New Bolster CEO Discusses AI-Driven Fraud and Data Security

Bolster hired Zoom’s former product security head as its chief executive to expand from protecting brands from external threats to tackling internal enterprise data challenges.

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The Silicon Valley-based brand security startup tasked Rod Schultz with adapting Bolster’s technology to serve CISOs by addressing both external threats as well as potential risks associated with internal data as AI adoption continues to grow. Schultz plans to leverage the AI models Bolster developed for scanning and identifying threats across the dark web and email to address internal data security concerns.

“The marginal cost of creating fraud from customer target one to target is almost as close to zero as it’s ever been,” Schultz told Information Security Media Group. “The cost of creation is lower, and the cost of precision is getting much cheaper as well. The ability to spin up fraudulent information and trick people into doing things is a very real vector.”

Schultz most recently spent nearly two years leading product and engineering at identity startup Dust and nearly two earlier leading product security, privacy, governance, trust and safety at Zoom. Earlier in Schultz’s career, he spent nearly seven years as a project lead at Adobe, two years as a senior software engineer at Apple and nearly three years as a network security infrastructure software engineer at Cisco (see: Protect the Brand: Online Fraud and Cryptocurrency Scams).

“AI is a new wave, and I look at it as a really interesting wave to ride to some interesting locations,” Schultz said. “I did that with the Internet, I did that with mobile, I’ve done it in the space of video conferencing, at Zoom during COVID. This is kind of like the continuation of me selecting some interesting forces and seeing where they take me.”

From External Brand Threats to Internal Data Defense Issues

Schultz said he was drawn to Bolster by the significant security challenges presented by AI, particularly the potential for AI-generated fraud to exploit social engineering vulnerabilities. He sees Bolster as well-positioned to tackle these issues due to its ability to scan external data across various channels and envisions expanding this capability to help companies manage internal data risks.

“The internet is like perfect product market fit for falsely generated AI content to be connected to a person,” Schultz said. “For me, that was a huge draw. The opportunity is there. It needs to be solved, and it’s an unsolved problem, and that’s a great space for a startup to be in.”

Bolster’s core strength historically lies in external brand protection, with the company monitoring and addressing security risks outside a company’s internal network, according to Schultz. He said he is now pushing to explore how Bolster’s technology could also protect sensitive internal data, especially as companies increasingly use AI for decision-making and operations.

“How do we start to solve problems where we’re taking our core technology and focusing it on internal data challenges that customers are having?” Schultz said. “Where they need to know the integrity of the data, the trustability of the data, and what they should do with that information inside the walls of the enterprise.”

To cater to enterprise internal security needs, Schultz said Bolster will need to expand from working with brand teams to engaging CISOs. He said CISOs have unique demands and expectations compared to brand and trust teams since internal data security entails more rigor than external brand protection. CISOs are focused on internal threats and a higher need to securely integrate AI-driven tools, he said.

“Getting in front of a CISO is very different than getting in front of trust and safety or brand and legal,” Schultz said. “The sales channels and the go-to-market are slightly different, the deployment and release strategy for engineering is slightly different, but it’s a natural transition and growth pattern for us.”

How to Win Friends in Influence CISOs

Transitioning to internal data protection means changing Bolster’s deployment strategies and ensuring its technology can meet the stringent requirements of CISOs, Schultz said. While this adaptation involves changes in compute deployment and data management, Schultz sees this as feasible given Bolster’s resources and partnerships.

“We’d have to evolve how we deploy and where the compute is run,” Schultz said. “And we would need to understand how to take our models, and then – with the right interfaces or systems on top of those models in order to grow and evolve them – turn them and get that virtuous feedback loop that’s required in order to keep up with the evolution and the growth of the models.”

Bolster competes against both incumbents and fellow startups in the brand security market, and Schultz said the firm benefits from industry backing from the likes of Microsoft, which led Bolster’s $14 million Series B funding round in May. Schultz wants to grow Bolster’s staff and boost the company’s sales and engineering teams to expand their reach in the security sector and reinforce existing client relationships.

“The competition is real, and it’s either evolve or cede ground and cede territory,” Schultz said. “So, I feel like we are poised to evolve in a very nice way. I think we have some first-mover advantage, and I think we have some great insights. We have a fantastic board with fantastic networks that’s helping to inform us. Microsoft is a massive partner, and I think all of that really sets us up for to be very competitive.”

Revenue, customer retention and module expansion are Schultz’s key metrics for tracking Bolster’s success. Schultz emphasizes the need for Bolster to focus on incremental growth by expanding existing relationships, and views adding modules and capabilities over time as essential to Bolster’s strategy, especially as enterprises increase their focus on brand and internal data security.

“As companies grow their brand, as they grow their assets under management, they need to manage that in a responsible way,” Schultz said. “And I think we have a really cool platform that positions our customers to have visibility into what’s happening and how to manage that brand security and brand protection that’s required in order to be successful and protect our customers.”