This case centers around a commercial dispute over the performance of the defendant data security firm. The defendant data security company folded, came under new management, and then began to see an increase in profits. The defense is claiming that this was a temporary blip in their work history and should not be taken as anything more. The plaintiffs are alleging that prior to the dates in question, high profile data security breaches were not occurring as regularly. Furthermore, the defendant company was only able to turn around its profits due to high profile breaches (Target, Amazon, etc) becoming more commonplace and companies were investing more as a result. We require an overall data security industry expert who can speak to industry trends and changes from May 2013 – April 2014 and beyond.
Question(s) For Expert Witness
1. Can you speak to a spike in the data security market around the time of this case?
Expert Witness Response E-134558
1) From August 2013 through March 2016 I was Associate Partner at a small venture capital seed fund in Northern Virginia (DC) focused on very early stage cybersecurity startups. Tracking technology and market trends in the industry was an important aspect of investing in the industry. Our organization was called MACH37/CIT, we were a 4-man operation, and we invested in 29 cybersecurity technology startups during my time there. 2) My initial thoughts (and I would of course want to support and verify these thoughts with some more detailed research) on the presence of a "spike" would depend on what aspect of the market you're talking about. - Dollars spent on cybersecurity products and services may or may not have significantly increased in terms of the rate of annual growth, and the changes in rates of annual growth are likely unevenly distributed across a variety of sub categories within the cybersecurity industry. For example, forensic services like those offered by Mandiant/FireEye, or encryption products likely enjoyed sharper increases thanks to those high profile breaches. - A separate question is whether and by how much the rate of data breaches and incidents increased during that time, or did detection of the incidents increase, or did awareness of the incidents increase through greater news coverage. I think the latter is certainly true at least among large enterprises after witnessing the removal of Target's CEO. Even though Target's share price eventually returned to and surpassed its pre-breach level, Fortune500 boards of directors seemed to take more seriously there obligation to appear compliant in terms of best practices to secure customer data. This deeper concern by larger companies most likely trickled down to smaller and medium sized business that were part of the supply chain of these F500 companies in the form of increased demands, assurances, and SLAs on the security of their data and the programs in place to ensure the integrity of their data. - One area of cybersecurity that definitely saw a spike in activity was venture capital dollars invested in new companies bringing new technology to market, as well as the valuations for these private companies, as well as the number and sizes of cybersecurity acquisitions (or "exits" for venture capital and private equity investors). 3) No, I have never served as an expert witness. 4) No, I have never been sued or arrested. 5) I can make time for a call pretty much anytime during normal business hours. I'm based in DC.
About the author
Joseph O'Neill
Joe has extensive experience in online journalism and technical writing across a range of legal topics, including personal injury, meidcal malpractice, mass torts, consumer litigation, commercial litigation, and more. Joe spent close to six years working at Expert Institute, finishing up his role here as Director of Marketing. He has considerable knowledge across an array of legal topics pertaining to expert witnesses. Currently, Joe servces as Owner and Demand Generation Consultant at LightSail Consulting.
