“It speaks volumes after I inform a buyer we use Akamai options, and so they say, ‘Ah — no different questions.’,” Dr. Kevin Tham (pictured), Chief Data Safety Officer (CISO) at RDC.AI.
Modernizing enterprise lending
RDC.AI is redefining the industrial lending house with an AI-powered decisioning platform that banks can implement to ship quicker, extra correct, data-driven selections. However with speedy progress got here rising expectations from each prospects and regulators. To scale confidently and securely, RDC.AI wanted enterprise-grade safety that wouldn’t break its funds or sluggish it down. With Akamai’s cybersecurity options, RDC.AI lowered its digital footprint, applied Zero Belief entry, and strengthened its compliance posture — all whereas supporting safe adoption by monetary companies prospects.
Eliminating the black field with a ready-made AI platform for banks
RDC.AI is reworking monetary threat modeling with clear, explainable machine studying. Fairly than providing a mysterious black field, it supplies banks with a single platform designed to assist readability, compliance, and confidence. Its confirmed answer permits banks to make smarter, data-driven selections in enterprise and industrial lending by way of AI-powered portfolio administration and lending decisioning instruments they’ll perceive and clarify.
RDC.AI’s platform helps monetary establishments make nuanced lending-related selections, going past easy sure/no outputs. “If somebody requests an $80,000 mortgage, the info might point out that $65,000 is a extra acceptable quantity primarily based on threat parameters and clarify precisely why,” stated Dr. Tham.
Outgrowing current safety options
As RDC.AI matured from start-up to scale-up, its safety mannequin needed to evolve to fulfill rising complexity and buyer expectations. The corporate initially leveraged AWS to handle digital non-public clouds for every buyer surroundings. Nevertheless, because the enterprise grew, the necessity to scale securely whereas sustaining cost-efficiency and operational simplicity turned more difficult, significantly given the calls for of operating single-tenant environments and navigating superior safety configurations.
On the similar time, RDC.AI had outgrown the normal VPNs that it used to offer its prospects and staff with entry to inside sources. Sustaining VPN infrastructure added operational overhead and complexity. “It was time to maneuver away from operating our personal entry answer,” Tham stated.
“Plus, as we grew, we hit an inflection level. We wanted options that would scale with out the associated fee curve going vertical,” he continued.
Akamai: Confirmed at scale, chosen for progress
Tham evaluated Fastly, Cloudflare, and Akamai. Tham’s prior expertise with Akamai at giant Australian corporations like Qantas and Woolworths Group gave him confidence in Akamai’s means to deal with enterprise-grade calls for with out compromising efficiency or management. “I didn’t want a lot convincing. I knew it labored. Plus, we wanted one thing that wouldn’t value us exponentially extra as we added prospects. Akamai delivered,” stated Tham.
At present, RDC.AI makes use of three Akamai options to safe each layer of its stack: Akamai App & API Protector, Akamai Enterprise Software Entry, and Akamai Safe Web Entry. In keeping with Tham, “It simplifies buyer conversations as a result of Akamai is such a trusted identify.”
Lowering the blast radius with Zero Belief entry
Whereas App & API Protector secures RDC.AI’s platform and customer-facing APIs, Akamai additionally supplied Tham’s workforce with a extra elegant entry mannequin than VPNs. As Tham defined, “Conventional VPNs give entry to a complete surroundings when you’re in. That will increase the blast radius if a tool is compromised. With Akamai Enterprise Software Entry, we comprise that threat.”
RDC.AI makes use of Enterprise Software Entry to safe entry into its Genesis Studio, a robust web-based surroundings for its prospects’ knowledge scientists. The infrastructure workforce additionally makes use of the Akamai answer for safe SSH entry into choose cloud workloads, eliminating the necessity to run and keep its personal VPN servers.
“Up to now, we gave VPN entry simply to succeed in an internet app. It was like letting customers go fishing with a grenade,” stated Tham.
“Now, it’s seamless, safe, and way more elegant since customers don’t must log in a number of instances.”
Much less floor, extra safety
Past enabling Zero Belief, Tham needed to cut back RDC.AI’s internet-facing presence. “As a result of we’re B2B and ship from the cloud, we don’t want to show ourselves,” stated Tham. “My dream was that somebody solely sees Akamai once they scan RDC.AI.”
With Akamai shielding the RDC.AI platform, that imaginative and prescient is now a actuality. “With Akamai in entrance of us, attackers suppose twice. And in the event that they do attempt one thing, I do know Akamai can fend off the assault and scale with us,” Tham defined.
Even pen testers have commented: “‘Are you able to flip Akamai off? It’s getting in the best way.’ That’s a safety praise if there ever was one,” Tham continued.
Enhancing controls, satisfying auditors
RDC.AI dietary supplements endpoint and e-mail safety instruments from Rapid7 with Akamai Safe Web Entry Enterprise, offering internet proxy and malware protection in an “always-online” workplace surroundings. Akamai’s sturdy safety features make audit hurdles simpler to clear. “We don’t have an information heart: We’re absolutely cloud native. Auditors usually count on internet proxies, and Safe Web Entry Enterprise helps us clarify the management we’ve put in place,” stated Tham.
Akamai additionally delivers the sort of reputational assurance RDC.AI’s prospects count on. “By utilizing the identical safety instruments the large banks belief, we give our purchasers consolation. I don’t know learn how to say it extra clearly: When a financial institution hears we use Akamai, they cease asking questions,” stated Tham.
Even with out regulatory necessities, RDC.AI voluntarily maintains SOC 1, SOC 2, and ISO 27001 certifications. “We’re solely 65 folks, however we punch above our weight,” Tham defined. “Akamai helps us mirror the controls our banking purchasers count on, and that’s the proper strategy to construct belief.”
Scaling affordably and fearlessly
Tham’s workforce began testing Akamai TrafficPeak to achieve visibility into use patterns and optimize ingress/egress visitors. “That visitors is the place the prices actually stack up,” stated Tham. “TrafficPeak helps our engineering workforce establish utilization tendencies and flag potential points.”
When requested to summarize the worth Akamai delivers, Tham stated, ”For a quick-growing AI firm navigating delicate buyer knowledge and high-stakes enterprise selections, Akamai supplies the sturdy safety we have to scale. Meaning I can deal with serving to the enterprise develop with out always trying over my shoulder.”
Tham additionally encourages different start-ups and scale-ups to think about Akamai. “They usually begin with an AWS answer, nevertheless it turns into very costly. And so they might assume Akamai is a premium answer, however will doubtless discover it’s a extra reasonably priced strategy to scale,” Tham concluded.
