Q&A with The PKI Guy

Q&A with Kevin von Keyserling (KvK), Keyfactor CEO and co-founder and Mark B. Cooper, aka The PKI Guy, from PKI Solutions.

TPG: Tell us about Keyfactor.

KvK: We’re a digital identity software company that provides end-to-end authentication, encryption, and signing technologies that safeguard data, devices, applications, and people. Our platform allows our clients to master every digital identity within their organization quickly, easily and cost-effectively. Up until a few weeks ago, Keyfactor was Certified Security Solutions (CSS).

TPG: What was your goal in your company’s rebranding?

KvK: CSS was emblematic of the original consulting company that worked with Global 2000 companies on digital identity strategy. It was back in 2014 that we began transitioning CSS into a software company. We saw a problem that kept occurring in the market—the challenge of successful digital identity oversight. We knew we could build a platform to make it much easier for organizations to manage the process.

Core to our culture, we wanted to represent what makes us different in the security industry. Many players focus on fear, uncertainty, and doubt. We believe in a message of enablement and freedom to scale and secure your entire enterprise. You shouldn’t have to choose what you secure based on economics. We also streamlined the platform into two key offerings based on the problems that we solve for enterprise and IoT companies.

The name Keyfactor is reflective of what we do—public/private key management + one-factor/two-factor authentication + the math of cryptography. Keyfactor resonates with who are we today and symbolizes the completion of the transition. I’m very proud of it.