Editor’s note: Castlepoint Systems, an Australian organization that specializes in data protection, compliance and risk management, was awarded the 2023 ISACA Innovative Solutions Award for work with technology to solve business and societal challenges. The multi-award-winning organization aims to dispel misunderstandings surrounding information management and to make information findable, auditable and controllable through artificial intelligence. Castlepoint Systems, along with the other Global Achievement Award honorees, was recognized at ISACA Conference North America: Digital Trust World in Boston in May. ISACA Now recently caught up with Rachael Greaves, CEO of Castlepoint Systems, to discuss this accomplishment, creating a safer and smarter world, and the future of the organization. To nominate an outstanding colleague or organization for an ISACA Award, visit https://isaca.secure-platform.com/a/page/awards/aboutawards.
ISACA Now: This isn’t the first award Castlepoint Systems has received—the organization was named RegTech of the Year and was included in the lists for the RegTech 100, CyberTech 100 and AI FinTech 100 for the second year running. You were also awarded the Female Entrepreneur at the 2022 RegTech Australia awards as well as Most Outstanding Woman in IT Security at the 2022 Women in Security Awards. What do these awards and titles mean to the organization and to you personally?
It’s so important to participate in the security community. We have been lucky enough to be recognized with some amazing awards over the last five years since we launched. While it’s always nice to receive an accolade and the ‘social proof’ of not only our product, but also of the hard work we put in and our team, it’s just as important to participate in the process. Responding to awards criteria is a very reflective activity, and many awards require engagement with a panel of experts, which is an amazing way to get feedback from other experts. There’s also a community committed to recognizing excellence that builds up around nominees, and those relationships last a long time.
ISACA Now: What are the business and societal challenges that your organization aims to solve? Why are these focuses so important?
It’s not well understood that information management can be a matter of literally life or death. Failure to manage information properly has led to completely preventable catastrophes; not just breaches of information security like the Office of Personnel Management, but also lapses in information retention, quality and access. Vivian Solon, an extremely vulnerable Australian citizen, was deported because her records couldn’t be found. So were dozens of ‘Windrush Generation’ UK citizens. Paul McGuire was killed in the Grasstree mine in Australia because records weren’t maintained. Information compliance is not just a tick-box, red-tape exercise in bureaucracy. Preserving information as long as it’s needed, protecting it the whole time it’s in our custody, and securely disposing of it when its reference ceases is as important for our stakeholders as it is for our regulators.
ISACA Now: How does Castlepoint Systems help to create and maintain a safer and smarter world?
Castlepoint is command and control artificial intelligence (AI) that gives the high ground over data risk. It reads, registers and automatically classifies all the information in a network, in every format and system, to make sure you can find anything, anywhere, anytime. It brings together the full story of an operation, asset or individual across the whole enterprise and over all time, so that you can see what you have, where it is and who’s doing what to it. It identifies information that has inherent risk, or high value, and automatically determines what regulations and policies apply to the data (and whether they are being met).
By making information findable, auditable and controllable, we help organizations not only protect their interests, but also exploit their data assets. Data is like uranium: very powerful, but dangerous if it’s left to decay. We need to handle it with care, no matter where it is captured or created, extract its full value and dispose of it securely when it’s no longer of use to us.
ISACA Now: Why are you committed to transparency regarding high standards of compliance and ethics? Why are these values so crucial to the technologies and services Castlepoint Systems provides?
It’s important to have a clear value system to run a successful company, as it dictates the team culture, the types of clients we work with and the kinds of markets we supply. We make ethics one of our key considerations for every key decision we make, both tactical and strategic. We were founded to help solve the problem of stakeholders being disenfranchised or put at risk by poor information governance. We are a values-driven company, and we need to be in order to not only achieve our mission, but also to support our national security and rule-of-law clients, who have similar missions.
ISACA Now: What is next for Castlepoint Systems? What is the organization hoping to achieve in the coming months and years?
We have developed a proven customer base in Federal and State Government in Australia and NZ, including Defense, Police, Treasury, Education, Agriculture, Infrastructure, Justice and Health, for example, as well as other publicly funded bodies, commercial organizations and higher education. We have recently opened our Global HQ in London, with offices now opening in Europe and Ireland, as well as the USA. It is a busy time of growth, and we have been very grateful for ISACA’s recognition that an Australian company, with an information governance focus, can and should be a global solution to a global problem. We have proven this out in 2023, and we will continue the trajectory next year.