TL; DR: Facing AI adoption alone? Well, you don’t have to with Portal26. Portal26 is a Trust, Risk, and Security Management platform that helps businesses adopt and integrate AI with security and confidence. It serves as a foundation for AI adoption, ensuring AI is used properly throughout the entire organization. We spoke with Arti Raman, CEO and Founder of Portal26, about the platform’s features, happenings in the AI landscape, and why Portal26 is essential for secure AI adoption and strategy.
From lockdowns to inflation, the last four years have been one crazy daze. Although I consider 2019 the last “normal” year for various reasons, I could assign it more blame since it was the year the COVID-19 virus emerged.
But the thing is the COVID-19 virus wasn’t the only thing lurking in the shadows at the time. Something equally menacing was also rumbling — the beginnings of a ransomware epidemic.
This is where we find Arti Raman. Unfortunately, in the same year, Arti had her own data stolen in a database breach. This event served as an impetus for Arti to start a company to safeguard users from the same problem that impacted her.
She created Portal26 as a data security company to empower businesses to use data confidently and securely in the age of cyberattacks. So the company developed a type of data encryption solution that would allow customers to leverage data without decrypting it, keeping it in a secure state.
After going through a lengthy approval process, Portal26 sold its first data security solution in the fall of 2021. A round of venture capital fundraising and successful product sales later bring us to the end of 2022 for the Portal26 team. Here is where everything changed.
ChatGPT was introduced and changed the landscape of AI for good.
“Our origin story was all about solving a deeply ingrained and painful problem for most individuals. Now, it’s about how impactful and pervasive generative AI is. And what we do today is, again, of great consequence to making sure that happens securely,” said Arti.
Arti looked at the enormous opportunity before her and the team and decided to pivot to Trust, Risk, and Security Management for GenAI. Although data security is no longer its primary focus, Portal26’s mission remains the same: to help users onboard and use its digital assets in the best and most secure way possible.
8 Pillars for Adopting GenAI Securely
Arti is an expert on managing and mitigating risk for enterprise GenAI and data. With Portal26, she seeks to help enterprises use AI responsibly. There’s no doubt AI is useful, but it can bring more harm than good without the proper practices in place.
AI has two types of governance: One is to make sure AI models don’t do harmful things and the other is to make sure users don’t do bad things.
Portal26 focuses on the user side of AI adoption. Yes, on the model side, there are risks with how the AI models are produced. But the risk of a harmful event happening on the user side is much higher since so many people and companies are using these AI models.
“On the production side, you can regulate. But on the consumption side, you have bad guys who have no qualms about using AI. You’ve got people who have no understanding of the technology using it,” said Arti.
Almost every business wants to integrate AI in some form or shape. But there is a right way to do it. Portal26 offers eight pillars for adopting GenAI securely. Below, I’ve included a short description for each pillar:
- Discovery: This step is all about discovering what the user needs to govern. It looks into the network layer and analyzes inbound and outbound traffic. Portal26 then informs the customer of the state of AI in their company and what AI tools are being used internally.
- Visibility: Next, Portal26 looks into the system and employees’ interactions with AI across departments. This step allows it to identify potential attack and risk surfaces while combining this visibility with the understanding of the organization itself.
- Security and Risk: Once Portal26 confirms the overarching AI usage, it can scan it for risk. It can scan for data loss, HR violations, legal/compliance risks, and intellectual property risks. Portal26 also integrates automated incident response, so users and CISOs aren’t overwhelmed with alerts.
- Forensics: Portal26 offers forensics and auditing for compliance and investigation purposes. Users can leverage this feature to perform historical audits and investigate GenAI incidents within their organizations.
- Intent: This pillar focuses on helping GenAI strategy leaders use AI better. It enables users to improve AI productivity within their teams and understand intent.
- Impact: Portal26 allows companies to analyze the impact of their AI solutions on their bottom line. It helps them see if they are getting the value and ROI they need from their AI providers.
- Education: This step is to help teams train their employees to use AI based on their designated roles.
- Policy Management: Finally, Portal26 provides a policy management feature to help teams enforce AI policies across their systems in real time.
“Those are the eight things we do. It’s a long list, but it helps organizations consume AI in a responsible and secure way. It also helps them decide where to invest next. So it’s pretty foundational stuff,” said Arti.
How the Conversation Around AI is Evolving
Arti also shared with us how AI has evolved since Portal26 began its venture with AI. Arti told us back in 2023, the conversation was all about not being left behind.
“So you saw this huge surge of adoption and we were also having that conversation about how do you not be left behind while taking care of your enterprise, fulfilling your responsibilities, etc,” said Arti.
As companies integrated AI, they began to consider how they could better use AI to their advantage. It was no longer about rushing to use AI. Teams moved to a more conscious approach and started to identify which high-value processes would get the most value out of AI integration.
“And so our own offering evolved. Initially, we started with pretty much just a risk pillar. Then the conversation evolved to understanding intent. And that’s when we added the capability,” said Arti.
Arti told us the Portal26 team became big consumers of AI at this stage, as they tried to understand user intent. Going this route enabled Portal26 to enrich its experience and go well beyond its initial network security capabilities.
“Coming up on our year anniversary, with many folks using it, now AI is about cost and value. So CFOs are feeling the pinch. And at the same time, we’re seeing the hyperscalers come in. We’re seeing AI move toward commoditization,” said Arti.
Arti said the AI landscape is the fastest thing she’s ever seen change in her time as an entrepreneur. And Portal26 has had to innovate and pivot to keep up with it. But she doesn’t regret evolving Portal26’s offerings to meet market demands.
“If we had put our anchor in and said we’re only going to be about AI adoption risk, I don’t think that would have worked out as well as things are working out now,” said Arti.
A Foundational Piece to AI and Business Strategy
Portal26’s mission is to empower organizations on their journey to embracing AI adoption. Arti told us unlike any other technology before it, AI is a cross-functional conversation. Understanding user intent will be extremely important in the next stages of AI development.
“That next wave, we have a lot of extremely valuable features coming that will help organizations identify where to even make that investment,” said Arti.
Arti said value is dominating in the AI space right now and that picking the right use case will only be half the battle. Portal26 will also help users leverage their own data to predict the future. The platform already has the capability to see how AI is being used at the granular level within an organization’s system. Using this data will allow teams to get the answers for their next steps.
“In a world where there’s a lot of uncertainty and things moving fast, to be able to work on fact and observation is valuable. And again, we’re the only ones doing that. So we got some interesting things coming that can help AI councils,” said Arti.
Portal26 has recently been added to the AWS Independent Software Vendor (ISV) Accelerate Program and is forming partnerships with major IT providers like Carahsoft to expand its reach and involvement in building AI strategy.
“Your probability of successfully and effectively consuming generative AI goes up significantly with a feature set like ours because you satisfy your risk stakeholders, value stakeholders, and financial stakeholders. We’re foundational. You should put us in before you do anything else,” said Arti.
