An expert in the connected world helping businesses face critical risks with collective power of talent, knowledge and capabilities: ISTARI

At the start of every story, there is a call to adventure. ISTARI’s came when the Singaporean investment company Temasek realized that cybersecurity could pose an existential threat to its global portfolio. For Temasek's leadership team, it became a strategic priority. Compelled to solve the problem themselves, they established ISTARI on the client-centric thesis that it requires a collective approach of talent, knowledge and technology to become cyber resilient. As advisors, ISTARI aims to navigate your business on the journey towards cyber resilience. ISTARI begins by understanding your core business and goals, in the context of your digital risk landscape, alongside your cyber resilience maturity from a technological, organisational, cultural and ecosystem perspective. Armed with ISTARI’s analysis and insights, the team partners with you to design a bespoke blueprint for your cyber resilience journey. The company then follows through with its orchestration and implementation, integrating the market on your behalf, bringing on companies from ISTARI’s portfolio or other external partners where relevant, acting as a single point of contact along the entire journey.

Believe in the power of the collective

Threats are limitless, and resources are not. Therefore, leading enterprises have turned to a different approach: focusing their resiliency efforts around their highest value at risk. The most advanced enterprises use qualitative and quantitative risk management methods to identify the greatest cyber risks to their most important assets and processes. Armed with this insight, they prioritize their investments accordingly. What’s the ideal roadmap to a risk-led resilience strategy? Even if an enterprise has done all it can to protect itself from cyber attacks, it is still vulnerable to attacks and disruptions through the supply chain. As a result, third-party risks have become one of the most pressing cybersecurity challenges. Although it seems a daunting task, with potentially thousands of 3rd and 4th parties in the supply chain, enterprises can take steps to build cyber resilience and break the domino effect if an attack occurs. Very few companies still have their operations supported solely by private data centres. Today, most enterprises use at least one public cloud provider, with many in a multi-cloud setup. That shift to the cloud comes with strategic opportunities and changing demands on security and resilience, skills and talent. Enterprises need to design resilience in everything from secure architecture to dedicated technologies to secure the journey to the cloud.

Planes, power plants and even pipelines now all rely on digital technology as the worlds of IT and OT converge. Attacks and disruptions on these companies and organizations can lead to catastrophe and have exponentially increased in the last few years. Securing operational technology from cyber threats is now an inescapable necessity. As adversaries ramp up their attacks and methods, the industry needs to move beyond compliance to cyber resilience. People never come to work expecting a cyberattack, so it feels surprising and random when it happens. But cyberattacks are “predictable surprises” that exploit weaknesses in organisational strategies and capabilities. Prepared enterprises do not dismiss cybersecurity as a random event but focus on building strategic capabilities to anticipate and respond to cyberattacks.

Knowledge is protection

At ISTARI, the team believes that investing in collective wisdom and promoting knowledge sharing as a community can accelerate the path toward greater digital and business resilience. Cybersecurity is one of the most systematically important challenges business leaders are facing and in a globally interconnected world no single entity can solve cybersecurity challenges alone. Individual and collective leadership matter more than ever. ISTARI convenes global thought leaders and experienced practitioners to deliver immersive programmes that combine theory with real-world practice. ISTARI calls this the ISTARI Academy. In collaboration with Columbia University, ISTARI develops and delivers digital risk leadership education for CIOs and CISOs at the world's leading companies. ISTARI’s joint curriculum is at the forefront of the latest thinking in cyber resilience strategy and innovation. Building a company is a journey. At ISTARI, they aim to accelerate the trajectory of their portfolio companies and unlock your potential by leveraging the combined multiplier effect of client relationships, collective portfolio of companies and cyber community. Like ISTARI’s founding investment company Temasek, the team are a patient investor, here to guide and equip you every step of the way. ISTARI drives value and valuation.

ISTARI stays abreast of the latest trends and cutting-edge technologies with investments in select early-stage, cyber-focused VC firms. These partnerships serve as a window into next-generation cyber tools and techniques and offer the possibility of equipping ISTARI’s solutions with innovative technologies. It's advantageous to surround yourself with people who have traversed similar paths and overcome similar industry obstacles. ISTARI’s vast experience in cybersecurity as founders, leaders, operators, board members and investors will give you a competitive edge and be a catalyst for your adventure.

Meet the leader behind the success of ISTARI

Rashmy Chatterjee is the CEO of ISTARI. Rashmy has held several global sales and marketing leadership roles in her career. She spent over two decades at IBM, where her most recent positions included global sales leader for IBM Security and Chief Marketing Officer for IBM NA. Prior to IBM, Rashmy served in the Indian Navy as the Deputy Director of Naval Design. She was the first female engineer to join the Navy and was commended by the President of India for her work in establishing the Indian Naval CAD/CAM centre. Rashmy is passionate about building a culture of long-term client relationships and developing talent. She advocates for women in technology and is a member of many boards, including most recently that of Allianz SE. She is also a Fellow of the International Marketing Academy.

“Much like real-world architects, our global team of seasoned cyber experts can help you manage your cybersecurity needs, from problem definition to solution architecture and implementation.”