- Everfox CEO David Wajsgras has shared his strategy for the cybersecurity company
- Cross-domain and insider risk anchor Everfox’s platform
- Wajsgras is eyeing acquisitions in core and adjacent areas
David Wajsgras, chairman and CEO of Everfox and a nine-time Wash100 Award winner, sat down with Executive Mosaic to discuss the company’s cybersecurity offerings, how he is positioning the organization and its plans for growth.
Speaking with Executive Mosaic Senior Content Manager Charles Lyons-Burt in a video interview, Wajsgras described Everfox as an advanced cybersecurity platform operating in two overlapping areas: cross-domain solutions and insider risk.
What Are Everfox’s Cross-Domain Capabilities?
Everfox’s cross-domain solutions let data move securely across networks at different classification levels, such as from top secret to secret to unclassified, without breaching classification boundaries or exposing data flows to exploits.
Wajsgras, who took the helm of Everfox in January, said the technology also moves information horizontally across mission partner and coalition partner environments, such as between the U.S. Army and its U.K. counterpart.
“We have very, very advanced technologies there, and the barriers to entry are very, very high. There’s only a small number of companies that are able to produce the type of capabilities that we are,” he said.
He added that Everfox holds the lead among the handful of companies in the market.
“If you look at that as a market, the four or five companies that are in the space, we are clearly the leaders from a market share standpoint as well as from a technology standpoint,” Wajsgras said.
He identified broader awareness of the company’s cross-domain tools across the warfighting support community as Everfox’s biggest opportunity.
“The one thing I’ve noticed is there’s still a broad community out there that doesn’t fully understand the capabilities that we can offer. I think that’s probably our biggest challenge,” he explained.
In August, Everfox launched the latest version of High Speed Guard, a cross-domain solution designed to accelerate the sharing of high-volume mission data across classification levels.
How Does Everfox Address Insider Risk?
Everfox’s insider risk business focuses on counterintelligence and on preventing trade secrets from leaving critical infrastructure and other sensitive environments for nation-state competitors.
Wajsgras said the capability has evolved over roughly 20 years and that the majority of agencies across the Department of War and the intelligence community use the platform.
In September, the FBI completed the deployment of Everfox’s insider threat capabilities, including user activity monitoring and behavioral analytics, across multiple networks.
“There’s been a lot of situations where our capabilities have had our customers avoid some potentially very damaging situations by getting out in front of insiders that could have caused real harm to our nation or our allies,” he said.
Wajsgras noted that serving defense and intelligence customers differs from selling to commercial enterprises because the mission and the warfighter come first, with economics as a shared consideration.
“You want to be able to provide the most advanced technology to give these people what I would term an unfair advantage in the fight, and that’s what we do,” he said.
What Are Everfox’s Growth Plans?
Everfox plans to pursue acquisitions as Wajsgras enters his second year leading the company.
He said the leadership team focused on three priorities during his first year:
- Executing on the company’s existing platform
- Resetting the technology and product roadmap
- Helping domestic and international customers understand how Everfox’s capabilities support their objectives
“As we start to exit year one and get into year two, we’re looking for, I would say, acquisitions that basically are directly in the areas that we are today, and there’s not a lot of those out there, or adjacencies that we can leverage to enhance the capabilities that we already have,” Wajsgras said.
He acknowledged that valuations remain a challenge but said the company sees viable targets.
“We are seeing some real opportunities, and I think by this time next year, this company will look somewhat different than it does today because of what we plan on doing from an acquisition perspective,” the chief executive added.
Wajsgras also said he and his team use the national defense strategy as a framework for evolving Everfox’s capabilities, including in secure communications.
“Here are the capabilities we have today, for example, from a secure communications perspective, but here’s how we have to evolve those capabilities to better meet the moment,” he said.
