Fama: How the social media screening company is working to protect everyone's data
by Trava, Cyber Risk Management
Learn how Fama is making major efforts to keep everyone's data secure.
About Fama
Fama Technologies Inc. is a pre-employment background screening company founded in 2015. Using someone’s social media presence, Fama surfaces things that you would not normally get from a traditional background screening. The SaaS company presents AI-driven candidate insights during the hiring process to better protect the business and reduce workplace toxicity.
Opportunity
When it came to cybersecurity, Fama didn’t have a true strategy or system established. However, there were solutions in place for issues that popped up here and there. The company lacked a good picture of where they were, where their risks were, or what needed to be done in order to improve their security posture.
When Brendten Eickstaedt joined Fama in 2021 as CTO, it was apparent to Brendten that security needed more focus. Brendten understood that any business is vulnerable, but felt like Fama was a bigger target due to their line of work, so security became the big initiative for 2022.
“From my vantage point as a CTO, it's a really big responsibility on my plate to make sure that we're not getting broken into, and I didn't feel like I was doing my job, and therefore, it was really just a matter of saying," Hey," saying to the rest of the executive team," We need to spend money on this." -Brendten Eickstaedt, CTO, Fama Technologies Inc.
“I really liked the way Jim [Goldman] approached security. He was a very open and helpful guy, and that was what then led me to say," Well, let's just do the vCISO solution as well." It just all came together, starting with just a good self- service solution with some good support from Jim on the vulnerability scans, and then taking that relationship forward…”
Brendten EickstaedtCTO,
Fama Technologies, Inc.
Why Trava
Several cybersecurity and risk management options were investigated and evaluated which is when Trava was discovered.
Trava is complete package
“I came across Trava, and I liked the fact that it was all one package, because some of the other security companies that I talked to were primarily vCISO organizations only. It was hard for me to wrap my head around exactly all the things that they offered and how it all fit together and how they would help us further our journey towards a more secure environment.”
Brendten EickstaedtCTO,
Fama Technologies, Inc.
Trava understands that everyone has a different comprehension of cybersecurity and cyber risk management, so the approach is customized for each circumstance. Trava offers a product and services for SaaS companies so company leaders can gain the confidence needed from customers to give the company a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
“Trava came to the table with this solution that fit my mindset. I'm looking for a SaaS solution or a set of SaaS solutions to solve this problem. Being able to sign up for it, run the vulnerability scan or the pre-scan, right away, I got the sense of, this is uncovering things that intuitively I knew were there, but didn't have proof that they were there, and I was like, this is exactly what we need.”-Brendten Eickstaedt, CTO, Fama Technologies Inc.
Trava brings guidance
Fama does take advantage of Trava’s vCISO offering, but Fama appreciated the overall guidance and support that the Trava team brought to them.
“I'm not a security professional. I'm CTO. I'm not the CSO. I only fill that role because there's nobody else to do it. Having someone like Jim [Goldman] and someone like Marie [Joseph] being able to help me and confirm when I'm doing things the right way. Them guiding the process for me is super valuable...It's always nice to have people there with you that know what they're doing and can contribute, and that's definitely what I get from Trava, so that's a huge value for me.”
Brendten EickstaedtCTO,
Fama Technologies, Inc.
Outcome
Fama now uses vulnerability scans and the risk assessments as part of their road mapping process. The scans and assessments are giving them the data they need to backup decisions that they felt deep down needed to be addressed.
“Intuitively you knew there were challenges and you even knew where a lot of them were, but you didn't have any data behind it and you didn't have a real rigorous process for uncovering it, analyzing it, scoring it, and then figuring out priorities of what to work on, and that's really what Trava's brought to the table for us. It's definitely central to what we're working on right now from a security perspective.”
Brendten EickstaedtCTO,
Fama Technologies, Inc.
Fama is also able to offer a sense of relief to their customers. Having key cybersecurity strategies in place, gives customers a lot of confidence in their data being protected. Now, Fama can demonstrate that they not only care about their company, but customers' cyber safety as well.
Words of Advice from Fama
Fama has some advice for other SaaS companies looking for a complete cybersecurity solution. When it comes to searching for a solution, be prepared for a lengthy and somewhat complicated process.
“…being more prepared for the activities you're going to have to go through and the lengths that you're going to have to go to in order to get done what you need to get done. That would be something that I wish I would've been more prepared for.” -Brendten Eickstaedt, CTO, Fama Technologies Inc.
Cyber risk management is important for all organizations—something Brendten really wants to drive home.
“It's the most important thing you can be working on on a regular basis because everything can fall apart so quickly…For a small company, one bad headline could literally destroy the company.”
Questions?
We can help! Talk to the Trava Team and see how we can assist you with your cybersecurity needs.
