouldn'tget if they went to go work for
Chase or Goldman Sachs orsomething like that, and that's
kind of what we're trying to gofor here.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Hi, I'm Mark Thomas, founder and CEO of Current Tech
Solutions and CyberGuardians.
We know business owners likeyou want to focus on growing
your company, not worrying aboutIT problems or security threats
.
That's where we come in.
Our team uses AI to protectyour business from cyber risks
and keep everything runningsmoothly.
If you're ready for peace ofmind and a stronger future,
(15:24):
reach out to us today.
Let's secure and elevate yourbusiness together.
Oh oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
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