ObserveID is a Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) solution for hybrid and multicloud architectures enabling real-time identity intelligence, automation, and governance.
Founded in 2020, and launched in 2021, ObserveID is the brainchild of company founder Axay Desai. Along with his co-founder, Srikanth Palle, the industry veterans joined forces to create ObserveID. The company solves what they view as the fastest growing challenge in cybersecurity – identity access and entitlement risks in hybrid and multicloud environments.
With the increasing adoption of cloud-first strategies, organizations are ending up with complex hybrid or multicloud architectures. This has resulted in fragmented identities and challenges for security professionals to monitor them through a single pane of glass. As such, organizations have had to layer multiple different solutions using inefficient manual processes to address the missing pieces creating greater surface area, access, and entitlement risks.
The ObserveID platform features a robust, fully-featured, and customizable dashboard that gives enterprises complete visibility to monitor and control identity access entitlements and data across the cloud. Using its propriety Universal Connector, ObserveID securely links all the critical identity-related information and enforces rules and policies with real-time intelligence and proactive automation to prevent and remediate threats. ObserveID focuses on the Principle of Least Privilege (PoLP) for identities and entitlements, along with both Role-Based Access Control (RoBAC) and Rule-Based Access Control (RuBAC), allowing enterprises to reduce the growing risks associated with over-privileged access.
Perhaps most importantly, a key goal for the founders was to ensure that ObserveID was built with versatility of deployment and integration in mind. It can be fully utilized independently as a complete end-to-end solution. It can also be used as a complement to all major existing platforms, filling in the gaps that exist with traditional IAM/PAM/SIEM solutions. ObserveID integrates into multicloud environments with any cloud service providers, such as AWS, Azure, Google, and Oracle, and also with the organization’s on-premise or hybrid architectures.
ObserveID’s global headquarters is in the Greater Los Angeles Area, with a Canadian office in Toronto, Canada.
Founder & CEO
Axay has more than 25 years of industry experience both asa successful entrepreneur and industry veteran. His career began as a Senior Oracle Professional for nearly 15 years where he developed a strong reputation amongst industry peers and colleagues. Following that, Axay decided to focus on his passion for using his knowledge and experience to create and launch start-ups. As an entrepreneur, Axay founded multiple companies including his most recent, Guardian Technology Group (GTG). GTG, which is still growing and operating, was an immediate success because it solved many of the problems that Axay identified with Managed Services Providers. Proudly, his team has maintained a nearly 100% retention rate among its clients focusing on innovation and automation, and creating solutions that consistently deliver value.
Axay holds a Masters in Environmental Engineering from the University of Southern California (USC).
Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer
Srikanth is a Technologist whose passion is building innovative technology products. Srikanth is an ‘IDMantrik’ who has helped several high-profile customers with their complex Identity and Access management issues with cutting edge design solutions. With decades of IT experience in both leadership and management roles, Srikanth thrives when faced with new challenges especially in relation to Identities. Srikanth is an industry-recognized expert in Database Administration, Application Development, Integrations, Security, Auditing and Identity Management. He has extensive experience with SOX, HIPAA, NERC compliance implementations with various product suites, including SailPoint, Sun IDM, CA IAM, Oracle Identity management, RSA IMG (Aveksa) Role management, and Sun Role Manager (VAAU).
Srikanth holds a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science & Engineering from Mysore University, India.
Axay has more than 25 years of industry experience both asa successful entrepreneur and industry veteran. His career began as a Senior Oracle Professional for nearly 15 years where he developed a strong reputation amongst industry peers and colleagues. Following that, Axay decided to focus on his passion for using his knowledge and experience to create and launch start-ups. As an entrepreneur, Axay founded multiple companies including his most recent, Guardian Technology Group (GTG). GTG, which is still growing and operating, was an immediate success because it solved many of the problems that Axay identified with Managed Services Providers. Proudly, his team has maintained a nearly 100% retention rate among its clients focusing on innovation and automation, and creating solutions that consistently deliver value.
Axay holds a Masters in Environmental Engineering from the University of Southern California (USC).
Srikanth is a Technologist whose passion is building innovative technology products. Srikanth is an ‘IDMantrik’ who has helped several high-profile customers with their complex Identity and Access management issues with cutting edge design solutions. With decades of IT experience in both leadership and management roles, Srikanth thrives when faced with new challenges especially in relation to Identities. Srikanth is an industry-recognized expert in Database Administration, Application Development, Integrations, Security, Auditing and Identity Management. He has extensive experience with SOX, HIPAA, NERC compliance implementations with various product suites, including SailPoint, Sun IDM, CA IAM, Oracle Identity management, RSA IMG (Aveksa) Role management, and Sun Role Manager (VAAU).
Srikanth holds a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science & Engineering from Mysore University, India.
Advisory Board Member
Vice-President & CISO
Baxter Credit Union (BCU)
Mrs. Southard has over 25 years’ experience in Information Technology and Security. She is a strategic executive with success in physical and logical governance, risk management, acquisitions and incident response. She has presented significant reductions in costs, while building strong teams in tandem. Stephenie has championed several initiatives around cybersecurity, physical controls, compliance, business resiliency, system consolidation and secure datacenter site expansions/relocations.
Mrs. Southard has worked in the Government, Educational, Not-for-Profit and Financial sectors. Stephenie headed the initiative of building, managing and motivating several teams in IT, security, audit, enterprise risk management and remediation/compliance with regulators and auditing bodies. She also administered the operations of multiple 24/7 security control centers and staff. Mrs. Southard has extensive knowledge in SOC, GSMA,-SAS, PCI, ISO, NCUA and Homeland Security certifications and assessments.
Advisory Board Member
Senior Sales Manager
Tines
Aarti Gadhia is a champion for empowering women in cybersecurity and has dedicated her entire career to breaking down barriers and boundaries to achieve equality for underrepresented groups in STEM and in leadership.
She founded Standout to Lead to empower women in cyber security to join corporate boards and SHE (Sharing Her Empowerment) with the mission to be a collective voice within the organization to influence a change and close the gender diversity gap. The outcome has been a 50% increase in the number of women being hired.
Aarti was born in Kenya and moved to the UK asa young woman away from her family to pursue a degree in Financial Economics. She immigrated to Vancouver Canada and entered the cybersecurity industry working with prestigious companies including Sophos, Trend Micro, Carbon Black(VMware) and currently at Bugcrowd. Aarti was recently appointed as the Board Director for ObserveID, an identity intelligence and automation platform.
She has over 20 years experience across Sales, Customer Success and Channel. She currently serves as a Board Director on the OWASP Vancouver Chapter, ISACA Vancouver She Leads Tech and as a Board Advisor for WiCYS Western Canada Affiliate. Aarti was recently quoted in Canadian Security Magazine as she shared her views on the importance of soft skills to break down barriers in traditional hiring.
Aarti received the Top 20 Women in Cyber Security Award in Canada. She recently participated as a judge for the African Women in Security Network. This year she was featured in "The Rise of the Cyber Women: Volume Two" as she shared her Safari of experiences to be a change agent and pave the path for future generations.
Advisory Board Member
CEO and Principal
IAM Experts, LLC
Tom Malta’s extensive career in Financial Services Technology and Cyber Security started 25+ years ago as a hands-on developer building and supporting front office trading systems for many of the top Wall St. Brokerages and InvestmentBanks. Shortly after moving to Goldman Sachs in 2000, he landed in CyberSecurity and has been there ever since focused on building and executing GlobalCyber Security Solutions. Over the past 20+ years he’s led many successfulCyber Security IAM Programs utilizing custom build as well as off the shelf technology supporting internal, external, customer, and 3rd party/cloud identities alike.
Tom is currently CEO and Principal at IAM Experts, LLC which is a boutique cybersecurity startup focused on helping international clients with IAM design, strategic advisory, and execution. One of Tom’s current client’s is Okta, where he is currently helping to build out their GTM strategy specific to the FS vertical. Before IAM Experts, Tom was the Global Head of IAM at Navy FederalCredit Union where he was responsible for design, development, and execution of build/buy solutions supporting both internal personnel (WIAM) and NFCU customers alike (CIAM).
As a recognized Subject Matter Expert in IAM and a recent winner of the 2021 IAM Evangelist of the Year award, Tom spends a lot of his time giving back to the industry through board representations, speaking engagements, and contributing to research papers. His passion for the space is unparalleled and he enjoys staying current with emerging technologies such as biometrics, AI, ML, dynamic authorization, continuous authentication, and blockchain.
Mrs. Southard has over 25 years’ experience in Information Technology and Security. She is a strategic executive with success in physical and logical governance, risk management, acquisitions and incident response. She has presented significant reductions in costs, while building strong teams in tandem. Stephenie has championed several initiatives around cybersecurity, physical controls, compliance, business resiliency, system consolidation and secure datacenter site expansions/relocations.
Mrs. Southard has worked in the Government, Educational, Not-for-Profit and Financial sectors. Stephenie headed the initiative of building, managing and motivating several teams in IT, security, audit, enterprise risk management and remediation/compliance with regulators and auditing bodies. She also administered the operations of multiple 24/7 security control centers and staff. Mrs. Southard has extensive knowledge in SOC, GSMA,-SAS, PCI, ISO, NCUA and Homeland Security certifications and assessments.
Aarti Gadhia is a champion for empowering women in cybersecurity and has dedicated her entire career to breaking down barriers and boundaries to achieve equality for underrepresented groups in STEM and in leadership.
She founded Standout to Lead to empower women in cyber security to join corporate boards and SHE (Sharing Her Empowerment) with the mission to be a collective voice within the organization to influence a change and close the gender diversity gap. The outcome has been a 50% increase in the number of women being hired.
Aarti was born in Kenya and moved to the UK asa young woman away from her family to pursue a degree in Financial Economics. She immigrated to Vancouver Canada and entered the cybersecurity industry working with prestigious companies including Sophos, Trend Micro, Carbon Black(VMware) and currently at Bugcrowd. Aarti was recently appointed as the Board Director for ObserveID, an identity intelligence and automation platform.
She has over 20 years experience across Sales, Customer Success and Channel. She currently serves as a Board Director on the OWASP Vancouver Chapter, ISACA Vancouver She Leads Tech and as a Board Advisor for WiCYS Western Canada Affiliate. Aarti was recently quoted in Canadian Security Magazine as she shared her views on the importance of soft skills to break down barriers in traditional hiring.
Aarti received the Top 20 Women in Cyber Security Award in Canada. She recently participated as a judge for the African Women in Security Network. This year she was featured in "The Rise of the Cyber Women: Volume Two" as she shared her Safari of experiences to be a change agent and pave the path for future generations.
Tom Malta’s extensive career in Financial Services Technology and Cyber Security started 25+ years ago as a hands-on developer building and supporting front office trading systems for many of the top Wall St. Brokerages and InvestmentBanks. Shortly after moving to Goldman Sachs in 2000, he landed in CyberSecurity and has been there ever since focused on building and executing GlobalCyber Security Solutions. Over the past 20+ years he’s led many successfulCyber Security IAM Programs utilizing custom build as well as off the shelf technology supporting internal, external, customer, and 3rd party/cloud identities alike.
Tom is currently CEO and Principal at IAM Experts, LLC which is a boutique cybersecurity startup focused on helping international clients with IAM design, strategic advisory, and execution. One of Tom’s current client’s is Okta, where he is currently helping to build out their GTM strategy specific to the FS vertical. Before IAM Experts, Tom was the Global Head of IAM at Navy FederalCredit Union where he was responsible for design, development, and execution of build/buy solutions supporting both internal personnel (WIAM) and NFCU customers alike (CIAM).
As a recognized Subject Matter Expert in IAM and a recent winner of the 2021 IAM Evangelist of the Year award, Tom spends a lot of his time giving back to the industry through board representations, speaking engagements, and contributing to research papers. His passion for the space is unparalleled and he enjoys staying current with emerging technologies such as biometrics, AI, ML, dynamic authorization, continuous authentication, and blockchain.
Advisory Board Member
Field CISO
Oracle
Raj Badhwar has 25+ years of experience in the IT and Cybersecurity industry. He has had several cybersecurity leadership roles in the industry - CISO at Voya Financial, Global Head of Security at AIG, and other IT/Security leadership roles at BAE Systems, Bank of America and AOL Time Warner.
Raj is a Director and Secretary of the National Technology Security Coalition (NTSC) and a member of Pace University cybersecurity advisory board. He also serves on the customer advisory board of Venafi, The CXO Trust Council of Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), and the CISO advisory council for Infosys.
Raj is a certified information systems security professional (CISSP), a certified ethical Hacker (CEH), and a Finra licensed securities professional (Series 99). He has authored two cybersecurity books, The CISO’s Next Frontier and The CISO’s Transformation, has co-authored 14 security patents, and written many security articles for magazines.
Raj graduated from George Washington University (GWU) with a M.S. in Information Systems Technology, and from Karnatak University with a B.S. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
Advisory Board Member
Chief Cybersecurity Officer
Siemens USA
Named as one of the “Most Influential People in Security in 2020” by Security Magazine, Kurt is a highly respected and recognized expert in cybersecurity. He has shared his expertise with many external bodies and consortiums including the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the U.S. Government Accountability Office, and the UN Under-Secretary-General’s office on the industry’s perspective in addressing global cybersecurity policy challenges. He is a member of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce's Innovation & Technology executive committee, and was recently appointed to Governor Northam’s Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority.
Throughout his career, he is most proud of driving and implementing a collaborative culture that prioritizes proximity to his customers and responsiveness to needs. Part of Kurt's success in the industry stems from his keen interest in creating strong cross-functional teamwork across business units. He emphasizes always having an eye to the future in strategizing on how to navigate technological and ethical challenges. Kurt is a proponent of engaging sections of the workforce that are uniquely positioned to help address the cybersecurity skills gap. As a result, he has been a mentor to several groups, including students at Waukegan High School in Chicago, and Masters students at Columbia University, among others.
As Chief Cybersecurity Officer at Siemens USA, Kurt is responsible for overseeing the development, implementation and governance of cybersecurity strategy in the company’s largest market, the US. In this role, he oversees the coordination of cybersecurity initiatives for the enterprise’s products, solutions, services, and infrastructure utilized to deliver value to Siemens USA’s customers. Kurt also serves as a member of the Siemens Cybersecurity Board, to address global challenges and evaluate actions to secure new cybersecurity opportunities.
Raj Badhwar has 25+ years of experience in the IT and Cybersecurity industry. He has had several cybersecurity leadership roles in the industry - CISO at Voya Financial, Global Head of Security at AIG, and other IT/Security leadership roles at BAE Systems, Bank of America and AOL Time Warner.
Raj is a Director and Secretary of the National Technology Security Coalition (NTSC) and a member of Pace University cybersecurity advisory board. He also serves on the customer advisory board of Venafi, The CXO Trust Council of Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), and the CISO advisory council for Infosys.
Raj is a certified information systems security professional (CISSP), a certified ethical Hacker (CEH), and a Finra licensed securities professional (Series 99). He has authored two cybersecurity books, The CISO’s Next Frontier and The CISO’s Transformation, has co-authored 14 security patents, and written many security articles for magazines.
Raj graduated from George Washington University (GWU) with a M.S. in Information Systems Technology, and from Karnatak University with a B.S. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering.
Named as one of the “Most Influential People in Security in 2020” by Security Magazine, Kurt is a highly respected and recognized expert in cybersecurity. He has shared his expertise with many external bodies and consortiums including the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the U.S. Government Accountability Office, and the UN Under-Secretary-General’s office on the industry’s perspective in addressing global cybersecurity policy challenges. He is a member of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce's Innovation & Technology executive committee, and was recently appointed to Governor Northam’s Virginia Innovation Partnership Authority.
Throughout his career, he is most proud of driving and implementing a collaborative culture that prioritizes proximity to his customers and responsiveness to needs. Part of Kurt's success in the industry stems from his keen interest in creating strong cross-functional teamwork across business units. He emphasizes always having an eye to the future in strategizing on how to navigate technological and ethical challenges. Kurt is a proponent of engaging sections of the workforce that are uniquely positioned to help address the cybersecurity skills gap. As a result, he has been a mentor to several groups, including students at Waukegan High School in Chicago, and Masters students at Columbia University, among others.
As Chief Cybersecurity Officer at Siemens USA, Kurt is responsible for overseeing the development, implementation and governance of cybersecurity strategy in the company’s largest market, the US. In this role, he oversees the coordination of cybersecurity initiatives for the enterprise’s products, solutions, services, and infrastructure utilized to deliver value to Siemens USA’s customers. Kurt also serves as a member of the Siemens Cybersecurity Board, to address global challenges and evaluate actions to secure new cybersecurity opportunities.